MT
Sliema & St Julian’s
Seafront promenades and Malta's liveliest bays
Seafront promenades and Malta's liveliest bays
Five kilometres of traffic-free seafront link Sliema’s Tigne shore to St Julian’s, past swimming ladders, Victorian gun batteries and a permanent parade of joggers, anglers and ice-cream eaters. The flat limestone shelves along the way are Sliema’s beaches — locals spread towels on the rock and step straight into deep, clear water.
💡 Walk it at golden hour toward St Julian’s — the low sun lights up Spinola Bay just as the restaurant candles come out.
From the tip of the Tigne peninsula, Valletta’s full baroque skyline — domes, spires and bastions — rises straight across Marsamxett Harbour. The old fort at the point was built by the Knights in their final years; today the headland mixes its ramparts with a waterfront shopping centre and one of Malta’s favourite photo spots.
💡 The view is best in late afternoon when the sun swings behind you and Valletta glows — then catch the 15-minute ferry across from the Strand.
St Julian’s postcard heart: a small fishing bay where painted luzzijiet share the water with superyacht tenders, ringed by some of the island’s best restaurants. The LOVE sculpture on the waterfront — its letters reversed so they read correctly in the bay’s reflection — marks the classic viewpoint.
💡 Book a terrace table for sunset — bay-side seats at the better restaurants go days ahead in summer.
Balluta Bay is the graceful interlude between the two towns — a small sandy pocket beneath the neo-Gothic Carmelite church, lovely for a morning swim. A few streets on, Paceville is its opposite: Malta’s nightlife quarter, wall-to-wall bars and clubs that run until dawn, flanked by the casino and cinemas of St George’s Bay.
💡 Swim Balluta by day, judge Paceville by night — weeknights are relaxed, weekends are loud, and everything is free entry so you can wander until something fits.
The Sliema–St Julian’s strip is Malta’s densest dining mile, from hole-in-the-wall pastizzi counters on the shopping streets to tasting menus above Spinola Bay — the bay’s terraces hold several of the island’s most celebrated kitchens. Seafood leads, but you will find everything from Neapolitan pizza to izakaya. For the local classics, hunt down a lunchtime ftira or timpana (baked pasta in pastry), grab gelato for the promenade, and finish with cocktails on a rooftop — several hotels open their top floors to non-guests for that Valletta-across-the-water view. Sunday brunch on the seafront is a Sliema institution; book anywhere with a terrace.
Morning dip off Sliema’s limestone shelves, coffee on the front, then the 15-minute ferry across Marsamxett Harbour — the cheapest great boat ride in Malta — for a couple of hours in Valletta.
Ferry back for lunch along the Strand, then loop the Tigne peninsula for the full Valletta panorama — shopping at The Point if the midday sun bites, ramparts and photographs if it does not.
Walk the whole seafront toward St Julian’s with a gelato — past Balluta Bay’s church and a swim if the sea calls — arriving at Spinola Bay as the light turns gold over the luzzu boats.
Dinner on a Spinola Bay terrace — book ahead in summer — then either rooftop cocktails with Valletta glittering across the water, or follow the bass lines into Paceville and see where the night lands.
The Sliema–Valletta ferry runs every 30 minutes and takes 15 — the bus around the harbour can take three times that in traffic.
The ‘beaches’ here are flat limestone shelves with ladders — water shoes make getting in graceful. For sand, bus north to Mellieha or Golden Bay.
Spinola Bay’s best tables and every rooftop bar fill fast from June to September — reserve dinner a few days out.
Sliema and St Julian’s are Malta’s priciest corner — eat one street back from the seafront and prices drop by a third.
Clubs barely warm up before midnight and run till dawn; entry is free almost everywhere, so bar-hop until the music fits.
Buses fan out from the Sliema ferries and St Julian’s to Mdina, the north beaches and the airport — this is the best-connected base on the island.
Reliable walking and bus directions along the seafront and across the island.
Free
The official Malta Public Transport app — live bus times, route planning and mobile tickets.
Free
The main ride-hailing app in Malta — essential for the ride home from Paceville at 3am.
Free
Multi-currency card with excellent exchange rates for euro payments and ATM withdrawals.
Free
Fortress Valletta, silent Mdina, Gozo’s green hills, the painted harbour of Marsaxlokk and the seafront buzz of Sliema — Malta packs remarkable range into a very small sea.