Valletta is a tiny capital on the islands of Malta. For me, it was difficult to square how small it was – so, to compare: Malta comes in at 122 square miles. That’s the entire set of islands. London, meanwhile, is over 600 square miles. Valletta itself, you can walk end to end in about 20 minutes. It really isn’t that big at all.

I flew into Malta International Airport, which is about 3 miles from Valletta itself. Travelling from the airport costs €1.50 on the X4 bus and takes around 25 minutes. The bus will drop you at the terminus, which is just next to the gates to the city and also the impressive Triton fountain. Passing through the gates brings you on to the main street through the city, Republic Street. Immediately on your right hand side is the new Parliament building, designed by Renzo Piano and opened in 2015. It’s a pretty spectacular building but also quite out of character with many of the other buildings in the city, which date back hundreds and in some cases thousands of years.

Malta itself was a colony of the United Kingdom up until 1964. The electrical system is the same as the UK. Also, it’s possible to see red phone boxes still in use, too. Many of the shops around Valletta are those which you’d expect to see in towns and cities across the UK, too. Valletta offers an interesting atmosphere, in some ways influenced by British culture, in others by Italian and perhaps Spanish, also Greek and African. Perhaps no real surprise given where it is, acting as an important part of the trading route between all of those locations.

I stayed at a small hostel on St John’s Street, a couple of minutes walk from the city gates. This was the only hostel I could find within the walls of the city. There’s also only a small handful of hotels, too. It’s one of the more basic hostels I’ve stayed in. There are no staff at the hostel – instead everything is carried out by e-mail. You’re sent a code for the front door which allows you entry to the entire building. There are three rooms split into 16 beds. Each room taking up an entire floor and the room separated from the staircase by a curtain. It’s a little difficult to explain. It does work though. I met some fantastic people there – I would have no real issues with staying there again, bar the fact that the internet connection was a little iffy at times. This seemed to occur even when nobody else was present at the hostel. Overall, I paid £44 to stay for three nights.

It’s difficult to find more than a day or two worth of activities in Valletta itself. I think, realistically, it’d be possible to see most things within a day. Two would be enough to take things at a very leisurely pace. Arriving on the Friday, I spent some time wandering around the city and taking it in, finding out what was where. The city itself offers a Mediterranean beauty. It’s a hilly place so be prepared for a little bit of climbing stairs and hills. The areas around Old Theatre Street and just off the Republic Square host many of the bars and restaurants in Valletta. Here you can easily find food inspired by a huge range of influences. I’d well recommend trying Pastizzi which is a Maltese dish. A small pastry with either a Ricotta or chicken filling – many of the small cafes and similar sell these. Expect to pay under €1. This area also plays host to the Is-Suq tal-Belt Valletta Food Market which is well worth a visit. This is a very similar setup to the market which I found in Rome, whereby one large market hall plays host to lots of small independent outlets.

Valletta does get a lot quieter at night. There are some small bars which open until late, but these are few and far between. There’s no clubs or anything of the sort. Those are more offered by Paceville, which I’ll come to a little bit later. There are also no supermarkets here – there are, however, plenty of smaller shops, cafes and restaurants which cater adequately for most needs. If you need something a little more out of the ordinary you’d perhaps find this in Sliema or Paceville.

Something I’d recommend doing is walking around the perimeter of the city. There’s a number of ways to do this as the city covers a few different heights. You can walk at sea level, or a little higher. The area where the ferry across to Sliema docks is a good point to start before heading clockwise. This allows you to take in many of the spectacular view across to Sliema itself, as well as to Rinella Bay, Birgu, and the Grand Marina. Towards the end you can perhaps stop at The Malta Experience – I’d struggle to recommend this as it’s quite expensive for what you get. Same also for Fort St Elmo, which costs €10 for entry. I was lucky that on the Saturday was an important day in Catholicism – the Presentation of the Lord. This was a real spectacle with many families coming onto the streets with the children parading a representation of Jesus through the streets of Valletta, followed by a marching band. People came out from shops to see and cheer the procession on. It wound its way through the streets, through the market taking in much of the city. This was perhaps a good demonstration of the overall feel of Valletta in that it does feel in many ways like a small community, where everyone knows everyone.

Saturday evening, I headed out of town to Paceville which I’d understood had more of a night life than Valletta. That’s… a bit of an understatement. This is definitely the place for you if you’re after clubs, wanting to get drunk, meet people, all of that kind of thing. With bars advertising 60 shots for €20, it’s perhaps a good indicator of what kind of audience the place aims for. Again, there’s some really nice places to eat here – around the Ross/Spinola areas. As you head away from this area towards St George’s Bay, things change quite quickly. The area around The Steps is home to a lot of the bigger bars with people trying to entice you in. The area is also home to a lot of strip bars so worth being aware if you’re here with young children. Getting to and from Paceville will cost €3 each way.

Being a very Roman Catholic country, many places do not open on a Sunday – the city is also much quieter. The city feels far more relaxed. I spent a lot of Sunday looking around some of the sights which I’d not yet taken in properly including the Co-Cathedral. Whilst not much to write home about from the outside, the inside is truly stunning. Church services take place on a Sunday so it isn’t open to visitors – you’re able to see much more of it on other days of the week, so this was a mistake on my part. However, you’re still able to witness the intricate detail given to the frescos, and the gold and marble used to decorate the walls. I also took time to visit the Upper Barrakka Gardens just beyond the city gates. A visit here should be high on the list of any visitor not just to Valletta, but to Malta, too. The gardens themselves are a thing of beauty, but beyond that you’re provided a stunning panoramic view from a raised platform over the Mediterranean across to Fort St Angelo, the Grand Harbour and Kalkara. There’s benches to sit and admire the sheer natural beauty.

Sunday afternoon I took the ferry to Sliema. This costs €1.50 each way, or €2.80 for a return ticket. Sliema is a residential area but also has a lot of bars and restaurants across the front. Being that there are far more apartments here, the area does feel a lot busier than its neighbour which does feel a little odd. In many ways, whilst Valletta is no doubt impressive, there’s far more happening in other places around the islands.

On Sunday evening, the heavens opened quite spectacularly. The sky had greyed over and the weather become noticeably cooler during the afternoon. Whilst talking with some of the others in the hostel, we heard a huge clap of thunder. The rain was pretty torrential – it seems that it’s possible to go from blazing sunshine to a heavy downpour in Malta just as it is in the UK. After the rain died down a bit, we all headed to the Yard 32 Gin & Tapas bar. The place has a very Mediterranean feel – a hole in the wall bar with a huge variety of gin available. I can definitely recommend a visit here.

I flew home on Monday morning. Valletta itself is a stunning city in many ways – the architecture, the views across the Mediterranean, the history, and the people are so warm and welcoming. I would very much like to return, but feel that the length of time I spent there – in essence, four days was far too long. A day or two would make a lot more sense. I can very much recommend a visit here, but perhaps more as somewhere to visit from southern Italy or as a stop off on a journey elsewhere. There’s also much more of Malta to see than just Valletta, so it would be perfectly feasible to spend four days, perhaps more and take in a lot more of what’s on offer, perhaps visiting Gozo in the north, Rabat and Mdina.

I spent four days in Malta. My costs were as follows:
Return flight from Manchester with Ryanair: £39.98
Accommodation with VBL Hostels, booked via booking.com: £43.88
Food, transport, everything else: £94.12
Total: £177.98