Hi sooze29

For a base the Topaz is not that bad, the problem is that many hotels in Malta are not close to the * rating when compaired with a similar * rated hotel in the UK and this causes a lot of poor reviews but as long as you are aware that a 3* hotel in Malta is not nearly the same as a 3* here in the UK you will be fine.

location wise the Topaz is not that far from the main area and square in Bugibba, it is only a about a 10-15 minute stroll very slightly up hill, you will quickly find various ways to get to it and all the streets are safe.
The location allows you access to the main square and also St Pauls harbour and you are also close to the bus route.

Hi Sooze, your question is phrased as

"Bugibba area please"

well in our opinion this area is a tatty, touristy, run-down dump of a place, over run with slimeshare vermin and horridly british in it's demenour remenisant of some ghastly british seasisde place like filey, blackpool or skegness, to be honest the place needs bulldozing and maybe but only maybe starting again, but only on priviso that it doesn't end up the scum hole it is today, sorry to be so blunt but that in our opinion is the truth, we are well known Malta lovers with more experience of the "real Malta" than 99.9 per-cent of the people who who post on here, even a lot of the locals concur that Qawra/ Buggiba is a dump and needs sorting, I truly hope that you enjoy it, but yuk it's really not for us .

I have to say that agree with Sliema2 on this one, having seen what happened on Spains Costa's you would have thought that Malta would have not let it happen there. It is a mish mash of large hotels and not many of them are any good at all, I for one cannot understand why anybody would want to buy a timeshare here at all, and why there are so many timeshare salespeople I will never know.
All they do is ruin peoples holiday so as to never go back to Malta again in some cases, in Spain they are thinking of knocking down some of the hotels and starting again, this would be a good idea in Buggiba as long as Sliema2 says they do it with good taste next time.
Also is not Buggiba a small time resort like thoughs in some parts of Spain and Greese that want to ban the British as they drink to much beer get drunk and run amuck only for the locals say we don't want your sort here, even though they spend 50 times more money than those Students.
The only thing I have to rise issue with Sliema2 is about Blackpool and Skeggy, is Skeggy does not have a Tower for all those rain soaked turists to throw them selfs of, off
Dave.

Please lets remember that everyones opinion is different. One mans meat is another mans poision.

Please take any advice given, go with an open mind, and make your own personal decision.

Kath x

I'm with Sliema2 and the real holidaymaker on the assessment of Buggiba

My son and daughter-in-law go to the Topaz and book with Flightline. They've always been satisfied and mostly receive their tickets three weeks before their holiday.

Well, Bugibba has only gone this way because of the demand of the British tourist. Basically, alot of Brits expact to pay £300 a week or less half board. Think about it - £100 minimum for the flight leaves £200 to cover hotel, breakfast & dinner, that's less than £29 per night inclisuive of breakfast & evening meal. What do you expect? That#s why the hotels there have appeared over the last 20-25 years.

What would you get in the UK for that? - Absolutely nothing, not even B&B in some dump in some North Sea town.

You need to spend at least £100 a night to get a good hotel, which even in the UK would not get you much at all.

I really wish people would not always expect to pay half or one quarter what they would pay in the UK for a hotel in Malta. If you go cheap expect cheap accomodation in return. You also need to remember that the £ is 25-30% lower against the Euro and that's a problem caused by the terrible UK economy. Malta is in the Eurozone, so visitors from other Eurozone countries (300 million people) don't have that disadvantage.

Bugibba is not mainly over run with hotels, there is a vast amount of residential accommodation in Bugibba and surrounding areas and I don't think that the many residents will be over happy to see some of the extremely negative and to be honest misleading opinions viewed here.
The local council has spent vast amounts of money in the last few years making major improvements to the area not just for tourists but for the local residents also.

As Kath says, 'go with an open mind, and make your own personal decision' we did and met some of the friendliest and most helpful locals and we now return to the area regularly.

I don't think that some of the comments here are very helpful especially from those that have not stayed in the area but merely passed through or visited for an hour or so.

To those that are thinking of going please do so and make your own mind up, also PLEASE don't just stay in the one resort get out and see the rest of Malta.

Graham

I am a big fan of Malta, I think you either love it or hate it, and if you are just intent on a holiday to stay at apool all day, then go somewhere else to be honest!
There is so much to see and do in malta and it is worth paying less for a budget hotel and getting out and about as you will not be spending much time there at all.
Yes its a bit rough round the edges which In my opinion adds to the appeal of the place!
The area where The Topaz is, is okay and not too far from the centre etc, we will be going back in Sept too and staying in Qawra, at a budget hotel but we wont be there much- we will be out n about visiting firends etc.

Good luck in whatever you decide

Many thanks for all the advice (even negative ones). We don't expect much hotel wise, we are going on a budget because we would prefer to spend our money on trips and evenings out, as long as we have a bed to crash in that is all that matter. I went to Malta when I was 17 and 18, 20 years ago so I know it will be different (although even then it was a building site) but we want to enjoy the history, Vallata, Mdina etc so I'm not expecting much. Saying that last year we had a budget trip to Albeifeira and people were trying to put us off and we had a great time, found some little local restaurants and ignored some of the louder ones. We are also going third week in September, so don't usually find that's a time the larger louts go (but I could be wrong of course).

Does anyone recommend Sliema or St Julians - are they more traditional?

Yes, Sliema amd particularly St Julians are light years ahead of Bugibba. Loads of fantastic restaurants and much closer to Valletta. Some lovely hotels in the area also such as the Hilton - one ofthe nicest hotels I've been to in any country that I've visited.

I think you either love it or hate it

please no more of this stupidity please !! ever !!

Dont see whats stupid ?? I have always thought that. My late husband hated it, I loved it when I visited this year.

Kath x

the term 'love it or hate it' can and is used for any holiday destination normally by people who have fixed views on what they expect when they arrive. They decide within the first few mins usually because the locals either don't speak English as their first language, you can't get British food or beer and the local prices aren't 1/5th of those in the UK.

Just to clarify we don't want English food or beer, yes being cheaper is nicer so you can enjoy yourself more, but we would prefer non British. As for loving and hating it we went to Rhodes this year and it was my least favourite Greek island. Whereas other people thought it was amazing. We want Malta for Vallatta and the history. So I think we may pick Sliema or St Julians now and just visit Bugibba to see how it has changed after 20 years.

Dont see whats stupid ??

Dear Kath, let me tell you what to us Malta experts is so stupid about that ridiculous british phrase, it's that people who have never ever been to Malta actually believe that it's true before they ever arrive there, or even if they have no intention whatsoever of ever going there, that british phrase has become almost an urban myth amongst brits about Malta and I have heard it said by some very inteligent people and also by some very thick people both types with littlte or no knowledge whatsoever about the Maltese Archipelago which really get's my back up, personally we can't stand the Costa's or all that brit-spanish rubbish, but we simply don't like it not hate it or love it, why don't you hear people saying "Costa Dorada" or "Menorca you either love it or you hate it" ?, I'll tell you why because this particular stupid phrase hasn't been applied to them (yet), but why not ?, it could easily apply !! in fact it could easily apply to anywhere in the world, ie " Huddersfield you either love it or hate it you know" or "Isle of Skye and Lochalsh you either love it or hate it you know" same for Toronto, or Sidney, or Lesotho, or Capetown etc etc etc etc etc, that is why it is a stupid phrase because it's so vague, meaningless, and completely misleading, and for some very odd reason people only seem to apply it to Malta, hope this explains it ok for you.

why don't you hear people saying "Costa Dorada" or "Menorca you either love it or you hate it" ?, I'll tell you why because this particular stupid phrase hasn't been applied to them (yet), but why not ?, it could easily apply !!

6 pages long spanning 4 years

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=75694

I'm not sure if this is the same kind of thing or not, maybe will read through it sometime to see, and will let you know in due course if I consider it to be relevant, but I doubt it somehow.

This really has gone

Poor sooze29 has opened a can of worms over a few very trivial words which are frankly to be honest not worth getting worked up about.

My opinion, as sooze29 has now made her mind up, lock it.

Graham