Our experience is that most places have it free and all you have to do is ask for the password

Where are you staying?

Thanks Kiltman.

We are staying in Bugibba. As it's winter we thought somewhere busy may have more life out of season. Although it has mixed reviews we have gone for the San Anton as most people say it's good value but hasten to add that you get what you pay for.

Hope we haven't made a big mistake in our choice??

As long as we can get wi-fi easily we will be happy.

Thanks again,

Patsiej

You will be fine in the Bugibba and Qawra area, plenty of bars and restaurants to choose from that will give you access to free Wi-Fi including a MacDonalds.

The San Anton is set in the middle of Bugibba and around about a 10 minute leisurely stroll down to the main area of the square once you get you bearings you will soon be able to quickly go up back streets which are PERFECTLY safe.

I am sure you will enjoy the hotel as you are accepting it for what it is and it isn't a bad place, some peoples expectations are too high when they book.

You have a reasonable bus service in the area that will let you explore further and it is well worth getting out and about to see the Island and also Gozo if you get the chance.

When are you going?

Graham

Hi Graham

We are going on 4th Feb. so it's quite soon. We're not expecting too much weather-wise but are hoping it will be dryish. We're hoping to get about a bit and if we'take' to Malta will return when the weather is better. As I said, we have been threatening to go for years but most people say it's a place you either love or hate - no middle ground. Bearing that in mind we couldn't bring ourselves to possibly lose a week of our summer holiday if we didn't like it - hence the February date.

Last February we ventured to Exmouth. It was bitterley cold and not much to do but we got out and about and met some really nice people who we are still in touch with.

We are open minded about Malta - I'm sure we will have a good time.

Thanks for all your help. Will let you know how we get on.

Pat

Hi Pat
I had given information for somebody before so I have updated it a bit for you so perhaps you might find it helpful in planning your stay.

** Bus times and routes may be be subjuct to Change as Arriva have pulled out and the Maltese Government is currently operating the services and they can be a wee bit erratic **

Bugibba / Qawra is handy for local buses which will take you to various parts of the island, for some locations you may have to go in to Valletta to get a bus. The local buses are cheap, if you are going to use the local buses regularly it might be worth considering an unlimited pass, 1 day pass is €1.50 or a 6 day unlimited pass is €6.50

Take a look at the Malta Public Transport website http://www.publictransport.com.mt/home for a lot of information including bus routes and timetables remembering the possible changes mentioned above.

If going to Valletta by bus get off at the main bus terminus at the fountain and enter Valletta through City Gate, there is a major new development being built there at the moment.

I would recommend a visit to the Upper Barrakka Gardens which are only a few minutes from the City Gate, great views and well worth a visit, if you get there for 12 noon you will see the cannons getting fired. You can buy a small map in one of the shops on the left as you enter Valletta or ask for directions.

There are an an amazing variety of attractions to see in Valletta, too many to list and the link at the bottom of the page will help choose, I would recommend going in to St Johns Co-Cathedral which is very ornate, there is a charge to visit this particular church.

If you want to visit a market there is a daily market held until midday in Merchant St, if you want to visit a large market then take a trip to the small fishing village of Marsaxlokk on a Sunday where there is a large market held, this market sells everything and has a large fish market area.

Other places that I would suggest include getting a bus to Rabat / Mdina.
In Rabat you can go and visit the Catacombs then take a wander in to the 'Silent City' of Mdina. Mdina is a lovely old city that has many small streets and alleys, well worth taking a leisurely stroll around.
There are many fine places to have a bight to eat, for lunch I can recommend a small wine bar called Don Mesquita which is located in Mesquita Square next to the Mdina Experience, lovely local food and wine.

While there you might want to visit the Mdina Experience http://www.themdinaexperience.com/ The trailer will give you a taster.

Make sure when in Mdina you go to the top of the city and experience the lovely panoramic views of Malta.

Close to Rabat / Mdina is the Ta' Qali Crafts Village, this can be done on the same day as a trip to Mdina, you can see glassware and many types of craft ware being made and sold here, including lace, pottery, silver filigree jewellery, ironwork, woodwork and leatherwork.

When at Ta' Qali a visit to the Malta Aviation Museum is well worth a visit, you might have to ask for direction as it is a bit of a hidden gem http://www.maltaaviationmuseum.com/

There are 365 churches in Malta so a visit to a couple of them is worth doing, St Johns Co-Cathedral mentioned above is very ornate and most churches are very lovely inside, you may wish to visit the The Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, commonly known as the Rotunda of Mosta or what most tourists call The Mosta Dome.
This church has one of the largest unsupported domes in the world however it is more famous for the bomb that fell through it during the war, the church was full and fortunately the bomb failed to explode.

If the weather is nice and you want to go to a beach you can get a bus up to Mellieha which has a nice beach, don't get off in the town of Mellieha wait until the bus reaches the beach at the bottom or you will have a long walk down

Another nice day out is to get the bus up to Cirkewwa at the North of the island and take the ferry across to Gozo.
Foot passengers pay €4.65 return, when you arrive in Gozo you can either take a taxi or get on the very cheap local bus which will take you in to the capital Victoria (Rabat) you can then get other buses to have a tour around the island, a trip to Xlendi for some lunch over looking the pretty bay maybe?

Marsalforn is the largest resort in Gozo if you wanted to go there.

In Victoria you can take a stroll around the Citadel and the Rabat and also view the lovely countryside in Gozo, also worth going in to the Cathedral of St. Mary, inside the Citadel, this church didn't have a dome duilt so an illusion of a dome was painted on the flat ceiling.

One of the most interesting places if you are in to history or Archaeology even in only the slightest way is the Hypogeum located at Paola in Malta, they only allow 10 visitors per hour in so booking in advance is advisable http://heritagemalta.org/index.php/museums-sites/hal-saflieni-hypogeum/

I don't know if you have children with you but just in case I will mention Popeye Village http://www.popeyemalta.com/

Also worth doing is taking in a local village Festa where the village celebrates their particular Saint, these culminate in a massive firework display on the Sunday night.

There is sooo much more I could mention so I will finally tell you about about the Hop On, Hop Off bus tours.

From Bugibba you can get hop on / off bus tours that take you around the island, there are several tours available, each tour costs €17 and you get on / off at whatever attraction you wish http://www.maltasightseeing.com

If you are looking for some nightlife Paceville (pronounced Patchy Ville] has plenty of pubs / clubs to keep you happy for a week or two, if you want it slightly less lively St Julian's although only a couple of streets away is much more sedate and mature than Paceville.

Take a look at this website for a whole lot more information

http://www.visitmalta.com/main?l=1

Anything else you want to know just ask

Graham

Sorry if the Euro symbol isn't showing correcty in front of the prices above fo some reason.

Wow! I'm very impressed.

You have given us enough information to ensure a packed time in Malta. Thank you so much.

I shall print out and carry with me so that we can tick things off as we do them.

We will certainly buy a map - we tend to do this wherever we go - writing comments on it as we travel around.

I'm really looking forward to our trip.

Thanks once again.

Pat

Glad to be of some help, have a great time

Graham

Another vote for St John's Co-Cathedral in Valetta - worth it if only for the painting of "The Beheading of John the Baptist", by Caravaggio - absolutely stunning! To be fair, though, the whole place is spectacular, whether or not you normally like churches, but that painting...

Thanks doonhamer32. Will definitely go there. I love looking round Cathedrals and Churches. OH doesn't mind the odd one or two so I have to pick and choose!!

If you aren't already overwhelmed with info, here's an extract from my trip report from Sept 2010:

One of the first things we did when we arrived was to buy a Heritage Malta Pass. This costs 30 Euros but allows you to visit 20 different museums & historic sites across Malta and Gozo (excluding the Hypogeum). This covered a lot of our sightseeing during our stay as we managed to visit 18 of the sites. Further details as follows:

Tarxien Temples, Tarxien – only worth a visit if you are in the area as there’s not much to see

Inquisitor's Palace & Maritime Museum, Vittoriosa – both really interesting and worth a visit although we weren’t able to fit in all of the Maritime Museum due to heat and tiredness.

Ħaġar Qim & Mnajdra Temples – one of the best museums on the island – really informative and clear displays in a purpose built air-conditioned building. It was very disappointing that Ħaġar Qim was closed the day we visited but at least it gives us an excuse to go back again in future!

Għar Dalam Cave – the cave is definitely worth a visit if you’re passing but the museum could do with a makeover.

National War Museum, Valletta – a really interesting museum but we really weren’t able to do it justice due to the extreme heat in there that day. If it gets that hot in late September then it must be like an oven in August. Definitely a candidate for air conditioning!

Palace Armoury and the Palace State Rooms, Valletta – Personally I found the Armoury very dull but the State Rooms were worth visiting. They are occasionally closed for state functions though so it’s worth checking if they are open before you visit.

National Museum of Archaeology, Valletta – this gave a good overview of Maltese archaeology which was useful in putting visits to the temples etc into context.

National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta – if you like Fine Arts then you’ll probably find it very interesting but we found it pretty dull.

Domus Romana & St. Paul's Catacombs, Rabat – both fascinating and definitely worth a visit. The displays at the Domus Romana were particularly good.

National Museum of Natural History, Mdina – lots of pretty dull displays of stuffed animals – could definitely benefit from an overhaul!

Museum of Archaeology & Museum of Folklore, Gozo Citadel – Both tiny and hot and not as good as the museums in Valletta. In fact, they were so uninspiring that we didn’t even bother to visit the nearby Natural Science Museum and The Old Prison!

Ä gantija Temples and Ta'Kola Windmill, Xagħra, Gozo – The temples are interesting but there is not enough information displayed around the site. The windmill has similar exhibitions to the Folklore Museum in Victoria and is only worth a visit if you’re passing and want to kill some time.

In addition to all these Heritage Malta sites, we also visited the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum in Paola. This was amazing – and the audio visual tour was very informative – definitely one not to miss. It does get booked up weeks in advance though so make sure you book your tickets online before you got to Malta at http://www.heritagemalta.org/hmshop/hmshop.html.

Our last night in Valletta happened to coincide with the annual Notte Bianca festival which meant that we were able to experience lots of interesting experiences in one night. We particularly liked to fact that we were able to visit The Malta Experience and St John’s co-cathedral for free! Please see http://www.nottebiancamalta.com for further information. By the way, if you do visit the Malta Experience then it’s probably not worth visiting any of the other audio-visual shows on Malta or Gozo because they basically re-hash the same material. Also avoid the ‘Knights of Malta’ walk-through show at Mdina – it was so bad that we would have paid them to let us out early if we could!

Other places worth a visit are Buskett Gardens, Ta’Qali Crafts Village (much better than the one on Gozo), the Blue Grotto (Malta), the Azure Window (Gozo) and the Ta’Pinu Basilica (Gozo). We would also recommend a visit to our wedding venue, the Palazzo Parisio in Naxxar if you like old palaces with lovely gardens. You should definitely spend at least one full day in Valletta as there is so much to see and do and an evening visit is worth doing too.

Hi Corinne76. Thanks very much. Have printed out and will carry with me (in case no wi-fi). Not sure if all the places will be open in the winter but will definitely give some a whirl.

Thanks again.

Pat

Sorry for the delay in getting back to everyone - things have been pretty hectic since we got back from holiday.

We enjoyed our week in Malta. The bus service was excellent - €1.50 for a one day pass or €6 for a weekly pass - I have to say we were all over the island like a cheap suit.

The weather was very good - jeans and t-shirts during the day but cold at night so we were very lucky.

The hotel was OK. As we weren't expecting much we weren't disappointed but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The food was poor (as we were expecting) and the drinks pretty bad (also as we were expecting). Most people seemed to think the food and drink was fine - maybe because it was 'free'???

The staff were lovely and really tried to help everybody.

Thank you all for your help. Your advice was very useful to us.

Patsiej

Glad to hear you enjoyed Malta & got out and about ok

Glad you enjoyed Malta, the buses are very reasonable and make for an adventurous day out

Did the free Melita wi-fi work when you were there? a major problem left it pretty much useless for the 18 days we were there in March/April.

No, I'm afraid the wi-fi was very hit and miss. I did find a couple of bars where I could use it but access was pretty limited. It was possible to get access at the hotel but was expensive so I didn't bother.

Patsiej