Hi there, I stayed there in Oct 2003. The hotel is very nice but it is in a bad location, I wrote a report in the hotel section at the time. We called were we were 'brands hatch' as it was on a very busy junction and the traffic was constant, day and night. There is a bottle warehouse next door that starts work at 7am ! It is some distance to walk to anywhere! The food was always luke warm and when I complained the staff argued with me in the restaurant. The pool is only in the sun till 11am then total shade, (you can always get a bed though!)

I have just got back from the Topaz and it was very good there. The food was excellent! (I put on 6 pounds in a week )

Hope this helps

Hi Charliegirl,

Whoops! We,ve just booked a week next month in the Bella Vista!!!!

We had a choice between this hotel and the Topaz and obviously chose wrong. I know Malta quite well but I have to say that the area around Qwara/Buggiba is not our favourite and have never really explored it hence our bad choice.

We might try to change to the Topaz if it is possible. Thanks for your informative report,

Trev

whoops Hope that you can change it but if not it was a very nice hotel just in the wrong place. If you ask for the food to be micro-waved on your plate it is ok, I have a thing about food being hot not luke warm.
But knowing how much you like Malta you will make the best of it like we did, it's only a place to rest your head at the end of the day

Hi Charliegirl,

Well we chatted about changing the hotel but realised that it was also the half term holidays and its probable that their would be quite a few younger residents in the larger hotels anyway. We have therefore decided to stick with the Bella Vista.

As you know we are quite familiar with Malta and so our accomodation isn't quite an issue to us. We were more concerned this time cause we were taking mom, - if you know what I mean. However I intend to be out and about most days and if the food isn't much good then we're happy to eat out. It does worry us though when you suggest that the hotel is 'somewhere to lay your head,' since we hope that the Bella Vista isn't quite that bad.

I shall be giving a full and honest report, whether it be good or bad, on the Bella Vista when I return so that I can ensure that folks know how I felt about staying there,

Trev

Hi Trev, knowing how much you like Malta I am sure that you will all have a fab time regardless of the accomodation, we are going back tommorow, so if I don't get a chance to post in the next day or so, I hope you all have a great holiday next week, the weather forecast isn't to bad either.

Regards
Sliema2

Hello there Sielma2

Enjoy your hols and thanks for all the help. Trev I'm sure your holiday will be grand and you'll probably be out and about more than in the hotel
Good Luck

Hi Slim,

Thanks for your kind comments.

Hi Sliema2,

Thanks also but as you know we will have a fab time whatever. Can't wait to get out there now and yes we looked at the weather forecast and it looks as though it could be okay. saw some rain on the Msida Webcam - or was it the shiny tarmac on the road? Will be reporting back on our return.

Take care,

Trev

Hi Trev, yes the Msida webcam did look quite wet didn't it as did the choose Malta one, we are taking a golf umbrella with us so hopefully we will avoid any down poors over the next week or so, but even if it does rain it will still be nice over there ideal for walking etc, also can't wait to get there now, so much planned such little time to do it all .

Ciao 4 now
Sliema2

Hi Folks,

As promised some feedback on the hotel after our recent stay there.

RECEPTION Clean airy and quite busy at times. Staff generally very good and professional but the young man they employed for the night shift ought to try to speak better English.

POSITION On the corner of a very busy main road. This did not comprise a problem for us but may be something to consider if you are elderley, on your own and not too good on your pins. We could not hear the traffic from the main road from our room, which was positioned around the side but neither did we hear anything of the bottle factory. I would consider the hotel to be a bit out of the way if you did not have transport as we did.

ROOM Quite good really. Room and beds were spotlessly clean, and of a reasonable size. We found the beds to be very comfortable. Unfortunately I have to say that a big negative for us was the amount of noise that we experienced from the plumbing/central heating/air conditioning, which droned on and on at all hours of the day even right through the night!!! This really drove us crackers and for a relatively new hotel thought that this was bad.

RESTAURANT Quite good. Plenty of choice and we did find the food to be hot though we were expecting after reading a report for it to be just luke warm. The room was well organised with waiters escorting guests to a suitable table. We were a bit perturbed by the state of the cutlery and plates which consistently had dried food residues on them from previous meals! Come on Bella Vista you are a 4star hotel - this is not good enough!

DRINKS & ENTERTAINMENT Don't bother with the lager or beer at the hotel. I tried both and they tasted like bilge water. The beer was particularly flat and insipid and as a lover of quality Maltese beer that I know I can get elsewhere I gave drinking their beers a miss. However they do try to put on some entertainment, usually an instumentalist and singer which we thought was quite good.

STAFF As with most Maltese in most cases we found the staff to be okay. However there were one or two complaints I heard from people who said that they thought particularly in the restaurant the staff were purposefully talking Maltese and they were talking about the guests. Can't say I felt the same and with some of the guests I hardly blame them doing this!

The weather wasn't too good but then again what can you expect in Malta at this end of the year? Unfortunately we were all taken ill towards the end of the holiday with the 'vomits'. We've never been ill in Malta before and I was told that there was a bug knocking about the Island causing our illness. The worst of it went within 24 hours but we did feel worn out and are just about recovering. This will NOT put us off going to Malta especially since I bet we're immune to this bug now!

Would we go to the Bella Vista again? Easy answer - NO! There is better in Malta even for what we paid. We're not great fans of the Qwara/Bugibba area and although I think it's the place to be if you want hire a car since you can still find parking spaces in that area, we do really prefer to base ourselves in Sliema, which is where we shall be in August.

By the way we hired our car from Sundrive in Triq-il Touristi, and yet again I have to report that we were well pleased with the car, their excellent service, and what they charged us. Will certainly use them in future.

If you have any specific questions about the Bella Vista please ask,

Trev

Forgot to mention that we arrived in Malta at about midnight but did not get into the hotel until about 2am! Why?- well Chevron decided to drop everyone off before us. The Bella Vista was the last after a very tedious 2hours drive around the back streets of Bugibba and Qwara!! Since we assumed this might happen on our return to the airport a week later, we chose to hire a taxi (Lm10), to get there without all the messing about and felt it was well worth it. If you are travelling with Chevron to this hotel, I suggest you use a taxi to go from and to the airport!!!!! - I hope someone from Chevron is reading this?

Hi Trevor, sorry to hear that you all weren't well during your recent holiday, I hope that it didn't spoil your trip to much and that you are all better now.

Did you manage to get around to the Marina Hotel ?, I had a walk down there on the saturday morning and it all seemed ok to me, to the left of the reception area is the quite nice looking modern Caffe Bottega selling coffee and pastries etc where the trendy locals sit outside sipping cappucinos and latte, I had a brief chat with a couple of reception staff who were very friendly and helpfull and they gave me a rooms tarrif, the sea view rooms must be fantastic as you will have a completely unobstructed view over Marsamxetto towards Valletta which is a view I could easily wake up to every day of my life.

Regards
Sliema2

Hi Sliema2,

Oh yes we certainly did visit the Marina and for a 3Star hotel, yes we were impressed and I think its position is probably one of the best along the Sliema front. What really swayed it for us is that we have a 14 year old son and they are providing him with his own internal room at no extra cost! He is obviously delighted because the days of sleeping in the same room as his mom and dad are now over!

They were kind enough to let us view the rooms and I can tell you that the view from the balcony is excellent. We are of course going there not only for a break but to see the firework display and the festa procession, which will take place while we are there. The hotel position probably gives us the best view of that also.

Regarding the Cafe Bottega, we visited it twice during our recent stay. Really tasty pastries as you said but I also tried their Aracina, a savoury giant rice ball, which contains chicken (or beef). Very tasty indeed. I have to say that I sometimes think we made ourselves sick eating delicious pastizzi, pizza and pea cakes amongst other tasty Maltese foods. I do admit we were rather greedy.

Well we're looking forward to our Summer holiday and I would like to thank you for checking out the Marina since as you know we didn't want to stay in accomodation like what we know about but I will not bother mentioning the name here, if you know what I mean? We do value you opinion as you know so thanks again for checking this one out,

Trev

Hi Trevor, mmmm arrancina, pastizzi, and Maltese pizza now your talking, absolutely delicious washed down with a pint of Kinnie or Hopleaf depending on the time of day, the Perfection Cafe in Valletta does the best of these that I have ever tasted, oh to be back over there today.

Sliema2