The 72 Best Places to Eat and Stay in Malta

Four 17th-century townhouses knitted together along St. Barbara Bastion, with the Grand Harbour spread out below like someone forgot to put a ceiling on the city. This boutique hotel holds 23 rooms and suites, some with plunge pools, some where the bathtub faces the water, all dressed in sharp contemporary interiors and bold sculpture. A Forbes Five Star property, with a spa built into the ancient stone vaults beneath it all.

Simon Rogan, the chef behind the three-starred L'Enclume in the Lake District, brings his farm-to-table philosophy to Valletta's waterfront, where ION Harbour holds two Michelin stars and a view of the Grand Harbour that does a lot of the heavy lifting. It's a tasting menu restaurant on the fourth floor of a hotel, local producers get name-checked, and the wine cellar runs to 500 bottles explored through curated pairings. Request a window table.

The gardens alone could justify the address, sitting just outside Valletta's UNESCO-listed gates with an infinity pool glittering beyond them. This grand colonial-era hotel carries its art deco bones well through 132 rooms dressed in Mediterranean blues and pinks. A spa with a salt room, an onsite vegetable garden feeding the restaurant, and a terrace bar pouring local Maltese wine round out what is, by any measure, a full-stay proposition. It holds a Forbes Four Star.

A former noble goldsmith's palazzo in the heart of Valletta, now a 25-room luxury boutique hotel where Baroque bones get dressed up in colored marble, bold wallpaper, and warm wood. Each room is different, the rooftop bar overlooks the old city, and a plunge pool turns up where you'd least expect one. Victor Borg's fine-dining restaurant Under Grain is downstairs for when the occasion demands it.

The outdoor terrace looks out over Malta's eastern flank all the way to the coast, which goes some way toward explaining why a meal here takes its time. De Mondion is a fine dining room on the top floor of a Mdina palazzo, holding a Michelin star, with modern Mediterranean cooking that leans French when the mood takes it. Inside, the room is carpeted and hushed; outside, the view does most of the talking.

A Michelin-starred fine dining room tucked into a quiet Sliema side street, with a wine list of over 700 labels that suggests the team takes the glass as seriously as the plate. The menu is short and seasonal, built around a handful of carefully chosen ingredients and shifted whenever the market calls for it. Service is the kind that anticipates without hovering, which in Malta still passes for a minor miracle.

A rooftop fine-dining room on the eleventh floor of a Sliema hotel, Le GV takes its design cues from the Orient Express, all plush glamour and old-world drama. An open kitchen turns out a short, creative menu that moves between Japanese technique and French instinct, and the single dessert option quietly expands into two or three very good reasons to stay. It holds a Michelin star.

A stone barrel-vaulted ceiling and a menu map marking every supplier's location set the tone at this Michelin-starred dining room tucked beneath a historic Valletta townhouse. The tasting menu moves through Malta's seasons with local ingredients and traditional recipes given a quiet creative push. A wine list with a dedicated vintage section keeps serious drinkers occupied while the staff, attentive without hovering, does the rest of the talking for the kitchen.

A Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant tucked into a Maltese villa above Balluta Bay, where the first-floor dining room feels deliberately removed from the street and tourist noise below. An Italian chef runs the kitchen, putting out six or eight course surprise menus that lean contemporary and international without losing the thread back to Malta, including local cheeses from small producers that show up late and earn their place.

Diners pass the open kitchen before settling under a vaulted stone ceiling in Valletta's old merchant quarter, which partly explains the tailor-shop theme running through the room, from sewing-pattern menus to a pincushion bill. This Michelin-starred creative restaurant lets you build your own tasting menu from an à la carte list where the chef pairs mussels with Gorgonzola and passion fruit as casually as breathing. The bread course alone references his childhood.

The only hotel inside Mdina's walled Silent City, this converted palazzo sits above the Maltese countryside with views that make the drive up the hill feel obvious in retrospect. Stone corridors, a fine-dining terrace restaurant, and a trattoria downstairs keep you from having to leave, which is convenient given that not much else is open after dark in a city with almost no permanent residents.

The infinity rooftop pool on the highest floor looks out over Sliema's rooftops to the Mediterranean, which is already a strong argument for checking in. This hotel sits in the center of town, a short walk from the sea, with 149 rooms including suites themed around the five senses, which sounds gimmicky until you're in one. An indoor pool, spa, and sauna mean rainy-day options, and the Asian-inspired ninth-floor restaurant handles dinner without making you leave.

A 17th-century palazzo at the top of Republic Street, painstakingly restored so the frescoed ceilings and stone archways read like originals, because they are. This small luxury hotel earns its Michelin Key; rooms trade period grandeur for underfloor heating and double-glazed windows without apology, and the terrace sweeps from the city gates to the old Royal Opera House. The in-house restaurant, Mezzodi, runs Italian all day for guests who can't face leaving.

Balluta Bay frames every window here, and the architects of a hefty renovation clearly decided to get out of its way. The Malta Marriott is a 301-room resort in St. Julian's where the Mediterranean view does most of the heavy lifting, backed up by a spa, an indoor pool, three outdoor pools, four restaurants, and golf access at Royal Malta Golf Club. Locally made cement tiles and hand-blown glass keep things grounded in something more interesting than generic luxury.

The Boathouse Lounge occupies a converted old boathouse right at the water's edge, which gives you a sense of the peninsula's geography: the Westin Dragonara sits on its own private spit of land jutting into the Mediterranean. It's a full-scale resort, with five restaurants, a casino, a beach lido, and suites that come with freestanding tubs and their own terraces directly above the sea. The kind of place where you can genuinely not leave for three days and feel no guilt about it.

Most of Malta's luxury boutique hotels cluster around Valletta, which makes this adults-only hotel and spa in the northern village of Mellieħa a deliberate detour. Art Deco elegance meets modernist furnishings across generous rooms with oversized four-poster beds, and the spa and indoor pool lean into the quiet in a way city properties rarely can. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

Strait Street was once Valletta's notorious sailors' quarter, and the Embassy has landed squarely in the middle of it as a sleek contemporary boutique hotel that owes more to now than to nostalgia. Rooms mix monochromes with deeper accent colors, and the better ones open onto terraces above the old city's rooftops. The rooftop pool and glass-walled Mediterranean restaurant take the view everyone came for.

Yellow limestone walls, palm-fringed pools, and seven acres of semi-tropical garden on Gozo, Malta's quieter second island, set the scene at this resort. The 137 rooms come in neutral tones with brown marble bathrooms and balconies, the spa runs a full hydrotherapy circuit and one of Europe's larger ayurvedic centers, and two restaurants lean on produce grown on the grounds. Unhurried is the operative word here.

A restored 17th-century palazzo on one of Valletta's oldest streets, this boutique hotel keeps the honeyed limestone bones of the building intact while fitting each room out in clean, contemporary style. No two rooms are the same shape, a gift of the original floor plan. There's a small spa, breakfast is on, and the old town is right outside, which is where you'll want to be anyway. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

A 19th-century Valletta townhouse that skipped the velvet-and-restoration route entirely: AX The Saint John is a boutique hotel where old ceiling beams sit above contemporary furniture and a curated spread of archival photographs keeps things grounded. Rooms run from snug Comfort doubles up to a quad that fits four. The in-house bar and dining is a British gastropub called the Cheeky Monkey, which feels like a deliberate joke and somehow works. Twenty-four-hour staff, central location.

The former residence of the leader of the Knights of Malta is now a 39-room boutique hotel, and the marble floors in the bedrooms look freshly laid. Baroque bones are intact throughout, while the bathrooms go classic in stone and tile but sneak in walk-in rain showers. The in-house restaurant runs from a hearty breakfast down to Mediterranean dinners in an elegant cellar. Old Valletta's bars, bakeries, and historic sites are right outside.

Stone walls and original timber beams share space with pastel murals of nature scenes in this 13-room boutique hotel on the edge of old Valletta, where the decorating instinct runs cheerfully whimsical. No two rooms are the same, though all are plush and up-to-date. A rooftop plunge pool and a spa tucked into the old cellar round things out, and the breakfast is enough that the lack of a restaurant barely registers given the neighborhood outside.

Six rooms tucked behind an unmarked door in Valletta, each named after a Coleridge poem and furnished like a well-traveled scholar's home. The 17th-century building has antique pieces, textured fabrics, and original artwork without tipping into museum territory. It reads as a private townhouse that happens to take guests, which suits Valletta's compact, walkable old city perfectly. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

A baroque noble palace on a Valletta street, turned boutique hotel without losing the plot. The marble floors and vaulted ceilings are original; the velvet and design flourishes nod to the aristocratic women who lived here across the centuries. Forty-four rooms, an indoor spa, and a rooftop deck with Grand Harbour views that make the rest of the Mediterranean feel faintly apologetic. Selected by the Michelin Guide.

A converted townhouse hotel on a quiet Valletta street, with the original stone façade intact and the inside stripped back to something sharply contemporary: black, white, and flashes of golden yellow, with local art on every floor. Rooms adapt to the old building's odd angles, some running across two levels. Breakfast and a sunset aperitivo both happen on the roof terrace, with harbor views that do most of the heavy lifting.

Lamb-stuffed pitas with harissa and yoghurt sit on the same menu as eggplant stew with spiced rice and a profiterole filled with pistachio cream, which gives you a fair picture of what the three brothers running this casual Gzira seafront restaurant are up to. They've travelled widely and the menu follows, swinging between Morocco, Japan, Iran, Venezuela, and Italy without breaking a sweat. A Michelin Bib Gourmand keeps the younger crowd coming back.

The building has been standing since before anyone's grandfather was born, and the family running this Mellieħa restaurant has been here nearly as long, once keeping the Royal Marines fed and watered. Exposed brickwork and contemporary furniture split the difference between tavern and dining room, and the Mediterranean menu leans on fresh, simply handled ingredients. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the pappardelle with duck ragù is the dish regulars don't skip.

A modern bistro on Valletta's main pedestrian strip, with a shaded alfresco section that fills up fast on warm evenings. The kitchen keeps things unfussy, leaning into simple Mediterranean cooking rather than anything trying to prove a point. It also opens for breakfast, which is either convenient or dangerous depending on your plans. The Michelin Guide has awarded it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks with the feel of the place.

The menu is a blackboard on the wall, and the room has been old-school Valletta for longer than anyone working there can remember. This is a no-fuss traditional restaurant in the heart of the historic centre, the kind of place that earns a Michelin Bib Gourmand by cooking rabbit braised in red wine with a sweet-and-sour finish rather than by impressing anyone with the decor. Regulars already know what they want; first-timers are taken care of by the owner.

A bistro-trattoria in Mgarr where the menu leans on local farmers and changes with what's good that week, the daily specials written up on a blackboard the staff are happy to talk you through. The cooking is Mediterranean with a strong bias toward land over sea, and the plates are generous enough that portion anxiety is not the problem here. The Michelin Guide has given it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks for a room this unfussy and this focused.

The building once hoisted entire ships out of the water with a crane, which sets the tone. This luxury hotel in Senglea keeps the 16th-century limestone arches and vaulted ceilings and wraps ultra-modern Italian furniture and slate floors around them. Some suites face the Grand Harbour, some face the ancient stone walls themselves, and the rooftop pool at sunset makes a pretty persuasive case for both. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

The reds, golds, and oranges hit you before the postmodernist furniture does, which is saying something. HOLM is a luxury boutique hotel in St Julian's, a short walk from Valletta's chaos and ten minutes from the airport, with a spa menu that runs from saunas and steam rooms to a Himalayan salt room and ice cabin. Some suites come with terrace jacuzzis. No restaurant, but the waterfront historic district is right outside the door.

A Zaha Hadid tower rising twenty stories over St. George's Bay sets the mood at this design-forward hotel in the middle of St. Julian's. Radio Rooftop pulls the skyline view into every drink, while downstairs the hotel connects straight into a marina, a casino, and a shopping center, which is either very convenient or very dangerous depending on your willpower. Valletta is close enough for a day trip without feeling like you're sleeping inside a guidebook.

A six-suite hotel inside Mdina's ancient walls, occupying a 14th-century palazzo that once belonged to a Knight of Malta. The restoration leans into the bones: limestone arches, herringbone floors, and moody wallpaper that takes the history seriously without turning it into a museum. A rooftop pool looks over the skyline, and a courtyard café serves pastries under ivy below. The silent city outside is half the point; the insulation from it is the other half.

A terrace facing the Grandmaster's Palace is a hard setting to compete with, and 59 Republic leans into it. This is an international restaurant in the heart of Valletta, with a pink-accented dining room downstairs that takes itself just seriously enough. The kitchen ranges freely across cuisines, and the dark chocolate and caramel mousse has become the kind of dessert regulars plan their evening around.

A sleek basement Japanese restaurant tucked off Strait Street, where every table faces the open kitchen and a long bar runs the full length of the room. The menu leans Asian with a Maltese accent, and the staff know it cold enough to steer you well. The Saikyo Miso Black Cod is the kind of dish that makes the rest of the menu feel like a warm-up act.

A two-floor restaurant tucked into Xagħra's main square, with a small terrace out front that gives little away. The chef, a Toronto transplant, runs a focused meat-and-seafood kitchen where the cooking stays close to the ingredient and doesn't overcomplicate things. The wine list travels well beyond Malta, and the service is warm without hovering. Exactly the kind of neighborhood spot Gozo does quietly and well.

A fine-dining restaurant on the first floor of the Corinthia Palace Hotel, named after a local variety of orange. Each dish on the tasting menu arrives with a note tracing it to a specific Maltese village, which is either charming or a lot, depending on your mood. The "leave it in your hands" option suits guests who like a chef to take the wheel entirely. The cooking is rooted in Maltese tradition but leans forward.

Moored boats bob a few metres from the window at this French bistro on the Ta' Xbiex waterfront, which makes the crowd fairly self-selecting. The Parisian-style room is lively and unfussy, the menu sticks to the classics, and the bartender handles a cocktail shaker with the quiet confidence of someone who hasn't needed to improvise in years. A small beach waits just below for the post-lunch drift.

The aged beef hangs in a glass cabinet near the door, which tells you everything about priorities here. Caviar & Bull is an upmarket seafront restaurant in St Julian's built around, yes, caviar and prime beef, with a cocktail bar attached where the recipes come bound in a personalised book alongside Cuban cigars. Service runs at private-club levels of attentiveness. The kind of place you dress for.

A few steps below street level in old Rabat, The Cave is literally carved from rock and comes with its own tasting menu, which sets the mood before a single plate arrives. Grotto Tavern is a modern cuisine restaurant split between that candlelit grotto and a garden room dense with ornamental plants. The cooking stays close to Maltese produce and tradition, then nudges both in a quieter, more creative direction.

Stone walls that look like they've been there since the Knights of St. John frame two snug dining rooms in the heart of Valletta. This intimate restaurant skips the outdoor-seating arms race and focuses instead on Maltese surf and turf, with tasting menus that split neatly into Land and Sea, plus an à la carte option for the uncommitted. Ingredients are local and seasonal, and the wine list pulls from Malta, Italy, and France. Book ahead.

A basement dining room on a Valletta backstreet, Kaiseki serves Mediterranean cooking with a quiet but persistent Japanese influence running through it. The menu moves comfortably between a cauliflower and goat's cheese risotto and Japanese fried rice with char siu, which either sounds chaotic or exactly right depending on your mood. Cosy, informal, and easy on the wallet by Maltese fine dining standards, it pulls off the crossover without making a fuss about it.

A display case of the day's catch greets you at the door of this Sicilian trattoria tucked into a business centre in St. Julian's. The menu leans Mediterranean and generously so, with house-made pasta doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The front-of-house team is the kind that notices things. It draws a lunch crowd worth knowing about, so a reservation is the sensible move.

A fine-dining restaurant on the top floor of the Grand Hotel Gozo, with the port of Mgarr spread out below the terrace and the Mediterranean stretching past it. The chef came home to Gozo after years in serious kitchens abroad, and the cooking shows it: modern Mediterranean plates that lean Italian in the first courses, with house-made pasta turning up regularly. The cocktail list holds its own against a well-chosen wine selection.

The terrace here is the opening argument: a sweep of sun and sea views big enough to make you forget what you ordered. LOA is a South American fusion restaurant in St Paul's Bay that hops between Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Mexico in a single menu, bold flavors and creative plating rather than any one tradition. The pre-dinner cocktails are taken seriously, which is a good sign for the kitchen's intentions.

A bistro tucked into the old stone streets of Valletta, One80 runs a Mediterranean menu broad enough that vegetarians and dedicated carnivores rarely argue over who got the better deal. The chef pulls from serious international experience, and the wine list leans hard toward prestigious Italian producers. The kind of place where the room is low-key but the cooking has ambitions, and the daily fresh catch keeps even the regulars guessing.

Across from the Basilica of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, this creative dining room runs on French technique filtered through a chef with a restless passport. Maltese rabbit sits alongside Italian ravioli and the occasional Japanese detour, and the whole thing holds together more convincingly than it has any right to. The room is sleek and composed, the cooking precise, and nobody in this neighborhood is doing anything quite like it.

A terrace at the gates of the silent city, with the Maltese coastline spread out below it, sets the scene at this Mediterranean restaurant in Mdina. The kitchen leans into local seafood and carefully sourced meat, and the staff seem to genuinely enjoy steering you toward the right choice. Parking in Mdina being what it is, a taxi is the move unless you're already staying close.

The alfresco terrace leans out toward the water with Fort St. Angelo at your back and a fractured view of Valletta's skyline ahead. This is a sit-down Mediterranean restaurant where the chef leans into Maltese and Italian traditions, running a wood-fired oven that does right by local fish. The entrance is currently tucked around the rear of the building, which is less glamorous than advertised, but the room itself is worth the wrong-side-of-the-building walk.

Each dish arrives with a small tile naming a Valletta street and a note about its history, which is either the most charming conceit in modern Mediterranean dining or proof that Malta will find a way to make you feel underdressed and undereducated simultaneously. The terrace looks straight out over the Grand Harbour, and the indoor room is a converted icehouse. The kitchen plays its setting straight, with imaginative, modern cooking that earns the atmosphere rather than coasting on it.

The name comes from the old city gates cut into Valletta's baroque fortifications, and the pizza here leans into that setting without making it a theme park. This is a Neapolitan-style pizza restaurant where the dough is taken seriously and the toppings run from quiet classics to slightly bolder combinations. Drinks lean Italian, with coffee and aperitif cocktails both on the table as legitimate options.