Short break to Malta 2022

I was lucky last year to win a prize for two people including flights and accommodation sponsored by the Malta Tourism Authority. I decided to take my wife on this amazing prize to see Malta as we hadn’t been for a while. We flew from Stansted on Saturday 11 June flying with Ryanair early morning flight. The flight to Malta was very quick under 3 hours. The flight was fully booked with NO seats left! I hadn’t realised that Malta was such a popular destination but it’s great for a short break or even a city break. When we arrived at Malta airport, Passport and immigration was very quick. It was our first flight since the lifting of Covid restrictions which felt great not having to complete any forms or show any proof of vaccination. We took a shared transfer to our hotel which I had pre-booked in the UK. We weren’t any rush to get to our hotel as check in at the hotel is normally around 3pm, but luckily when we arrived our room was available at the InterContinental in St Julian Bay where we were staying for the next two nights. We had a lovely room on the 13th floor room number 1312 which had great views of the town and sea. A word of warning though that this area is a lively area and music will be played in clubs and bars and you might hear noise from your room. As we only had two days we dumped our bags and explored St Julian which is a lovely town, very lively especially at night time with the clubs and bars. We managed to see the shopping centre plus the beaches whilst walking around St Julian during the afternoon on our first day. The weather was very pleasant with a lovely sea breeze. We had to try the Malta bubble waffle which contains some yummy toppings like Nutella, M&Ms, marshmallow and Kinder Bueno, the cost around 7.50 per waffle as a special treat to ourselves. It was a lovely dessert to try. We decided to have an early night after getting up so early for the flight plus wanting to explore more of Malta the next day! The hotel is in a great location with shops, bars and restaurants on the doorstep. The hotel has its own private beach area with beach club only 10 minutes walk from the hotel. It also has an outdoor pool plus indoor pool onsite. The hotel was very busy over the weekend we stayed. It seems to cater for everyone as there were families, groups and couples staying and enjoying themselves. I would certainly stay at this hotel in the future. Breakfast was great with a good choice of options as buffet choice with an egg station for omelettes, pancakes, etc. The next day (Sunday), we decided to explore some of Malta by foot. We walked from our hotel in St Julia to Silema ,which was a lovely walk along the coast seeing beautiful churches and lovely waterfront restaurants and bars. Along the route we did see a few buses pass us. We found Malta to be very big with families spending time together on Sundays which was lovely to see. Another wonderful day with the weather. We were tempted to get into the sea as the weather was very hot, over 34c. Once we arrived in Silema it was nice to see the boats in the marina. It also has a nice shopping centre. We particularly loved Spinola Bay, it had a great vibe with nice restaurants and bars plus a marina, it’s a must when visiting Malta. Paceville is the party area of Malta if you want to go clubbing. Later that evening we had dinner in the St George Bay area near to the hotel. The restaurant was reasonable priced for food and drinks. There are a few restaurants in this area and we both would love to try a Maltese restaurant when we come back again. Our final day (Monday) we had lunch at Corinthia Palace Hotel with Louise the sales director who also showed us around her hotel which was amazing. We had a lovely lunch with drinks. The food was excellent with fresh produce. We both loved the hotel, it serves a lovely afternoon tea. The hotel is having a major refurbishment at the end of season so it will look amazing when it reopens again. The hotel is great for pre and post stay cruises. We would love to stay at this hotel as not far from Valletta. Sadly it was time to go back home after a wonderful 2 nights and we would definitely come back and explore more of Malta and Gozo next time. Our flight back home was also fully booked. A special thanks to Peter from the Malta Tourism Authority and Louise from Corinthia Palace Hotel for making this trip so brilliant.