Please tell me if this is a reasonable itinerary for Malta!

[VancouverCruiserGirl]

Hi all,

 

We will be in Valletta, Malta on Wednesday, January 13 as part of a cruise on the Norwegian Jade. We are in port from 11:00am to 6:00pm. I was hoping to do the following:

 

-Catch the public bus from Valletta out to Tarxien to explore the temples there

-Come back to Valletta on the public bus

-Visit St. John's Co-Cathedral, the National Museum of Archaeology, the Upper Barracca Gardens, and then just generally wander around the city a bit, maybe grab a quick bite to eat

 

So my question is this: is this a manageable schedule given the time we have in port? My understanding is that it takes a while (about 30 minutes?) to get to the Tarxien temples by bus. Assuming that is the case, we would arrive around noon, spend an hour there, and leave at about 1:00pm or so, returning to Valletta about 1:30pm, leaving about 4 hours for the other sites.

 

Thoughts welcome! And if anyone wants to suggest different sites to visit, please feel free! Thanks!

[VancouverCruiserGirl]

Alternately, we were also thinking of going to St. Paul's / St. Agatha's Catacombs in Rabat instead of going to Tarxien, although I understand the catacombs are farther away from Valletta. Input welcome!

[CintiPam]

You can do it; a direct bus should take 15 minutes max to the Tarxien Temples. (We took the bus back from there in June.) However, I will admit that I was not overwhelmed with them at all. If you are interested, I certainly would recommend a one-hour visit to the the fantastic Hypogeum, neolithic underground burial sight near the Tarxien Temples. Only 10 people per hour admitted, so you must book in advance. A visit there makes the side trip worthwhile; I would not bother leaving town for just the Tarxien Temples.

 

See the visitmalta tourist website (excellent) for more details. That and the Co-Cathedral to me are the two best sights to visit for a one-day port trip.

 

I also recommend visiting the Archeological Museum before your visit to the temples; you will appreciate them (and the Hypogeum) a lot more in the context provided.

 

Enjoy your day in Malta!

[VancouverCruiserGirl]

You can do it; a direct bus should take 15 minutes max to the Tarxien Temples. (We took the bus back from there in June.) However, I will admit that I was not overwhelmed with them at all. If you are interested, I certainly would recommend a one-hour visit to the the fantastic Hypogeum, neolithic underground burial sight near the Tarxien Temples. Only 10 people per hour admitted, so you must book in advance. A visit there makes the side trip worthwhile; I would not bother leaving town for just the Tarxien Temples.

 

See the visitmalta tourist website (excellent) for more details. That and the Co-Cathedral to me are the two best sights to visit for a one-day port trip.

 

I also recommend visiting the Archeological Museum before your visit to the temples; you will appreciate them (and the Hypogeum) a lot more in the context provided.

 

Enjoy your day in Malta!

 

Hi CintiPam,

 

Thanks for your input, it is appreciated! We're leaning towards doing the St. Agatha/St. Paul's Catacombs in Rabat, instead of Tarxien - it's further away but looks very interesting.

 

Any idea if it's reasonable to travel out to Rabat, back to Valletta, and see the Museum and St. John's Co-Cathedral?

 

Or would it be better to go to the Museum and Cathedral before the catacombs?

 

As for the Hypogeum, all the tickets were booked months ago, before I found out about it! :( And I've been all over the visitmalta site and heritagemalta site - lots of great info there! Now I just need to decide what to do and when!

[CintiPam]

Sorry that I can provide no answer to your question because we spent our entire port day in Valletta except for our visit to the Hypogeum and Tarxien Temples, so I have no sense of the timing needed. Usually people recommend you visit the furthest site first when you have a short amount of time, but the Co-Cathedral is such a highlight that I am not sure that I would do that in your case.

 

Perhaps frequent poster hat, who lives in Malta, will see this thread and provide you with an answer.

[hat776]

Once you don't have tickets for the Hypogeum I don't think it is worth going to Tarxien.

If you do go to Rabat , make sure you don't miss Mdina (the medieval capital) - it adjoins Rabat. The narrow roads, palaces and cathedral together with the views make it a must.

Go to Rabat first then return to Valletta. Do as you said and then just walk down to your ship. Remember to go to the Barakka while it's still light.

However, the buses from Valletta to Rabat are not that frequent and if you miss one you'll have a wait of about 15 min. The trip will take about 40 min .

Put 'Valletta' "Mdina' in the search box to see previous discussions.

 

Also go to Trip Advisor on the Malta or Valletta forum. Have a look at the Top Questions about cruising.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g190311-i348-Malta.html

[lambs2]

Hi all,

 

We will be in Valletta, Malta on Wednesday, January 13 as part of a cruise on the Norwegian Jade. We are in port from 11:00am to 6:00pm. I was hoping to do the following:

 

-Catch the public bus from Valletta out to Tarxien to explore the temples there

-Come back to Valletta on the public bus

-Visit St. John's Co-Cathedral, the National Museum of Archaeology, the Upper Barracca Gardens, and then just generally wander around the city a bit, maybe grab a quick bite to eat

 

So my question is this: is this a manageable schedule given the time we have in port? My understanding is that it takes a while (about 30 minutes?) to get to the Tarxien temples by bus. Assuming that is the case, we would arrive around noon, spend an hour there, and leave at about 1:00pm or so, returning to Valletta about 1:30pm, leaving about 4 hours for the other sites.

 

Thoughts welcome! And if anyone wants to suggest different sites to visit, please feel free! Thanks!

You can absolutely do the agenda you outlined! Last February we did just about the same plan, except our first stop was the Hypogeum with 8 other members from our roll call where we had all booked timed tickets to see this World Heritage Site. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! Just before we went to the Hypogeum we walked to where the Tarxien temples are located. We saw what you could see from the outside without paying the admission to them. When we first exited the cruise ship they made us go through the cruise terminal. From there we caught the port tourist bus (about €1.5 pp roundtrip, I think) to the center of Valletta where all the city buses are. I had a list of bus numbers as there are several that will take you to the Tarxien Temples and the Hypogeum. Our tour there lasted an hour, then we caught the city bus back to Valletta. Toured the Co-cathedral (expensive about €12 pp, but definitely WORTH seeing!), St. Paul's shipwreck church (fabulous and FREE!!!) and right near the Co-Cathedrals. We tried to get to the Museum and/or Armory, but they were both closed that day for some reason. We then walked to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, did some glass and other souvenir shopping, plus great snacks along the way before catching the tourist bus back to the pier. We also went to the ramparts of the fort to see the view from there. We kept our eyes on the time and had no problem staying on the plan we mapped out. Even had time to do some more shopping at the port shops before getting back onboard for sail-away! Have a great cruise!