Reader tips: Where to stay in Malta

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 6 years ago

Reader tips: Where to stay in Malta

The skyline of Valletta, Malta, with St Paul's Anglican Cathedral and Carmelite Church.

The skyline of Valletta, Malta, with St Paul's Anglican Cathedral and Carmelite Church.

MALTA TEASER

I have recently returned from a trip to Italy that included four days in Malta staying in Old Town Valletta and I don't hesitate to recommend staying there instead of St Julian's or Sliema. They are worth a ferry or bus trip but nothing like staying in an old-world building close to all the sites and restaurants.

The bus station is a short walk so you can get a bus to any location on the island or Gozo for €1.50, all the history sites and churches are at every corner and restaurants galore. Don't miss the firing of the cannons each day at the armoury and do all the ferry trips possible, especially to the three bays area. Great photo opportunities.

We stayed at VB Apartments on Old Bakery Street and do not hesitate recommending it. Alan, the owner, was terrific. It's an old building with the renovated apartment equipped with everything you need and it's a minute to the middle of the Old Town and brilliant restaurants within 50 metres.

R. Lubbock, Sandringham, VIC

GORILLAS IN OUR MIDST

Jamie Lafferty's comments (Traveller, Sunday, April 16) took me back to September 2016 when my wife and I went to Kampala and then Bwindi after a safari journey through east Africa. Jamie's comments about expensive organised treks are right on the money, but it can be money well spent.

The restrictions on contact with the animals meant we had to book a day, two years in advance and then plan the other three weeks of the trip around it. The experience we had was just as described in the report. My wife and I were the oldest travellers in the group and the lead guide said no one would walk faster than my wife.

This was a godsend as they aren't called mountain gorillas for nothing. Fortunately, our trek into the contact area took only 75 minutes; another party took four hours to make contact.

Advertisement

Incidentally, don't take the trip without going into Kampala and exploring the city. It is fascinating, as is the airport at Entebbe. The airport had a series of security rules set out on signs. They ranged from "no guns past this point" as you drive through the car park entry gate to "definitely no guns past this point" as you go into passenger security screening.

David Davies, Callala Beach, NSW

HOSTEL TERRITORY

I had the pleasure of travelling solo on a budget through the US earlier this year and can recommend similar travellers consider staying at the hybrid hostel-hotels that are available. I stayed at the newly opened Quisby in New Orleans, the Jane Hotel in New York, Holiday Jones in Chicago and The Society Hotel in Portland.

These properties were in beautiful heritage period buildings, had vibrant neighbourhoods close to transport, dining and shopping with crisp white linen, fluffy towels and speedy Wi-Fi without the accompanying high prices of hotels.

Robyn Day, Mundaring, WA

NICKO OF TIME

On our Danube cruise a year or two ago, we noted at least 20 different cruise companies between Passau and Budapest but we were pretty happy with our German cruise company, Nicko Cruises.

Our first Nicko cruise was a delight – along the Saar, Moselle, Rhine and Neckar rivers in Germany. On some of those rivers, we were the only river cruisers; it was like being on small country roads before we joined the big (and still breathtaking) highway of the Rhine. Most of the travellers on the Nicko Cruises are German, but the wonderful bilingual crew organised English language tours of cities for us.

Di Kelly, North Wollongong, NSW

GIVING US A SERVE

I refer to the article in Dish in the Take-off column on rummaniyeh (Traveller on Sunday, April 16). It is described as being found in Yaffa in Palestine.

The last time I was in Jaffa it was in Israel at the southern tip of Tel Aviv. I believe, unless your editors know something the rest of the world has not yet caught up with, it is still to be found there.

Marilyn Gross, Brighton, VIC

Sign up for the Traveller newsletter

The latest travel news, tips and inspiration delivered to your inbox. Sign up now.

Most viewed on Traveller

Loading