What to Do During Your 7 Days In Malta Trip (Itinerary, Tips) With Family in 2026

Family trip to Malta

As mentioned before, this trip was done with my family. My parents, my 2 sisters and my 2 nephews. My husband and my brother in laws did not join since one of them couldn’t come and hence the other two automatically backed out of the trip.

Since we were going with elderly parents and young children, this trip was an extremely relaxed trip and we tried to accommodate the rest schedules of my parents and my toddler nephew.

We did not over-schedule the trip and hence it was a very relaxed trip.

Why did we choose a Malta itinerary?

This was during December vacations and we were already in Dubai for a family function.

So we wanted to go somewhere which was a short distance from Malta. The exact condition was a max 6-7 hour direct flight from Dubai because it was going to be the longest flight that the toddler had taken till then.

We initially thought we would choose somewhere in Africa. But nothing worked out with our requirements.

When we decided to vacation in Europe during Christmas, dad was very clear that he did not want a place that had snow since he did not want to go to a cold country.

Our final two options were Malta and Italy and we ended up choosing Malta since me and my sisters had gone multiple times to Italy on previous trips.

Another reason we chose Malta was because of the wide range of Indian restaurants available compared to Sicily or Naples in our list.

Do you need a visa to visit Malta?

Yes, Indians do require a visa to visit Malta and Malta is part of the Schengen visa agreement.

You can find my detailed post on how to apply for a Malta visa below.

When is the best time to visit Malta?

Everyone would argue that summer is the best time to visit Malta since it is a Mediterranean destination.

But please note that summers in Malta are crowded and more expensive.

We wanted a destination with Mediterranean climate in winters and that is why Malta was a great choice for us.

We could manage with a jacket at all times and we chose a hotel which had an indoor heated pool.

Yes, I would love to go back to go swimming in the waters of Malta during summer one day.

We also got the vibe of an European Christmas during our trip to Malta.

How many days are required in Malta?

Malta is actually a comparatively smaller country in Europe. You can actually drive across the main island in less than 3-4 hours.

We ended up doing a 7 days Malta itinerary. But like I said, ours was a very relaxed itinerary and hence you could even do the things we did as a 5 day Malta itinerary.

Also, since we did a Malta in winter itinerary, we needed lesser time than a summer itinerary in Malta.

How to Reach Malta?

We flew Emirates from Dubai to Luqa international airport. We did have a fuel stopover in Cypress for one hour and the whole journey takes around 7.5 hours.

I flew back with Air Malta in association with Swiss Air to Paris with a stopover in Zurich.

Lufthansa also has great connections to Malta.

How to get around Malta?

We did not end up renting a car in Malta since I had just gotten out of the hospital after a lung infection and really did not feel like driving.

My sisters were not interested too and hence we relied on taxis all through our 1 week in Malta.

Make sure to download Bolt before you go and it ends up being much cheaper than Uber. It is also pretty affordable to get around Malta.

Even though they had vans available to fit our family, we only tried them out couple of times since my mom had trouble getting in and out of the vans with her bad knee.

So we ended up booking 2 cars to go everywhere. Also, some cabs had the car seat available too for the toddler.

The furthest we went was to catch the ferry to Gozo and Comino and that was around 40 mins from our hotel.

Despite not having our own rental, we managed to get around everywhere during this Malta road trip itinerary.

If you are planning to drive in Malta, then please understand that parking can be a problem especially when you go into the narrow lanes of the capital city of Valletta.

Where to stay in Malta

We ended up staying in St Julian’s Bay since it was relatively in the center of the island and we could get everywhere in less than 30 mins.

There are multiple 5 star hotels in the area and we ended up choosing Malta Mariott Resort and Spa.

It was the perfect spot to spend our Malta vacation during Christmas. We ended up getting 3 rooms with bathtubs and balconies for our family. They were also huge for European standards.

They had an excellent breakfast spread and they had many facilities available for kids including an indoor heated pool. The outdoor pool was closed during winters.

They even arranged a Christmas choir sung by kids on Christmas eve.

Ordering food in Malta

Another thing that we did a lot was ordering Indian food every night. And we used the app Wolt for this and our hotel did allow us to order food from outside every day.

Since there are lots of Indians in Malta, we had no dearth of options for Indian food in Malta.

We did try some traditional Maltese cuisine too. But my parents and the kids preferred Indian food every night.

Airport transfers in Malta

We had prebooked our airport transfer before we landed in Malta. It was approximately 35 euros one way for a van for our family.

We used the same guy on the way back too. We used Viator for this.

How much to budget for 7 Day Malta itinerary?

The biggest expense definitely will have to be your flights.

We chose a luxury hotel and it came to around 2800$ for 3 rooms for our 7 nights in Malta.

This will definitely become more expensive during summers since it is approximately 200$ per night per room during summer.

Food would come to around 100$ per day for our family of 7. Cab trips were around 8-20 euros per trip.

We did only couple of guided tours and that was approximately 30 euros per adult per tour.

Malta was deinitely much more affordable compared to other countries in Europe.

Currency in Malta

They use Euros just like the rest of the Europe. Do carry some Euros but we used cards for apps like Bolt and Wolt.

Malta holiday itinerary: What to see in Malta

These are some of the things to do in Malta as a family and you should definitely try them out when you are in Malta.

St Julian’s Bay

I ended up choosing St Julian’s Bay as our base after a lot of research for our Malta 7 day itinerary. It was centrally located but was not crowded like the capital, Valletta.

Another plus point was that it had a lot of hotels and restaurants and it was so much more easier for us to get Indian food especially food for the kids easily.

Since it was our vacation, we did not want to cook and hence having so many restaurants to choose from nearby was definitely a plus.

The capital city of Valletta was just 15 mins away by car.

We did go exploring around the area. The promenade was definitely the highlight with many cathedrals too.

If you are someone who loves to party, this is the area with the biggest nightlife in Malta.

This is located in the Northeastern part of the island.

The views were stunning during winter too and it was so dramatic with the turquoise blue waters.

If you are planning to explore the country by bus, this area was well connected with buses.

You can go swimming in either Ballutta Bay or Spinola bay when the water temperatures are good.

They also had malls with designated play areas for the kids.

St Paul’s Bay

Most people end up choosing between St Julian’s Bay and St Paul’s Bay when they are looking to stay in Malta.

Both are former fishing villages now converted to seaside resort towns and have a great deal to offer.

St Paul’s Bay is in the North part of the island and is again approximately 20 mins from St Julian’s Bay.

It is considerably cheaper to live in St Paul’s Bay and relatively quieter compared to St Julian’s Bay because it doesn’t have that much of a party scene like St Julian’s.

Our main purpose to go to St Paul’s Bay was the Malta National Aquarium. My nephew is an avid marine life enthusiast and he loves to visit aquariums when we travel.

This one was a far smaller one than the ones that he is used to in UAE. But he still enjoyed it and it was a great option for us to go explore St Paul’s Bay too.

You will ideally spend around 2 hours in the aquarium.

Additionally, there is a Classic Car Museum for those who are interested.

Visit the promenade around Bugibba square too.

Most Gozo and Comino ferries start from here too.

Valletta

Every Malta trip planner will have Valletta on their list. After all, it is the tiny southernmost European capital of Malta.

What I loved about my visit to Valletta is the architecture. Everything is in the Baroque style and so Medieval.

Most of the city was built in the 15th century and this is also the place where you can find those colourful windows.

There are multiple places to visit in Valletta and you can easily spend a day here.

If you are a Game of Thrones fan, then places like the Red Keep gate in King’s landing can be found in Valletta.

Apart from that, be sure to visit Caraggavio’s art in St John’s cathedral, visit the Grandmaster’s palace and visit Upper Barakka gardens to catch the Saluting Battery at 12 PM everyday.

There are numerous shops too. But be aware that it is actually more expensive than rest of Malta.

We were there during Christmas which meant that the pedestrian streets were covered with light decorations and there was a huge Christmas market too in the square.

The Ferris wheel was huge with massive Christmas trees as well as a carousel and an rink too.

Did you know that Valletta is listed as a UNESCO world heritage city?

Gozo and Comino Islands

We did this as a half day tour since we were with family and it was not swimming season.

You can choose to do this as a full day tour or even stay over at Gozo if you have the time for it.

There are multiple ferries that operate here and we chose a smaller company which meant that we still got a lot of these places to ourselves when we went.

Since it was a half day tour, we just stopped at Gozo for less than 15 mins and that definitely did not do justice to the place.

But we got to visit the Crystal Lagoon, the Blue Lagoon, a few sea caves and even saw the Elephant head rock.

None of us went to swim at the Blue lagoon. But if the weather permits, most boats stop for swimming here.

Even during winter, there were people who were swimming and my nephew went ahead and dipped his legs too in the water.

If you are only doing a 3 Day Malta itinerary, then this place definitely has to be on your list.

Marsaxlokk

If you have seen the picture of those colourful traditional luzzu fishing boats, then it definitely has to be from Marsaxlokk.

And even in winter, the place looked just out of a storybook.

However, most of the places were closed and there was nothing much to do.

We did end up buying a few souvenirs like Maltese Liquor from the local market and took thousands of pictures.

If you are going in winter, then make sure to go on a Sunday when the fishing market is open and there is a lot of seafood for you to choose from.

During summer, you can also visit St Peter’s pool.

This village lies in the South of Malta.

When we went, the weather was not ideal. But you can do a 10-15 min boat tour from here to the Blue Grotto. Nothing was operational when we went since it was a very windy day.

Hagar Qim

This is a Megalithic temple complex and is another World heritage site.

It is considered to be one of the oldest religious sites in the world dting back to 3600 BC.

There is an entrance fee to enter this complex.

The museum is definitely a must visit and you can read all about the interesting facts about the place.

Truth be told, there is not much to see other than stones. Honest opinion. And that is why I liked the museum better.

You can actually see the Islet of Fifla which is a bird sanctuary.

Do combine a visit to Mnajdra temples too since it is just 500 meters from Hagar Qim.

We just took a cab directly from Marsaxlokk and you can combine the two to do a half day or full day tour.

Mdina and Rabat

In all the things to do in Malta lists, we across the ancient capital of Mdina.

Mdina is a fortified city found in the Western part of the island. Mdina was made famous since many scenes from GOT were filmed here.

On our last day in Malta, we decided to take a hop on hop off bus tour. Since this would allow us to give us a different perspective of the city.

Since our main intention was to visit Mdina and Rabat, we toured around the city for more than 2 hours visiting a lot of places we had previously visited by bus.

Our last stop was Mdina and Rabat and we did spend a few hours exploring the region.

Conclusion: Malta travel itinerary

In conclusion, a trip to Malta offers the perfect blend of history, culture, and coastal beauty.

From wandering the charming streets of Valletta to exploring the timeless beauty of Mdina and taking in the stunning landscapes of Gozo, every day brings something unique.

Whether you’re relaxing by crystal-clear waters, discovering ancient architecture, or indulging in local cuisine, Malta delivers a well-rounded travel experience.

As your journey comes to an end, you’ll leave not only with beautiful photos but with lasting memories of sun-soaked days, rich heritage, and the laid-back island charm that makes your Malta trip itinerary truly special.