Earlier this year, I went to Malta for the marathon weekend. We were only there for a couple of days and the trip was dominated by as much sitting down and carb loading as possible before the race, and plenty of sitting down and celebrating after the race.
I absolutely loved Malta though. I liked the food, the coastline, the dose of February sunshine, the whole vibe.
So when it came to booking a summer holiday with my mum, I suggested we go back. I won’t be going abroad again this year, meaning that 100% of 2026’s travels will have taken place on one tiny island in the Mediterranean sea. Malta ticked all the boxes for this trip with my mum though and I was more than fine with a repeat visit.
The idea was a pre-baby holiday, making the most of being able to just read books on the beach the whole time, without a small person to look after. Is this what they call a babymoon? Except with my mum, because Isaac is saving all his annual leave to pad out his pitiful paternity leave.
We just wanted nice food, nice weather, a sea to swim in and a reasonably priced apartment with two bedrooms so we didn’t have to put up with each other’s snoring (Mum), insomnia (Mum again), teeth grinding (me) and weird nightmares (also me). Ideally somewhere a bit interesting rather than just a big resort (not that I’m always against that - I had the best time fully embracing tacky all inclusive life in Corfu last year).
A bit of Googling took us to Marsaxlokk, a fishing village on the south coast of Malta. It involved a harbour full of luzzus, brightly painted fishing boats, waterfront restaurants apparently serving some of the best seafood on the island, a small beach and still only a short drive from tons of other places to visit. Most importantly though, we found an apartment with the mandatory two bedrooms and a 9.3/10 rating on booking.com for under €100 a night. Sold.
Overall, I loved Malta just as much the second time around. It was a few degrees warmer than expected for May but we couldn’t complain, not when at the same time my Dad was on a cycling trip through the Loire Valley, which he’d booked expecting low 20s but was actually experiencing a 35+ degrees heatwave. He met a couple from Hastings at his campsite, who shared their top tip of getting in the shower fully clothed and letting your wet kit cool you down after. Luckily, we didn’t have to resort to that, instead finding a shop selling sun umbrellas (as Marsaxlokk’s small beach doesn’t have any for hire).
The only thing I might have done differently was hire a car for a few days. Mum isn’t great with public transport or sitting in the back of a taxi (probably the most motion sick person I’ve ever met), so a car would have allowed us to explore more.
We achieved our primary goal of eating lots of fish and reading lots of books though, and that’s what it was really all about.
Our highlights were…
