The places
Every town and bay has a story it doesn't tell strangers. Here they are.
Valletta
Grand Harbour
Central Malta
Sliema
The seafront promenade where all Malta walks, swims off the rocks, and argues about the new towers.
St Julian's
Fishing boats at Spinola, Malta's nightlife strip up the hill, and a greasy pole every August.
Mdina
Malta's old capital behind honey-coloured walls: 202 residents, hardly any cars, and centuries of quiet.
Rabat
Catacombs under the streets, Malta's best pastizzi above them: Mdina's workaday twin does the living.
Mosta
An ordinary town under an extraordinary dome (the third-largest in the world) with one unexploded-bomb story.
The north
The west
The south
The south-east
Gozo
Victoria (Rabat)
Gozo's capital: a walled Citadel, a morning market, two opera houses and a festa rivalry centuries old.
Xagħra and Ramla
Temples older than the pyramids, a 1725 windmill, and Gozo's best red-sand beach at the bottom of the hill.
Xlendi
A fishing inlet squeezed between cliffs, now Gozo's supper table: fish restaurants a few steps from the water.
Dwejra and San Lawrenz
The Azure Window has gone; the Inland Sea, Fungus Rock and Gozo's wildest coast are still here.