Sliema travel guide and tips

How to get there

From the airport

Malta’s national airport is 11 kilometres from Sliema. You can use the public transport by using the X2 bus. This will cost you €1.50 per person in winter, €2 in summer, or €3 when travelling at night.

Alternatively, you can get a Malta airport transfer or shuttle bus. From the airport to Sliema a private taxi transfer will cost you around €20 and the fare includes up to four persons and up to four suitcases. These prices apply all year round including holidays and include all taxes.

Shuttle buses will be a little cheaper but your jouney will likely be longer since you’ll be sharing the ride with other travellers.

By public transport

Buses 15 and 21 run from Valletta on a frequent schedule. On average, a bus ride from Sliema to Valletta takes about 20 minutes when the traffic is normal. From the central bus station in Valletta, you can then visit pretty much anywhere on the island.

Other useful buses that go through Sliema are the X2 which takes you to the airport, and bus 222 that goes directly to Ċirkewwa from where one can get the ferry to Gozo.

Bus tickets for a single day cost €1.50 per person in winter, €2 in summer, or €3 when travelling at night. These prices allow you to travel anywhere on the island for up to two hours. You can also opt to purchase a block ticket costing €21 with which you get unlimited travel by bus all throughout Malta and Gozo for 7 days.

By boat

For as little as €1.50 per person (one way – €2.80 with return) you can catch the ferry from the Sliema waterfront to Valletta and back. The ferry runs straight across the harbour, which makes it quicker than public transport since the bus has to go around the coastal road. It also provides excellent opportunities for some great photos of the harbour. The trip takes just 15 minutes, however, it tends to be affected by weather conditions. The service runs only till 19:15 in winter, while in Summer it continues till after midnight.

Hop-on & Hop-off-bus

Open top buses are a great way to explore Malta and visit the most interesting places. Buses leave from Sliema Ferries Terminus every half hour from 9:00h to 15:00h on weekdays and from 9:00h to 14:00h on Sundays. A full day ticket costs €20.

Tips for if you plan to drive to Sliema

Traffic is chaotic especially during rush hours and finding a parking slot is like looking for diamonds in the desert. You can find larger paid parking garages near the shopping centres at The Point (Tigné Point) and nearby The Plaza at the Sliema multi-storey car park – but be aware that the rate is quite costly (thanks to the high demand). Between 6:00h and 20:00h you’re charged €1.10 every 30 minutes at the multi-storey car park, for a maximum of €10 per day.

Hotels and Accommodation

Apart from shops, cafès and restaurants, there’s something else that’s abundant in Sliema – Hotels. And there’s a whole range to suit everyone’s needs and budget.

Read my full article on recommendations for Sliema accommodation here.

Hotels level 1 – High end

• The Palace is located in the older part of Sliema and is a 5-star luxury hotel offering facilities like designer suites and a spa.
• Pebbles Boutique Aparthotel – Located on the Southern promenade of Sliema, this aparthotel offers beautiful views across the harbour of Valletta and offers high-quality accommodation.

Hotels level 2 – Affordable ( < €100/night)

• The Victoria Hotel building echoes the Victorian era but with a contemporary design. It is situated in the older and quieter part of town.
• The Waterfront Hotel is a 4-star hotel along the promenade within walking distance from public transport and other services including bars and restaurants, several shopping outlets and the Sliema Ferries.
• The Preluna Hotel & Spa is set on the promenade, featuring a vast variety of facilities in the hotel building, as well as off-site facilities.

Prefer self-catering accommodation?

You can find a number of good options in the Sliema area on Airbnb.

Restaurant & food recommendations

There are too many restaurants and bars in Sliema to name them all. So here you’ll find a selection of the most popular. It’s always advised to book a table for dinner, especially on weekends.

Recommendations for lunch

• Giorgio’s Cafè – Very busy place serving coffee and also lunch. The service is good, the menu provides an interesting selection of good food and sweets in a fantastic location.
• The Surfside Sports Bar and Grill is a place where you can watch sports while having lunch.
• Mint is a waterfront cafe offering a selection of freshly prepared salads, freshly baked cakes and also dishes ranging from Thai fish cakes, Moroccan lamb tagine to a Spanish tortilla.

Recommendations for dinner – moderately priced

• Vecchia Napoli offers an exceptional Neapolitan and Italian pizza baked in a wood-burning oven.
• Il-Merill is a small, family-run restaurant tucked in a side street away from the hustle and bustle of the main street.
• Ta’ Kris is a restaurant situated within an old bakery. Menus are based on a mixture of traditional Maltese food blended with some Mediterranean dishes.

Recommendations for dinner – a little more pricey (but great!)

• Medasia Fusion Lounge offers Asian and Mediterranean cuisine. The menu includes dishes from sushi to traditional dishes inspired from Japanese, Thai, Chinese and Mediterranean cuisines.
• Can Thai offer an extensive menu of Chinese and Thai dishes prepared by oriental chefs. Can Thai is located in the Fortina’s Tropical Garden, with an option of outside dining.
• The Chophouse is a meat restaurant, offering a great choice of succulent steaks. Selected cuts of Aberdeen Angus and Scottona beef from Italy are dry aged in house.

Have a look at another one of my articles for more recommendations for restaurants in Malta.

Drinks & bars in Sliema

• The Black Gold Saloon is a popular venue that’s been around for over 30 years. It offers good drinks and also a selection of pasta, pizzas, grills and salads.
• Time Square is a traditional pub with friendly staff where patrons hang out to have a drink and watch a game of football.
• The Rawhide Saloon serves all kinds of drinks in a cosy setting, with good rock music playing in the background. It is located on the main road close to the Balluta Church.

Take a walk to Independence Garden (on the Northern side), an area that used to be a farm until 1990. Along the way you can look out for the few Victorian and art nouveau houses that still stand along the shoreline. A group of six houses with traditional Maltese balconies has survived remarkably intact at Belvedere Terrace.

Tigné Point offers a quiet, traffic free, kid friendly walk along the coast, with views of Valletta. Along the way you can visit Fort Tigné, a five-pointed star-shaped fortification built by the Knights of St. John in 1793. Its purpose was to defend Marsamxett Harbour from attacks. It is one of the oldest polygonal forts in the world and has been recently restored.

Between Sliema and Gżira, one can find Manoel Island, a very small island connected to the mainland by a bridge. In its centre lies Fort Manoel, built in 1725.

More info on sightseeing tours and excursions here.

Nightlife in Sliema

Sliema offers a good variety of bars and pubs, and a handful of nightclubs spread alongside the coastal promenade over the St. Julian’s side of Sliema as well as the Gzira side. For the club hoppers, Paceville (part of St. Julian’s) is pretty close and easy to reach by (night) bus, or on foot if you don’t mind a 15-minute walk.

Annual Festa’s in Sliema

Retaining a little of its original character, Sliema, like many other villages around Malta and Gozo celebrate their local festa to honour and celebrate their Patron Saint – a cornerstone of Maltese culture.

• Our Lady of Sacred Heart – 1st week of July
• Our Lady Star Of The Sea – 3rd week of August
• St Gregory The Great – 1st week of September

Read more: Maltese village feasts or festa

Other places worth visiting

• Il-Fortizza (Tower Road)
• St. Julian’s Tower (Tower Road Sliema) – One of the few remaining coastal watch towers in the area
• Chapel of Our Lady of Graces (Tigné Area)
• Anglican Church (Rudolph Street)
• Qui si-Sana Gardens
• Annunciation Square
• St Anne Square (The Strand)
• Stella Maris church

History of Sliema

Sliema is one of Malta’s most densely populated towns with over 17,000 residents – but it was not always so. A jump of just a few hundred years into the past would take us to a small village with a few fishermen and their families.

In fact, Sliema started gaining popularity in the second half of the 19th century when wealthy Valletta residents started investing in the area to build their summer houses. Influenced by the British who ruled Malta at the time, they built Victorian styled villas and townhouses along a three kilometre stretch of coast – most of these properties have disappeared when the aggressive development of the area started in modern times. Few of the prestigious, Victorian and art nouveau residences remain in the inner streets and only a handful remain on the seaside. A few of these older seafront residences remain intact and untouched, now protected by law. A small cluster of such residences can be found on the Gzira side of Sliema, opposite the bridge towards Manoel Island. In the 1950’s, development of properties in the area really kicked into high gear as tourism in Malta increased, making the town the first tourist resort on the island.

If we go farther back in time, to the period that has shaped the future of the island, we would find Sliema occupied by Ottoman Turks during the Great Siege of 1565. In fact, the Turks used the area known as il-Qortin as a base of operations from where they shot one canon ball after another at the fortifications of Fort St. Elmo.

On that exact spot, Tigné Fort was built in 1792 by the Knights of St. John to add security to the harbour. After decades of neglect, the fort has been largely restored, financed by a property development company that’s building (and has partially completed) a large residential complex right behind the fort.

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