Home » Malta travel guide » Best Malta Beaches » Buġibba beach
Located in the seaside resort of Buġibba, the Buġibba perched beach is one of the very few artificially made beaches on the Maltese Islands.
In this article I’ll tell you all about this small sandy beach: Where to find it, what it’s like, what’s good and what to be aware of.
Being a popular resort town in Malta, Buġibba (along with neighbouring Qawra) welcomes more than 350,000 tourists per year. The coastline promenade which makes the area so popular stretches a few kilometres from Salina Bay to St Paul’s Bay, taking in some of the islands’ best open sea views, as well as showcasing the beautiful St. Paul’s Islands.
However, the coast is completely rocky and devoid of any naturally sandy areas. The perched beach was thus funded and constructed in 2006 by the Ministry of Tourism to provide sand loving visitors with the opportunity to enjoy the beach at their own comfort.
Before this intervention, the beach was a linear rocky shore with a sharp, rocky surface. When the sandy conversion was being considered, this beach was actually planned to be totally reversible. So should the need arise, the rocky coastal stretch will return to its original geological form, thus not causing any harm to the local marine life. A total of 2,000 square metres of the rocky coast were transformed into a sandy beach, perched above the sea level, giving the perched beach its name.
The perched beach is located along the coastline towards the North of Buġibba, where the villages crosses over into Qawra.
It’s right across the road from the Dolmen Hotel and a few minutes’ walk away from the Buġibba bus terminus.
Being in such a popular tourist resort, the perched beach receives a lot of visitors during the summer months making it quite busy. This is especially true for those who choose to stay in Buġibba whilst visiting the Islands as it is in walking distance of most of the hotels and other accommodation in the area.
Since the beach is directly on the Buġibba promenade, a variety of facilities are available which would suit everyone’s needs. Within walking distance you can find bars, restaurants, clubs and shops. A diving school (Abyss Diving Club) is present within the area, should you be interested trying it out, as well as a water sports rental company where you can rent jet skis and canoes, book boat trips and snorkelling tours, rent any snorkelling/diving equipment and go paragliding and wake boarding, to name a few!
Upon arriving at the entrance of the bay there is a public rest room you can use and you can easily rent sunbeds and deckchairs from mobile vans situated beside the beach entry point. The Malta National Aquarium is within walking distance to the perched beach, as is the Amazonia Beach Complex.
As this beach is directly on the Buġibba promenade, getting there is extremely easy. If you are staying in Buġibba, walking to the beach is ideal as most hotels are within walking distance of the waterfront. If you’re driving from another village, just drive towards Buġibba. You will find the beach on the Islet Promenade.
There is a public parking area just beside the bay but this might be full as the area is extremely popular and very busy during the summer season. If you don’t find parking there, just look for parking along the promenade, or, if you don’t mind paying to park, at the garage of the dB San Antonio Resort hotel (which is located across the road from the beach).
Since Buġibba is such a popular tourist resort, it is very well connected to the rest of the island via public transport. In fact, there is a large bus terminal servicing the area, along with lots of bus stops along the promenade. Getting a bus here is easy, especially if you want to avoid the hassle of looking for a good parking spot during the busy summer months.
If you are using public transport look out for the following bus numbers: X3, 31, 45, 48, 186, 203, 212, 221, 223, 280. Just stop at the Bus Stop titled ‘Gzejjer’, or at the bus terminus. Service to this area is very frequent and fairly efficient, albeit a little crowded during peak season.
Don’t like the fact that it’s an artificial beach? These are a few other options I can suggest to you:
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