Malta
One small archipelago with a single crowd curve: quiet and wet in winter, hot and full in July and August.
When to visit Malta
Across Malta as a whole, January is typically the calmest month and August the busiest. Crowds are not uniform, though — see how the regions differ below.
Malta, Gozo and Comino together are small enough that you cannot escape the season by changing region; the month you choose matters far more than the town. National overnight stays follow the same curve as Valletta’s: lowest in January, rising through spring, peaking in August and falling back through autumn, with October still as busy as September and November clearly calmer.
What the three islands do offer is different kinds of crowd. The main island holds the capital, the harbours and most of the sights, and it is where the pressure builds in summer. Gozo is about 25 minutes away by ferry and is the place to spend a day when the main island is full. Comino has no road traffic and is reached by boat; its Blue Lagoon fills with day boats in July and August and is a different place in the shoulder months.
Two local rhythms are worth knowing. From late May to September the village festa season puts a feast somewhere on most weekends, with bands, processions and fireworks in whichever town is celebrating, and the public holidays of 29 June and 15 August fall at the height of it. In winter the price is the weather, with highs of 16 °C and ten rainy days in January, but hardly any queueing anywhere.
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Malta: tours and tickets in Valletta, from our booking partner.
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Free cancellationIt is not the same everywhere
The climate figures describe the archipelago as a whole, and on islands this small the gap between regions is minor next to the gap between months: highs of 32 °C in July and August are felt everywhere, and so are January’s ten rainy days. What differs from place to place is the crowd. Valletta and the harbour area take the cruise passengers and city-break visitors, Gozo spreads the pressure, and Comino is the extreme case, almost empty in winter and crowded at midday in high summer.
Getting around
There is no railway. Public buses cover the main island and Gozo, a harbour ferry links Valletta with the other side of the Grand Harbour, and Gozo Channel crosses from Ċirkewwa to Mġarr in about 25 minutes. Comino is reached by boat only. Traffic drives on the left.
Crowds month by month across Malta
Averaged across the 1 destinations we cover — tap a month for the full picture.
Weather across Malta
Averaged across our destinations. The spread column shows how far apart the warmest and coolest are.
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Where we have data in Malta
Each city has its own crowd calendar and twelve month pages.
Every month in Malta
Country-level tips
- Malta has 14 public holidays a year, five of them national: Freedom Day (31 March), Sette Giugno (7 June), Victory Day (8 September), Independence Day (21 September) and Republic Day (13 December). Almost all fall on fixed dates; Good Friday is the only movable one, and Easter Monday is not a public holiday.
- Heritage Malta museums and sites, from the Hypogeum to Ġgantija on Gozo, close on 1 January, Good Friday and 24, 25 and 31 December; the Saluting Battery in Valletta also closes on those days, as well as on Sundays and at Easter.
- Gozo Channel foot-passenger tickets are validated at the Gozo terminal, not at Ċirkewwa; vehicles need a ticket bought online or at the Mġarr booths. The crossing takes about 25 minutes.
- A single bus ticket is valid for two hours with free transfers in that time, so changing lines at the Valletta terminus costs nothing extra; the harbour ferry and the Gozo high-speed boat are separate services.
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to visit Malta?
The best time to visit Malta is around January, when crowds across the country sit near 32/100 and average highs are about 16°C.
What is the quietest month in Malta?
January is the quietest month across the destinations we track in Malta, averaging 32/100.
When is Malta most crowded?
Malta peaks in August, when domestic and international travel overlap.