The Best Bars in Valletta and Malta Right Now

A 200-year-old vaulted cellar that now functions as the finest wine bar on the island. The list leans heavily on Maltese and Sicilian producers — Marsovin and Meridiana both appear in good depth — with a selection of small producers from the Rhône and Sardinia that are genuinely hard to find elsewhere. The kitchen sends out charcuterie boards loaded with gbejniet and sun-dried tomatoes. Get there before 8pm if you want a table in the best alcove.

Order: A glass of Meridiana Isis white alongside the Maltese cheese board

The most dramatic bar setting in Malta: a restored 16th-century shipyard with cathedral ceilings, three-metre iron doors, and a terrace that sits directly above the Dockyard Creek. The cocktail programme is serious — the bartenders trained in London and it shows. Go for the aperitivo hour between 6pm and 8pm when the light over the Grand Harbour turns everything copper.

Order: The Harbour Negroni with local honey vermouth

The bar that every Valletta local directs you to when they want to avoid tourists. A narrow room with football memorabilia on the walls, Cisk on tap, and a crowd of regulars who have been coming since the 1980s. It is exactly the kind of place that makes a city worth visiting. Order a Kinnie — Malta's bitter orange soft drink — if you want to feel the room warm to you.

Order: Cisk lager and a bowl of pastizzi from the kitchen hatch

The rooftop bar that the entire Paceville strip aspires to be. Eight floors up with views of the bay in three directions, a cocktail menu that changes seasonally, and enough seating that you can usually find a spot without a reservation on a Tuesday. The Thursday jazz nights are worth planning a trip around.

Order: The seasonal spritz — they rotate the base spirit every three months

Right on the edge of Spinola Bay's fishing boat quay, this low-key spot gets a mixed crowd of expats, tech workers from the gaming companies based nearby, and travellers who wandered away from the main drag. The Aperol Spritzes are correctly proportioned and the kitchen stays open until midnight. A solid warm-up bar before moving deeper into St Julian's.

Order: Aperol Spritz and the calamari with local capers

Birgu is the most atmospheric of the Three Cities and BeBirgu is its best bar — a snug room in a fortified townhouse with a curated list of Maltese, Italian, and French wines served by a host who genuinely knows the provenance of every bottle. The terrace overlooks the creek. It only fits about 30 people, which is part of the appeal.

Order: Any bottle from the Delimara natural wine section

The bar that makes the ferry crossing worthwhile. A shaded courtyard under a 300-year-old oleander tree, a list of local and Sicilian wines priced at about half what you would pay in Valletta, and a kitchen doing simple but excellent antipasti. The crowd is older, slower-paced, and entirely local. Open until midnight in summer.

Order: A carafe of the house Gozitan white and a plate of sun-dried tomato bruschetta

Inside the medieval Citadella walls, this small bar and farmhouse kitchen has been run by the same family for over 30 years. They make their own Gozitan cheese and their own wine — the ftira sandwiches are legendary. It is more about the setting and the cheese than it is about the drinks, but the house wine is better than it has any right to be.

Order: The house red with a platter of gbejniet peppered cheese

Malta's craft beer scene is modest but Craft Republic does it properly: 14 taps of Maltese and European craft beer, a kitchen open until 11pm, and a buzzy atmosphere that draws a younger crowd than most of the wine bars in the old city. Their own-label session IPA is brewed locally and worth trying. No reservations, no pretension.

Order: The Maltese session IPA alongside the pulled pork rolls