1 day

Private

About this activity

This private shore excursion into Malta’s history will take you from the cruise port in Valletta to Vittoriosa and the Hagar Qim temple. You’ll start with a boat ride across the harbor aboard a traditional Maltese boat called a dghajsa, cruising to the town of Vittoriosa, You will stroll through Vittoriosa’s quaint narrow streets with your guide, passing by the Church of St Lawrence, the Inquisitor’s Palace, and several auberges and beautiful palaces built during the time of the Knights.
From Vittoriosa, you will venture to the southern side of the island, where you’ll visit Hagar Qim, an imposing prehistoric temple dating back to approximately 3600 BC. Many artifacts of interest have been unearthed at Hagar Qim, notably a decorated pillar altar, two table-altars and the ‘fat lady' statues, now on display in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.
You'll then head back to Valletta, Malta’s capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You’ll have free time for lunch, and then you’ll continue the tour with a visit to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. Next, walk past Auberge de Castille, which houses the office of the Prime Minister, on your way to St John's Co-Cathedral, the 16th-century church built by the Knights of Malta.
The Co-Cathedral also houses Malta’s finest piece of art, The Beheading of St John by Caravaggio. Leaving St John’s Co-Cathedral, you’ll pass through Valletta’s main thoroughfare, which will bring you to the Grandmaster’s Palace State rooms.
You’ll then be returned to the cruise terminal.
Worry-Free Shore Excursion:
We will ensure your timely return to the Malta port for this activity. In the rare event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.

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Included

Private vehicle
Boat cruise (weather permitted)
Private tour guide
Port pickup and drop-off
Worry-Free Shore Excursion Guarantee
Entry/Admission - St. John's Co-Cathedral
Entry/Admission - Hagar Qim Temples
Entry/Admission - Grandmaster's Palace

Not included

Food and drinks, unless specified

Additional

Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 2 days of travel. In this case confirmation will be received within 48 hours, subject to availability
At time of booking, Cruise Ship passengers must provide the following details under Special Requirements: Ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time.
The ‘dghajsa' boats can hold up to 6 passengers (or 5 passengers and 1 guide) per boat and are not covered, so sun protection and a windbreaker are recommended.
Weight restriction of 450 kg total per boat
Guests need to be agile to embark and disembark boats.
Please note dghajsa' crossing is weather permitting

Features

Tourism

100%

Cultural

70%

Aquatic

30%

Reviews

4.7

8

G

Gary B

5 | 2018-06-13

We had a great day with our guide. All the sites were well worth visiting and we learnt a lot about Malta and its history. If you only have one day in Malta this is a great way to see as much as possible.

n

nancy w

4 | 2017-10-21

This trip was very good. The only thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars was that our guide was Ukrainian with a very thick accent making it difficult to understand her although her English was very good and when I asked her to repeat what she had said, she was happy to do so. I often repeated her words to our group some of whom could not understand well what she said. She took us all over and was conscious of the fact that we had some slow walkers age related and often had the driver take us when he could which I greatly appreciated. She was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the area and she filled us in on little details in addition to the overall history. Our group really enjoyed this trip and I would give it 4.5 stars only because our guide was difficult to understand at times.

S

Susan Rae J

3 | 2016-10-07

Rating is based on our guide experience for this tour and as compared to next day tour Malta Highlights in a Day with My Maltese Guide which was far better for us please see separate review--in retrospect would have done 2 days with latter private tour group as sensitivity of guides/driver were far better than guide for this tour. For this tour specifically--To start the guide as not at correct port for our cruise ship even after providing all exact details as to ship name and date/time of arrival. Another guide was kind enough to get through to company and she made no effort to come to correct port but up to us to get to other port terminal, which then de facto, cut off one hour of tour. She was very knowledgeable and had excellent English with understanding that we wanted to know about Knights of St John. However, it seemed that we were nearly on a forced march with little sensitivity to our comfort level, especially in the heat and humidity--ie, 5 requests for a stop for beverage and bathroom facilities. And we never saw Vittoriosa.

M

Mary H

5 | 2016-05-07

Very accommodating to our interests and tweaked as needed

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