I settled into the sand and stretched my teal-blue-painted toes towards the turquoise and sapphire bands of water. Blue, blue, blue. We found every shade of my favourite colour in Malta’s waters, especially at the Blue Lagoon.
However many shades of blue you can think of, Malta has them: turquoise, navy, sapphire, indigo, royal, azure, teal, baby, powder, cyan, cornflower, sky, slate, cerulean, cobalt, steel. The colours rolled and shifted in fascinating combinations, depending on depth, bottom (sand, rock, eel grass), cloud cover and sun position.
We explored the natural formations of the Blue Grotto, the Blue Hole, and the Blue Lagoon, plus beaches of many types, and hiking trails atop cliffs that looked down onto swirls of blue, crashing with frilly white edges onto limestone shores. Even salt pans displayed a checkerboard palette of blues.
We had planned quite a different water-side vacation, but it became too watery. We were going to cycle along the Danube River from Passau, Germany, to Vienna, Austria. Heavy rains and flooding forced us to cancel our bookings at the last minute, so we changed plans.
“Let’s go to Malta!” I said.
My toes matched the water at St. Mary’s beach, a quiet alternative to the popular Blue Lagoon on Comino Island.
One of the first things I noticed about Malta was the blue: sunny blue skies and blue waters of every shade, sometimes tending towards greenish, other times grey or purple as the sun set. There’s even a shade called Malta Blue! (Hex code #517693 for those who might want it for digital displays.) But it’s a dark, greyish slate blue – not the turquoise and sapphires we saw everywhere.
Other countries also feature shades of blue – and we’ve visited many, including Greece and Croatia. But Malta’s struck me. Perhaps because it’s so small and an island country, that wherever you go, you’re always close to blue waters.
Blue Grotto
We saw the Blue Grotto – the largest in a chain of limestone caves – from a viewpoint above and via a boat trip.
First, let me explain that the country of Malta comprises three main islands: the largest is (confusingly) called Malta Island; smaller Gozo Island is northwest of Malta Island; and tiny Comino Island is in between. Each island has a natural “Blue” formation, and we visited all three.
We first saw the Blue Grotto, on Malta Island, from above. A roadside viewpoint gave a splendid panorama of the cove with many limestone caves, the largest of which is the Blue Grotto. A striking limestone arch curved from the cliffs down into the cobalt-blue sea edged with teal. We could see boats taking visitors under the arch and into the caves. We decided to join them.
Boat trips leave from the nearby village of Wied iz-Zurrieq. (The Maltese language is based on Arabic, but everyone we encountered spoke English.) We paid our 10 euros each and hopped into a “frejgatini” boat that quickly took us from the harbour into the Mediterranean Sea. The ride was disconcerting for me – high waves bounced the small boat around and I clung to the gunwales, not scared, but definitely holding on tight. I didn’t dare take any photos of the tiny, deserted islet of Filfla – famous because the British military used it for target practice. (Malta was a British colony from 1813 to 1964.)
However, waters in the cove were calmer. We cruised under the arch and into the Blue Grotto plus many others. Even in the caves, the clear turquoise waters glowed. Our boat captain pointed out the shimmers of turquoise reflecting onto the cave walls. Marvelous! That was worth the bumpy ride.
Dingli Cliffs
The Mediterranean Sea became greyish blue as the sun set at Dingli Cliffs, which drop straight down from that left-hand edge of land.
We found a flat rock atop the Dingli Cliffs and sat down to wait for the sun to set. Below us, somewhere among the terraced farm fields, bells tinkled but we couldn’t see the sheep that were no doubt attached to them. The farthest edge of land we could see was where the steep cliffs actually fell straight down into the sea. The famous Knights of St. John, who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798, had never needed to build fortifications along this stretch, since no invaders could have scaled those heights.
As the sun became more deeply yellow, then orange, the water turned from cobalt to navy to a greyish blue resembling slate. Lovely.
Beaches
A long flight of 200 stairs led down to golden Ghajn Tuffieha beach – our favourite amongst the many wonderful beaches we enjoyed.
Malta’s beaches are not all sandy! Most are rocky – with either small pebbles or large rounded stones. They can be hard on the feet; water shoes (which we failed to bring) are recommended. Many beaches are what I’d call a rock shelf – either a natural rock edge or a concrete pier or a combination of rocks and concrete, from which you can jump into deeper water. They all seemed to have swim ladders to easily exit from the water.
What all beaches had in common, however, was warm Mediterranean seawater that varied in its blue tones depending on what was underneath. White sand underfoot lightened the waters to bright turquoise – most notably at the Blue Lagoon on Comino Island. Patches of purply-green eel grass made the water blue-green. And rocky outcrops below the surface darkened the waters to navy or indigo.
Our favourite sandy beach was Ghajn Tuffieha, a golden arc backed by rugged slopes. Some 200 steps led us down – and provided a natural Stairmaster on the way back up.
Il-Majjistral Nature and History Park
Malta’s only national park includes trails along the clifftop overlooking frilly white waves edging the indigo and cyan waters.
A large swath of Malta Island’s northwest is the protected Il-Majjistral Nature and History Park, where we learned about the local flora, fauna, and geology in the excellent visitor’s centre. Then off we went along hiking trails to explore the various habitats. We passed areas newly planted with native trees, including olive, oak and Aleppo pine. Agricultural areas were outlined in stone walls, with stone huts to shelter workers from sun or rain. High atop the magnificent limestone cliffs we found coral and shells embedded in the rocks. Fascinating!
We looked down the cliffs (me, carefully; Bill, too close to the edge for my comfort) to indigo and cyan waters fringed with white.
People’s reactions to blue can vary widely, including negatives such as feeling blue, sad, sombre, lonesome, icy, distant or cold. But I find blue positive: serene, peaceful, soothing, relaxing, calming, tranquil. Any moving water – whether rain, waterfalls, lapping or crashing waves, or even your shower – gives off negative ions that (ironically) make people feel positive.
As we watched the frilly white waves crash against the craggy shore, Malta’s blue waters made me feel peaceful. But I respect their power.
Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon’s waters are so sparkly azure that they look like a swimming pool.
Without a doubt, the Blue Lagoon is the most popular place for boat-tour-beach-day excursions. Not to be confused with the Blue Grotto (on Malta Island) or the Blue Hole (on Gozo Island), the Blue Lagoon is on Comino Island. And it’s not even really a lagoon – it’s the cyan waters between Comino and several islets just offshore. The white-sand bottom makes the water sparkle brightly; I have rarely seen such purely azure waters that weren’t a swimming pool!
An uncountable number of companies offer day trips to the Blue Lagoon, many of them huge party boats. However, we opted for the small Bella Comino Ferry from Gozo’s Mgarr harbour over and back for just 15 euros each. We arrived early – a strategic move so we could swim and snorkel before the crowds arrived. The water was the perfect temperature – warm yet still refreshing.
We had brought our rented masks and snorkels to get a better look at the sea life below. (We haven’t been scuba diving for many years.) After swimming across the lagoon to the islets, we found rocky bottoms where quite a few pretty fish darted around. Large schools of turquoise-and-silver fish parted instantly when I stretched out a hand. We had also gone snorkeling several days earlier in St. Julian’s Bay and found fish hanging out in the waving eel grass. Bill spotted a small jellyfish that we admired from a safe distance. However, all told, the snorkeling was underwhelming.
When the party boats began to arrive, we left the lagoon to hike around the island and see the historic sights. The Knights of St. John built a tall square watchtower in 1618 to keep an eye out for pirates. Apparently, knights who had committed minor infractions were often sentenced to man the lonely tower. We also passed an old isolation hospital built by the British for plague victims, a decrepit-looking hotel, a campground, many gorgeous views down the cliffs to the sparkling water, St. Mary’s Chapel (dating from the early 1500s), and the police station in St. Mary’s Bay. Comino’s permanent population is three or four souls (depending on your source).
The day was hot, so we took a break to swim in St. Mary’s Bay. That’s where I stretched my toes towards the water, watched kids dig in the sand, and breathed in those negative ions.
Before returning to Mgarr, the ferry took us into some navigable caverns and the Crystal Lagoon, where swimmers jumped from anchored sailboats and catamarans into sapphire waters. What a glorious place!
Blue Hole
Boat rides start at the Inland Sea and pass through the tunnel to the open sea to see the Blue Hole, Fungus Rock and other caves.
Dwerja village on Gozo Island has it all: the Inland Sea, another knightly watchtower, cart ruts (unexplained parallel ruts in the limestone ground), a chapel with beautiful mosaics, hiking trails, Fungus Rock, the collapsed Azure Window, and the Blue Hole.
The greenish-blue Inland Sea is a fascinating place. Millions of years ago, it was an enormous cave, but at some point the roof collapsed. Now, it’s a little lagoon with fishing boats and fishermen’s sheds fringing the rocky beach that faces a big cliff. A narrow 60-metre-long tunnel through the cliff connects to the open sea.
To see the Blue Hole, we took another ride in a small boat (just 5 euros this time and the water was calm compared with the Blue Grotto). The boat took us from the Inland Sea, through the tunnel, and out into the open sea along the limestone cliffs. We passed over the Azure Window. This enormous limestone arch that people walked atop featured in the films “The Clash of the Titans” and “The Count of Monte Cristo.” However, it collapsed in 2017 and is now underwater.
We went into the Blue Hole, a large cavern with dazzling interplay between light and shadow in the teal, navy and steel blue waters.
We also saw Fungus Rock – a rectangular-shaped squat islet where the Knights of St. John had discovered a parasitic plant called Cynomorium coccineum (not a fungus at all) that they used to dress wounds and cure dysentery. The knights prized it so highly that they forbade anyone go to Fungus Rock, even smoothing the cliff sides to make access more difficult, assigning guards in the nearby watchtower to keep an eye out for thieves, and meting out tough punishments for anyone who managed to steal the crop.
Back at the Inland Sea, we watched people snorkel, but we didn’t want to risk disappointment again. Instead, we sat on the concrete pier, dangled our feet in the cool water, and saw almost as much as when we’d snorkeled. Tiny clear shrimp nibbled at our feet. Tube worms clasped tightly to the pier along with curly white cup seaweed and some tiny green crabs.
Later, we hiked atop the cliffs and discovered the fossilized remains of thousands of sea urchins embedded in the limestone. The flower-like pattern is pretty. And they’re obvious proof that this land was under the azure waters millennia ago.
Salt Pans
Some of the salt pans in Xwejni Bay, near Marsalforn on Gozo Island, have been used since Roman times.
Checkerboards of rectangular pools filled with varying shades – from greenish through blue to purplish – water are used to harvest sea salt. Running for 1.7 kilometres along the coast at Xwejni Bay, some of the salt pans were used by the Romans.
Between May and September, seawater is pumped into the salt pans and left to evaporate under the hot sun, leaving the salt behind. Each pan was cut by hand from the limestone, leaving quite a distinctive mark on the landscape. Some of the deeper pools are seawater reservoirs, while the shallow pans – 5 to 10 cm deep – create the salt.
We bought several small bags of sea salt from a family business, whose tiny shop was a cave cut into the cliff.
As the road to the salt pans rounded a headland, it came within inches of the sea. We nearly got a free car wash on the way back!
Light effects
Pink and gold spilled across the inky waters during sunset over Marsalforn’s harbour.
When we left Malta, our cameras were replete with photos of gorgeous seascapes, awash in a full palette of blues.
The mostly sunny days meant plenty of turquoise, azure, cyan and the lighter tones. Sunsets revealed darkening tones, tinged with sprays of gold or pink or yellow or orange. After dark, we ate seafood dinners at restaurant tables right next to a sheer drop into the sea. Turquoise blobs of light moved underwater – nighttime scuba divers exploring the harbour and a whole other set of blues.
So many gorgeous shades of blue to discover in Malta.
We visited Malta in September and October 2024. Find out where we are right now by visiting our ‘Where’s Kathryn?’ page.
Such fabulous photos and great stories. Thanks so much!
Blue on Blue…sounds like a song. Thanks for sharing. As winter approaches here, thoughts of blue water and sun become more and more appealing.
Malta is definitely a place to escape to for sun and warm swimming water.
Gorgeous photos. What a fabulous experience. I’ve always been intrigued by Malta. Now I might just have to go!
Yes, you should definitely go! The Knights of St. John are quite fascinating. My next blog story will be about them. Stay tuned!