St Julian’s, Malta: Complete Guide (Things to Do, Beaches & Nightlife)

St Julian’s, Malta (San Ġiljan to locals) is the liveliest stretch of the island’s northeast coast. It packs the prettiest harbour bay, the best concentration of restaurants and the only proper nightlife district into a couple of walkable kilometres. If you have heard of Malta’s party scene, you have heard of Paceville, and Paceville is the northern end of St Julian’s.

The thing most guides skip over is how close it all is to everything else. St Julian’s runs straight into Sliema along one continuous seafront, so you can base yourself in calm, residential Sliema and walk to the action in about 25 minutes. That single fact shapes most of the smart decisions you will make on this trip, and we will come back to it.

This guide covers what is actually worth your time: the three bays, the beaches (and which to avoid), where to eat, the honest truth about Paceville at night, how to get here from the airport, and who St Julian’s suits compared to Sliema next door. We live here, so expect bus numbers, walk times and real prices rather than brochure language.

Where is St Julian’s and how does it relate to Sliema?

St Julian’s sits on Malta’s northeast coast, roughly 11km from the airport and a short hop north of Valletta. It is not a single square or strip but a chain of three bays that flow into one another: Balluta Bay in the south, Spinola Bay in the middle, and St George’s Bay with Paceville at the top. Everything connects by one promenade.

Sliema is its immediate neighbour to the south. The two towns share the same long seafront walk, so the boundary is blurry and you cross from one to the other without really noticing. Balluta Bay is effectively the seam between them. From central Sliema to Spinola Bay is about 25 minutes on foot, all flat, all along the water. That walkability is why so many visitors stay in Sliema and treat St Julian’s as the going-out part of the holiday.

If you are weighing up which town to make your base, our full breakdown of the best areas to stay in Malta goes deeper, but the short version is below.

The three bays of St Julian’s: Spinola, Balluta and St George’s

Understanding St Julian’s means understanding its three bays. They each have a different character, and knowing which is which saves you a lot of wandering.

Spinola Bay is the heart of it and the postcard shot. A small working fishing harbour ringed with traditional Maltese luzzu boats, restaurants and cafes, with the well-photographed LOVE monument on the water’s edge. It is loveliest at sunrise and again in the early evening when the restaurant lights come on. Most visitors gravitate here for dinner.

Balluta Bay sits just south, marked by the neo-Gothic Carmelite church and the striking Art Nouveau Balluta Buildings behind it. It is quieter and more residential than Spinola, and it is the natural crossover point into Sliema. A good place to sit with a coffee and watch the promenade go by.

St George’s Bay is at the top, in Paceville. It has Malta’s only sandy beach in the area, but be honest with yourself: it gets crowded and messy in high summer, and the water quality is not always great. We would not make a special trip to swim here. It is more useful as the location of the big hotels, the bowling and the nightlife.

Things to do in St Julian’s beyond eating and drinking

St Julian’s earns its reputation for food and nightlife, but there is a solid day’s worth of things to do here that have nothing to do with a cocktail. Here is what is genuinely worth your time.

• Walk the Spinola to Sliema promenade. The best free thing in the area. Flat, scenic, lined with swimming ladders, and it takes you all the way along the coast. Do it at golden hour.
• Photograph the LOVE monument at Spinola Bay, the most reliably crowded selfie spot on this coast.
• Portomaso Marina. A smart yacht harbour with around 110 berths, sat below Malta’s tallest building, the Portomaso Business Tower. Pleasant for a stroll and a drink.
• Family entertainment in Paceville. Malta’s largest cinema, a bowling alley, laser tag and arcades, all useful on a rainy day or with teenagers.
• Boat trips to Comino. Speedboats run from this coast to the Blue Lagoon. If that is on your list, read our complete Blue Lagoon and Comino guide before you book.
• Diving and watersports. Exiles, on the Sliema side, has jetties popular with snorkellers and divers, and centres along the coast organise jet skiing and parasailing.

For a wider sweep of the neighbourhood, including everything on the calmer side of Balluta Bay, our local things to do in Sliema guide pairs naturally with this one, since the two towns share a coastline.

Beaches near St Julian’s: where to actually swim

Let us clear up the beach question, because it is the one most people get wrong. St Julian’s does have a sandy beach at St George’s Bay, but it is small, busy and not the clean swim you are picturing. Maltese locals largely ignore it.

The better swimming is off the rocks. All along the promenade towards Sliema, the council has fixed metal ladders into the flat rock platforms, so you climb straight down into clean, deep, open seawater. No sand, no shelving, just a quick descent into the Mediterranean. Bring water shoes for the rock and a towel you do not mind getting salty.

Balluta Bay has a small patch of sand that locals use for an easy dip, and it carries a Blue Flag in season, though it gets packed on hot weekends. If you want a proper sandy beach day, the big golden-sand bays such as Mellieħa and Golden Bay are a bus ride north. For where Aster House sits, you are 150m from the sea in central Sliema, with the best ladder swimming spots a short walk in either direction.

Paceville nightlife: the honest version

Paceville is Malta’s nightlife capital, full stop. A dense few streets of bars, clubs and late-night food, free to wander into, busiest from around midnight on Friday and Saturday. If a big, loud night out is part of your trip, this is where it happens.

Here is the honest take. Paceville is loud, crowded and not especially concerned with polish. It skews young and gets rowdy at weekends in summer. That is fine if you are there for it, and genuinely tiring if your bedroom window faces a club entrance. This is the single biggest reason we steer families and light sleepers towards Sliema, which is calm and quiet just 25 minutes’ walk south. You get the best of both: easy access to the party, and a peaceful night when you want one.

If clubbing is not your thing, Spinola Bay’s restaurants and the wine bars around Balluta offer a far gentler evening, with the same sea views and none of the bass.

Where to eat in St Julian’s

Food is where St Julian’s quietly outdoes its party reputation. Spinola Bay alone has dozens of restaurants ringing the water, and the range across the town runs from street food to fine dining, taking in Maltese, Italian, Thai, Japanese, Indian and more.

A casual sit-down main typically lands around €15 to €25, with the smarter Spinola Bay seafront places higher than that, and a coffee or a beer somewhere between €2.50 and €4. A few names locals rate include Salumeria for pizza and craft beer, Two Buoys for brunch, and Blue Elephant for upmarket Thai. Book ahead for a Spinola Bay table on summer evenings, because the good waterfront spots fill fast.

If you are self-catering, the convenience cuts both ways: you can dine out in St Julian’s whenever you fancy and cook in on the quiet nights. A villa with a full kitchen and a BBQ terrace, like a villa in Sliema, makes that flexibility easy with a group.

How to get to St Julian’s from the airport and Sliema

Getting to St Julian’s is straightforward whichever way you arrive.

• From Malta Airport (about 11km): a taxi or Bolt takes 20 to 30 minutes and is the simplest option with luggage. Pre-booked airport taxis run roughly €25 to €35; Bolt is often a little cheaper. The X2 airport bus serves the Sliema and St Julian’s corridor and takes 40 to 50 minutes for a couple of euros.
• From Valletta: bus routes 12, 13, 14 and 21 connect the capital to St Julian’s in 20 to 25 minutes.
• From Sliema: just walk. It is about 25 minutes along the flat seafront promenade, scenic the whole way. Buses also run the route in a few minutes if it is hot or late.

Buy a Tallinja travel card if you plan to use buses more than a handful of times; it works out cheaper than paying €2 to €3 per single journey. For more on distances and getting around, see our guide to how big Malta is.

St Julian’s vs Sliema: which should you choose?

Because the two towns sit side by side, you do not really have to pick a side for your days out, you can walk between them all week. But for where you sleep, the choice matters. Here is how they stack up for different kinds of traveller.

The pattern is clear. St Julian’s is where you go; Sliema is where you stay. Plenty of returning visitors land on exactly that split, basing themselves in quiet Sliema and walking up to St Julian’s for dinner and a night out. It gives you the energy of Paceville on demand and a calm bed to come back to.

Frequently Asked Questions