Three Cities Malta: Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua Day Trip

The Three Cities sit directly opposite Valletta, close enough that you can see their fortifications from the Upper Barrakka Gardens, and yet a surprising number of visitors never cross the water to reach them. That is a shame, because they are older than the capital, quieter than almost anywhere else with this much history, and reachable in about a quarter of an hour. Guests staying with me in Sliema usually go on their third or fourth day, once they have done Valletta and want something with fewer coach parties in it.

The naming trips people up before they even set out, so it is worth clearing up first. The three towns are Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua. Birgu is also called Vittoriosa and Cospicua is also called Bormla, and both sets of names are in daily use, which is why timetables and signs seem to disagree with each other. Together they are sometimes called Cottonera. Everything below covers how to reach them from Valletta and from Sliema, what to see in each one, how long to allow and when to go.

What are the Three Cities of Malta?

They are three fortified towns on the south side of the Grand Harbour, built on two peninsulas and the land behind them. Birgu and Senglea occupy the two fingers of land that point out into the water, and Cospicua sits across the base of both, which is why it is the largest of the three by area and the one people notice least.

Their importance comes from timing. When the Knights of St John arrived in Malta in 1530 they made Birgu their headquarters, and for the next thirty five years this was the centre of the island. The Great Siege of 1565 was fought around these walls, and Valletta was only built afterwards, on the opposite headland, as a purpose-built fortress city. So the Three Cities are not a suburb of the capital. They are what the capital replaced.

What that leaves you with today is a set of streets that feel considerably older and more lived-in than Valletta. There are washing lines across the lanes, cats on the doorsteps, and a working marina where the fortifications meet the water. The restoration has been careful rather than heavy, and outside the marina area the towns are entirely residential.

Town	Also called	What it is known for	Time to allow
Birgu	Vittoriosa	Fort St Angelo, the Collachio, the Maritime Museum and the marina	1.5 to 2 hours
Senglea	Isla	Gardjola Gardens and the best Grand Harbour view in Malta	45 minutes to 1 hour
Cospicua	Bormla	Residential streets, dockyard history, the walk between the other two	30 minutes in passing

How to get to the Three Cities from Valletta and Sliema

The ferry is the answer, and it is one of the better value things you can do in Malta. Boats leave from Lascaris Wharf below Valletta, cross the Grand Harbour in under fifteen minutes and run roughly every half hour. A single adult fare is in the region of a euro and a half, which buys you the best harbour view available anywhere on the island.

From Sliema the journey is two hops. Take the Marsamxett ferry across to Valletta, walk through the city or around the bastions to Lascaris Wharf on the other side, then take the Grand Harbour ferry across. Allow around thirty minutes in total including the walk. It sounds convoluted written down and it is genuinely simple in practice, and both crossings are short enough that nobody gets restless.

The other option is the traditional dgħajsa, the small painted wooden boats that wait at the Valletta waterfront. They cost more than the ferry, usually a few euros per person paid in cash, and they take you across in a boat that has barely changed in design for centuries. With children, or on a first visit, the extra is worth paying at least one way.

Route	How	Journey time	Notes
Valletta to the Three Cities	Grand Harbour ferry from Lascaris Wharf	Under 15 minutes	Roughly every half hour, cheapest option
Valletta to the Three Cities	Traditional dgħajsa water taxi	Around 10 minutes	Costs more, paid in cash, worth it once
Sliema to the Three Cities	Two ferries via Valletta	About 30 minutes total	Includes the walk across Valletta
Sliema to the Three Cities	Bus	45 minutes or more	Slower than the ferries, not recommended
Malta Airport to the Three Cities	Taxi	About 20 minutes	The closest of the harbour towns to the airport

Birgu, or Vittoriosa: the oldest of the Three Cities

Birgu is where most visitors spend the bulk of their time, and rightly so. It has the deepest history of the three, the best-preserved streets, the marina, and Fort St Angelo at the tip of the peninsula. If you only have two hours, spend them here and see the other two from the water.

The old quarter behind the waterfront is the part to walk. Narrow lanes climb between limestone houses with the enclosed timber balconies Malta is known for, and because this is a residential town rather than a museum, they are full of ordinary life. The Collachio, the area where the Knights lived in their national auberges, is the most atmospheric section and takes about half an hour to wander properly.

On the waterfront, the Malta Maritime Museum occupies the old naval bakery and covers the island’s seafaring history from the Knights through the British period. Fort St Angelo, at the very end of the point, played the central role in the 1565 siege and gives you the harbour view that appears on most postcards of the Grand Harbour.

Senglea and the Grand Harbour views

Senglea occupies the second peninsula and is the narrowest and most tightly packed of the three. Houses press right up against the fortifications, and the streets run in a grid down the spine of the point, which makes it easy to navigate and pleasant to walk even in summer, since the buildings throw shade across the lanes.

The reason to come is the Gardjola Gardens at the tip. Set into the bastion wall there is a small stone watchtower carved with an eye and an ear, the symbols of vigilance, and from the terrace beside it you get the finest view in the harbour: Valletta directly opposite, Fort St Angelo to your right, and the whole basin of the Grand Harbour between them. It costs nothing and it is the single best photograph most visitors take in Malta.

The waterfront promenade running back along the Birgu side is flat, quiet and lined with seafood restaurants looking across at the marina. It is one of the more pleasant places to eat lunch in this part of the island, and considerably calmer than the equivalent stretch in Sliema or St Julian’s.

Cospicua, or Bormla: the quietest of the three

Cospicua sits across the base of both peninsulas, wrapping around the head of the two creeks. It is the largest of the Three Cities and the least visited, partly because it has no single headline sight and partly because the ferry lands you closer to the other two.

What it offers is ordinary Maltese town life at close range. The dockyard shaped this place for centuries and the streets behind the waterfront are residential, worn and entirely unposed. Walk up through it between Birgu and Senglea rather than going back along the water, and you get a much better sense of what these towns actually are than the marina gives you.

Things to do in the Three Cities

1. Gardjola Gardens, Senglea

The small park at the very tip of the Senglea peninsula, built into the bastion, with the carved stone vedette watchtower on the corner. The view takes in Valletta, Fort St Angelo and the length of the Grand Harbour in one sweep.

Go in the late afternoon when the light turns and the Valletta bastions opposite go gold. It is free, it takes fifteen minutes, and it is the thing guests mention most often when they come back. If you do nothing else in the Three Cities, do this.

2. Fort St Angelo, Birgu

The fortress at the end of the Birgu peninsula, and the heart of the defence during the Great Siege of 1565. It has been restored and opened to visitors, with the upper levels giving views back across the water to Valletta and down over the marina.

Allow an hour or so. Check opening days before you go, since it does not open every day of the week in every season, and the walk out to it along the point is exposed with very little shade in summer.

3. The Malta Maritime Museum

Housed in the former naval bakery on the Birgu waterfront, the museum covers Maltese maritime history across the Knights, the French and British periods, and the modern era. The building alone is worth the entrance.

It has been undergoing phased restoration in recent years, so it is worth checking what is open before you plan around it. For anyone interested in why this harbour mattered so much for so long, it is the best single explanation on the island.

4. Walking the Collachio in Birgu

The quarter where the Knights lived before Valletta was built, and the most complete surviving piece of pre-1565 Malta. The auberges of the different langues stand along narrow lanes, most of them now private homes with plaques rather than open buildings.

There is no ticket and no route, which is the appeal. Give it half an hour, take the turnings that look interesting, and accept that you will get slightly lost. The peninsula is small enough that you cannot go far wrong.

5. The Birgu marina and waterfront

The restored waterfront below the fortifications is now a yacht marina, with the old warehouses converted into restaurants and bars looking across the creek at Senglea. It is the most polished part of the Three Cities and the easiest place to sit down.

Prices here are higher than in the streets behind, as waterfronts always are. Eat one street back if you are watching the budget, or come down to the marina for a drink in the evening when the lights come on across the water.

6. A harbour cruise from the creeks

Small boats run harbour tours from both the Birgu and Valletta sides, taking you around the creeks and along the fortifications at water level. Seeing the walls from below is the only way to grasp how high they actually are.

Most cruises last around an hour and run through the day in season. It pairs well with a Three Cities visit rather than duplicating it, since the tour shows you the parts of the harbour you cannot walk to.

How long do you need in the Three Cities?

Half a day covers all three at a comfortable pace. The ferry across, an hour or so in Birgu, the walk through Cospicua to Senglea, twenty minutes at the Gardjola Gardens and lunch on one of the waterfronts fills a morning or an afternoon without any rushing.

A full day makes sense if you want to go inside Fort St Angelo and the Maritime Museum properly, or if you plan to add a harbour cruise. The towns are small and there is no distance involved, so the time goes on the interiors rather than the walking. Two hours is enough for Birgu alone if you are short of time.

Best time to visit the Three Cities

Late afternoon is the answer in almost every season. The towns face north-west across the harbour, so the light on the Valletta bastions opposite is at its best in the last two hours of the day, and the streets that were uncomfortably hot at midday become pleasant. It is also when the residential quarters come back to life.

Avoid the middle of the day in July and August. There is very little shade on the waterfronts and almost none on the walk out to Fort St Angelo. In winter these towns are one of the better wet-weather options in Malta, since the museums and the fort give you indoor time and the streets are short enough to dash between. My month by month weather guide covers what to expect through the year.

One date worth knowing: the Birgufest weekend in October, when the streets are lit by candles and thousands of people cross for the evening. It is genuinely lovely and it is also the one time of year when the Three Cities are crowded, so plan accordingly in either direction.

Are the Three Cities worth visiting?

Yes, and they are the trip I recommend most often to guests who have already done the obvious things. You get older streets than Valletta, better harbour views than Valletta, a fifteen minute ferry to reach them and a fraction of the visitor numbers. For a half day of effort that is an unusually good return.

The people who get least from it are those expecting attractions in the ticketed sense. There is no headline museum here to rival St John’s Co-Cathedral, and outside Fort St Angelo and the Maritime Museum most of what you are doing is walking. If that sounds thin to you, go for two hours and see Birgu rather than committing a day.

For families it works better than people expect, mainly because of the boats. The ferry crossing, the dgħajsa and the marina hold a child’s attention in a way that a cathedral does not, and the Gardjola Gardens has space to run about. Older children with any interest in castles do well at Fort St Angelo.

More to Explore

Frequently Asked Questions

Photographs of Senglea and Birgu via Wikimedia Commons: Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0), Jules Verne Times Two (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Kritzolina (CC BY-SA 4.0). Ferry times and fares are approximate and change by season; check before travelling.