Pillar 05 · Where to Stay

Should You Stay in Żejtun? Honest Pros and Cons

Żejtun is a quietly excellent place to stay, but it isn’t the right base for everyone. This is the honest list of who it suits and who it doesn’t.

This article is a stub. The pros and cons below are correct in spirit; specifics on accommodation will follow.

What works, what doesn’t

Pros. You’re in a real working Maltese town rather than a tourist quarter. The coffee is cheap, the food is good, the neighbourhood is quiet at night, and you’re a 15-minute walk from Marsaxlokk and 25 minutes from Marsascala. From Żejtun you can be anywhere on the islands inside an hour by bus or car. You’ll see Malta as Maltese people experience it, and that’s worth a lot. Cons. Żejtun is not on the sea — there’s no beach, no harbour view, no swimming from your hotel. The bus connections are good but not frequent in the late evening, so a hire car (or accepting taxi rides) makes life much easier. Restaurants close on certain weekday evenings and most things go quiet on Sunday afternoons. Festa week is wonderful but it is loud, and if you arrive in mid-June without expecting it you’ll meet the noise rather than the charm.

Who Żejtun suits: returning Malta visitors, slow travellers, families with older children, anyone with a hire car, and anyone who’d rather have an honest dinner with a Maltese family than a sea view. Who it doesn’t: first-time Malta visitors who want to walk to a beach from their room, anyone on a tight three-day itinerary, and anyone who wants nightlife. [LOCAL FACT — Mattew to add typical price ranges and which seasons are sensitive.]

Two scenarios

Two scenarios where Żejtun is unambiguously the right choice. The returning Malta visitor. If you’ve already done Valletta and Mdina and the standard sites, and you want to spend a week in a small Maltese town learning to read it properly, Żejtun is excellent. The slow-traveller couple. If you want a base for walks, long lunches, and the occasional bus trip elsewhere, with a hire car for one or two days, Żejtun works. Two scenarios where it doesn’t: a first-timer’s three-day Malta trip; or anyone who needs a sea view from the room. For both, look elsewhere on the island.

What this article will cover

  • The full pros-and-cons table
  • Who Żejtun suits and who it doesn’t
  • The accommodation types available
  • Typical price ranges by season
  • How to get around if you’re staying without a car
  • The festa-week consideration

Read more on this pillar

Part of our Where to Stay pillar. Pair with Żejtun vs Marsaxlokk vs Marsascala, boutique stays, and day trips from Żejtun.

Mattew Cassar

Resident · Writer

Mattew writes zejtun.com from a flat above his grandfather’s old workshop on Triq San Girgor. He has lived in Żejtun for twenty-three of his thirty-one years.