Pillar 05 · Where to Stay

Day Trips From Żejtun if You’re Staying Nearby

If Żejtun is your base, the rest of Malta is genuinely a day’s reach. This is the local short list of day trips, in roughly the order I’d recommend doing them.

This article is a stub. Bus numbers and current connections to follow once we’ve checked them all.

The shortlist

Marsaxlokk on a Sunday morning is the easiest and best first day trip — a 15-minute walk or short bus ride away, the painted fishing boats and the food market between them filling the harbour. Valletta is roughly 30–40 minutes by bus and is the obvious full-day trip; aim for the cathedral, the Grand Master’s Palace, and a long lunch in a back-street trattoria. The Three Cities — Birgu, Senglea, Cospicua — are easily combined with Valletta or done as a half-day on their own. Mdina and Rabat, the old capital, take an hour or so by bus with a change; allow a full day. Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, the prehistoric temples, are doable as a half-day or longer. Gozo is a full day with an early start: bus to Ċirkewwa, ferry across, hire a taxi or take a Gozo bus, return in the evening.

[LOCAL FACT — Mattew to confirm current Tallinja bus routes and approximate journey times from Żejtun to each destination, and to flag any seasonal ferry schedule changes.]

How to choose between trips

If you have one day to spare for a trip out of Żejtun, make it Valletta — the cathedral, the museums, and a long lunch in a back street. If you have two, add Mdina and Rabat. If you have three, add a Gozo day. Marsaxlokk is best done as a half-day on a Sunday morning rather than as a full-day trip. The Three Cities work as either a short half-day add-on to Valletta or as a full day on their own. Hagar Qim is best in spring or autumn; in summer the site is hot and there isn’t much shade. Plan around the weather and the bus frequencies.

What this article will cover

  • Each destination with a one-paragraph case
  • Current bus routes and journey times from Żejtun
  • What to do if you have a hire car
  • How to combine two short trips into one day
  • Sunday-only destinations (Marsaxlokk market)
  • The Gozo day, planned end-to-end

Read more on this pillar

Part of our Where to Stay pillar. Pair with buses serving Żejtun, how to get to Valletta, and the Getting There & Around pillar.

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.