Pillar 06 · Getting There & Around

How to Get to Żejtun From Sliema and St Julian’s

Sliema and St Julian’s sit on Malta’s north-eastern coast; Żejtun is in the south. The journey is roughly 45 minutes to an hour, by bus or taxi. Here’s the practical guide.

This article is a stub. Specific bus numbers will follow.

The options

Bus. Most direct bus connections from Sliema and St Julian’s to the south of Malta involve a change at Valletta (or sometimes the airport interchange). Total journey time: 60–80 minutes including the change. The fare is still cheap — Tallinja Card or contactless bank card. Taxi or ride-share. Faster: 25–40 minutes depending on traffic, longer at rush hour. Bolt is widely available and often considerably cheaper than the regulated taxi. The road runs through Marsa and the inland route, so traffic in the late afternoon can be heavy.

If you’re coming for a single visit, the realistic plan is: bus or ride-share down in the morning, half a day in Żejtun, optional walk or short bus on to Marsaxlokk for lunch, and then back the same way in the late afternoon — or, better, ride-share back if you’re tired. [LOCAL FACT — Mattew to confirm the current direct or one-change Tallinja routes Sliema/St Julian’s to Żejtun.]

Why this trip is worth doing

Most Sliema and St Julian’s-based visitors never make it to the south of the island, partly because the journey looks longer on a map than it really is. The actual time investment is one to two hours each way, depending on mode and traffic. For the price of a slightly longer day, you get a Maltese town that the tourist circuit hasn’t reshaped, a Roman villa, a baroque parish church, a working harbour fifteen minutes’ walk away, and a coastal walk to round it off. Compared with another beach day at Sliema, the trip down to Żejtun and back is one of the better single-day investments a Malta visitor can make.

What this article will cover

  • Current Tallinja bus routes (with the change at Valletta or the airport)
  • Realistic journey times by mode and by time of day
  • Ride-share fares on the typical route
  • How to plan a half-day vs full-day visit
  • Combining Żejtun with Marsaxlokk in a single trip
  • Late-evening options and the last buses

Read more on this pillar

Part of our Getting There & Around pillar. Pair with from Valletta, buses serving Żejtun, and the half-day plan.

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.