There are different ways to get from St Julian’s to Valletta, Malta. We’ve covered them below, so you can choose the one that best fits your needs.
St Julian’s to Valletta by car
If you have a car at your disposal, driving from St Julian’s to Valletta is an option. Both city centres aren’t even 8 km (~ 5 miles) apart, resulting in about a 20 minute drive.
It’s best to park your car outside of Valletta. There’s a car park right here, just outside the city walls, and one surrounding a soccer field, right here. We believe both car parks are free, but don’t shoot us if they aren’t. We do know that it’s about a 5 minute walk from these car parks to the Valletta City Gate.
Keep in mind though, the best things to see and do in Valletta are within walking distance. Actually, everything in Valletta is, you can cross the city on foot in just 15 minutes. So, to dodge Malta’s notorious traffic, and avoid the trouble of finding a parking spot, we took the ferry from Sliema to Valletta.
St Julian’s to Valletta by boat
In less than 10 minutes, the Sliema-Valletta Ferry takes you from, well, Sliema to Valletta. We walked to the Sliema Ferry Landing from our accommodation in St Julian's, which took us about 20 minutes.
The queue for the Valletta Ferry starts underneath a white pop-up canopy tent. The line was already pretty long when we arrived, about 10 minutes before the ferry was scheduled to depart. The boat can hold 200 passengers though, so we did make it on there.
A return ticket for the Sliema-Valletta Ferry costs €2.80 per person (~ $3.20) per person, with children under the age of 12 and people over 60 paying only €0.90 (~ $1). You can buy one way tickets as well. Keep your cash ready to pay right before you board, so you don’t hold up the line.
A ferry leaves for Valletta every 30 minutes, starting from 7:00 in the morning. On Sundays and Public Holidays the first ferry leaves Sliema at 9:00. When the last ferry leaves depends on the season. The summer schedule is in effect from June 1st to October 31st, with the last ferry at 00:45. Note that the night service starts at 19:30, warranting slightly more expensive tickets. The rest of the year there’s a winter schedule, with the last ferry at 18:15 on Sundays and Public Holidays and 19:15 the rest of the week.
For a detailed and up-to-date timetable of the Valletta Ferry, we refer to the Valletta Ferry Services website.
Once you’ve boarded the ferry, you can choose to sit inside or on top, with a breeze in your hair. It gets pretty hot inside, but on top you feel the swaying of the boat more. Don’t forget to take a picture as the ferry is leaving Sliema or arriving at Valletta, for a nice city view from the water.
After arriving at the Valletta Ferry Landing, just follow the road leading up to the city walls to start your explorations of the small capital of Malta.
St Julian’s to Valletta by bus
As we had a rental car during our stay in Malta, we don’t have any experience with taking the bus from St Julian’s to Valletta, or anywhere really. However, from what we could find bus TD9 is a direct line from St Julian’s to Valletta, taking less than 20 minutes. To plan your journey and check fares, we refer to the official website of public transport in Malta.
Taking the boat from Sliema to Valletta is the best and most fun option to get from St Julian’s to Valletta, in our opinion. First, explore the streets of Sliema by walking from St Julian’s to the Sliema Ferry Landing, and then enjoy the view from the ferry!
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