United Travel Malta

V alletta, together with Leeuwarden (Netherlands), will be the European Capital of Culture in 2018. Valletta's year officially opens on the 20th January 2018 with an official ceremony.  Valletta's title is an award which will be shared amongst all localities in Malta & Gozo. This decision, supported by all of the 68 localities in Malta, was taken in order to ensure that the positive effects of the title would be spread as widely as possible.  With around 400 events across 365 days, Jason Micallef, Chairman of the Valletta 2018 Foundation, promises that next year will include " the most cultural activity and related celebrations since Malta's independence." Since local traditions are known for their passion, exuberance and flair, the organising committee decided to celebrate our European Capital of Culture year through the best festive language we know - that of the traditional  Maltese Festa .  The  chosen themes  are island stories,...

Malta's mysterious, 7000 years of history together with it's strong religious background makes it the perfect backdrop to a number of legends, myths and folk tales. Most of the stories find their foundations in truth and historical facts, with each story being embellished by every generation that narrated it. Other stories were used as explanations of different phenomena that people could not explain. Here are some of our favourite myths & legends... St. Paul & The Venomous Viper This is legend is probably the best known amongst the locals, as it is about Malta's Patron Saint and can be found in the Bible. The story says that when St. Paul was shipwrecked in Malta, he was gathering wood to make himself a fire, as he lit the fire a viper was driven out by the heat and bit him. The Maltese, who were very superstitious people, expected St. Paul to die of poisoning, however, he simply shook the snake off into the fire and no harm came to him. It is said th...

After being closed for a number of months due to major conservation works, the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum will once again reopen its doors to the public on May 15. The Hal Salfieni Hypogeum is an underground prehistoric burial site. It was discovered in 1902 during construction works. It is made up of a series of interconnecting rock-cut chambers set on three distinct levels. During excavation works, remains were found which date back to around 4000BC and it is believed that the complex was used over a number of centuries, up to around 2500BC. There are many legends and myths about the Hypogeum and the remains that were found there. One states that a group of schoolchildren went missing in the underground chambers a couple of decades after it was discovered. The children's corpses were never found in the pre-historic cemetry, and the children were given up for dead. This tale probably served as a warning for adventurous children not to venture into the tunnels alone, rather than it...

Have you ever wondered why St. John's Co-Cathedral in Mdina is considered one of the must see sites in Malta?  Would you like to see a 360-degree virtual tour of the cathedral from the comfort of your home? Well, now you can! Last month, the church launched an incredible 360-degree virtual tour, allowing you to take in all the main sights from the comfort of your sofa, through your computer or even your smartphone.  Users can rotate the camera to look up and down and all around. The 360-degree views also allow users to zoom into certain areas of interest.  There are 6 panoramic views available, the main nave is available for viewing free of charge, whilst the other views come at a one time cost of €2.99. If you would like to view the virtual tour for yourself, you can do so by clicking here. If you would like more information about the cathedral, or would like us to help you plan a visit there, please feel free to get in touch with us.  

Last Wednesday was a very sad day for Malta, as it was the day that we lost one of our most loved and treasured natural beauties - Gozo's Azure Window. We all knew that this iconic landmark was being worn away, and that it was a matter of time until we lost it, what we didn't know is how soon this would happen. A few years ago geologists claimed that it will eventually collapse, but that it was in no imminent danger. Unfortunately though, last Wednesday was the day it succumbed to mother nature. Below is the official press release which we received from the Malta Tourism Authority... Nature Claims Gozo’s Iconic Azure Window Tragedy Strikes as Landmark Collapses into the Inland Sea March 8 th  2017:  A sad day for the Mediterranean island, today saw the tragic collapse of the iconic Azure Window in Gozo. A breath-taking structure that is believed to be thousands of years old, rough seas have finally taken their toll as the magnificent limestone arch has finall...

At the beginning of February, the Malta Tourism Authority together with the Ministry of Tourism and National Statistics Office announced that 2016 was another record year for tourism in Malta. 2016 was the 7th consecutive year with overall increases,  inbound tourism increased by 10% totalling almost 2 million tourists. This is very exciting news for all of us involved in the tourism sector in Malta, especially because the increase does not only come from Malta's traditional source markets such as the UK, Italy and Germany, but also includes increases from countries like Poland, Hungary, Greece and the Netherlands. If you're interested in all of these statistics you can watch the video below, which was released by the MTA to celebrate last year's success in the tourism industry... If you would like to better understand what attracts tourists to Malta, you can watch the below video which is currently trending locally on different social media sites. The destinatio...

We are delighted to announce the 20th anniversary concert of the internationally acclaimed Maltese tenor, Joseph Calleja.  Joseph Calleja will be accompanied by special guest, Andrea Boccelli. Concert will be staged at  The Granaries in Floriana  on  Saturday, 19th August The Malta  Philharmonic Orchestra and the BOV Joseph Calleja Children's Choir, under the direction of Gillian Zammit, will also be in attendance Seated Tickets are now available starting from €80.00 For further booking information, accommodation, flights, or for a personalised package, feel free to contact us.  

It's been a few months since we updated our beloved blog - we were very in busy in the office during the last quarter of 2016, and unfortunately our blog got given a back seat until we caught up on everything. We decided that with the start of 2017, the first blog should be about which lists Malta appeared on towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year. Here's a list of our favourite articles... Lonely Planet's Top 25 Secret Destinations - September 2016 Way back in September, Lonely Planet released the Fall publication of the US edition of the Lonely Planet Magazine. One of the cover features is an article which lists the top 25 "secret" destinations according to their adventure experts - and Malta took the number 1 spot! Writer Abigail Blasi said that Malta should no longer be thought of as a place for "elderly tour groups", highlighting the fact that there has been an emergence of new, modern architecture, trendy bar and r...