What's on in Valletta (Malta), Malta through the year

Shoulder season — school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Festival

  Valletta Baroque Festival

  8–25 JanMajor festival

  Three weeks of baroque music in the buildings it was written for: St John's co-cathedral, the Manoel theatre, the auberges. The one good reason to be here in January. Source ↗

Busy — Malta Carnival, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Malta Carnival

  1 Feb – 10 Mar · usuallyCrowded

  Five days of floats and grotesque masks in the streets below the city gate, a tradition the Knights already found in place. Nadur on Gozo runs the anarchic version the same week. Source ↗

Busy — Malta Carnival, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Malta Carnival (1 Feb – 10 Mar (usually))

Busy — school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in April.

Busy — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in May.

Busy — Festa season, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Sea warm enough to swim

  1 Jun – 10 Nov · usually

  Valletta itself has no beach; swimming means the rocks at Sliema across the harbour or a bus to the north. The water stays in by early November, long after the crowds have gone.

• Festival

  Festa season

  1 Jun – 15 SepMajor festivalCrowded

  Every parish takes a weekend for its patron saint: banners across the streets, band marches and fireworks made in the village's own factory. Mid-August, for Santa Marija, is the loudest of them. Source ↗

Busy — Festa season, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (1 Jun – 10 Nov (usually)), Festa season (1 Jun – 15 Sep)

Busy — Festa season, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (1 Jun – 10 Nov (usually)), Festa season (1 Jun – 15 Sep)

Peak crowds — Festa season, Notte Bianca

• Festival

  Notte Bianca

  25 Sep – 15 Oct · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  One October night when the palaces, ministries and museums open free until dawn and the whole city walks around inside them. The ferry from Sliema runs late for it. Source ↗

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (1 Jun – 10 Nov (usually)), Festa season (1 Jun – 15 Sep)

Peak crowds — Notte Bianca, Rolex Middle Sea Race

• Festival

  Rolex Middle Sea Race

  14–26 Oct · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  A 600-mile offshore race that starts and finishes in Grand Harbour, so the bastions become the grandstand for the cannon start. The fleet trickles back in over the following week. Source ↗

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (1 Jun – 10 Nov (usually)), Notte Bianca (25 Sep – 15 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (1 Jun – 10 Nov (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in December.