Staying in Qawra, Malta

We spent 9 nights in Qawra, Malta staying at the Soreda Hotel. Some of the best deals on hotels in Malta seemed to be in this resort when we booked our accommodation on the sunshine.co.uk site in early January. We paid £18 per person per night for half board at the Soreda Hotel. Therefore as our Ryanair flights cost £65 return per person (travelling with hand luggage only and paying by Mastercard prepaid debit card), the week’s holiday cost under £200 per person.

Qawra is in on the eastern side of a peninsula on the north east of Malta, next to Bugibba. The Soreda Hotel is located in a residential street, less than 5 minutes walk (down quite a steep slope) from the sea.You can go swimming in the sea here but there isn’t a sandy beach, it’s rocky and there are steps into the sea. Demetruis did some snorkelling and fishing at Qawra, catching mullet in the traditional Maltese way.

We didn’t do much shopping as we were on half board but there were several small shops nearby which were reasonably priced for basics such as milk, bread, teabags and fruit.

There were several bars within a five minute walk of the hotel. There’s a pleasant walk along the prom towards the end of the peninsula.

At the Malta Classic Car Collection in Qawra you’ll find more than fifty restored cars and motor bikes.

If you cut through Buggiba you can walk to St Paul’s Bay. We enjoyed strolling along the sea shore, with boats leaning against the yellow coloured wall. There was an outdoor pool there but it wasn’t clear if it was open.

There are buses to many destinations in the island from the bus station in Buggiba, a 10 – 15 minute walk from the hotel. Bus fares are really low, it cost around 50 cents from Qawra to the Maltese capital of Valletta. All the old buses in Malta are being replaced with a new fleet in July 2011. It takes around one hour, depending on traffic, to reach the capital Valletta by bus.

Another day trip idea is to take the bus to catch the ferry for the island of Gozo from the north of the island.

Image credit: europealacarte

Karen Bryan is the founding editor of the UK based, multi author Europe a la Carte Blog which features Europe travel tips about the best places to visit in Europe.