The Palace

Very comfortable

I chose this hotel on the basis of reviews, and warnings that Maltese hotel star ratings do not usually tally with other European standards. I haven’t ever stayed in a 5 star hotel so I don’t know what the difference might be! But it was very comfortable and we did get a very good deal (and a ’deluxe’ room). The only problem was that when we had booked in and unpacked I went to have a bath, moved the slip mat and found a badly filled crack in the bath, which had clearly cracked again. If we had filled the bath, or even had a shower, there would have been some leakage underneath the bath, even into the room below. Also there was no shower screen attached. The maintenance man was very quick to arrive adn very polite. He wanted to re-fill the crack (it needed a new bath really!) but admitted that we couldn’t use the bath and phoned reception for us. We were very quickly given another room only 3 doors along which was perfect. The view from our 5th floor room was lovely, the old town of Valetta across the roofs and the water. The bells are a bit random it has to be said! The outdoor pool was open, but too chilly. The indoor pool was nice when not overcrowded and the sauna and steam rooms were good. We didn’t eat in the hotel (18Euros for breakfast each, no thanks!) But there is a good supermarket just down the road selling cereal, bread etc. We took it back and ate on the balcony enjoying the view.

If you don’t have much luggage and are relaxed about timings do use the local buses. At the airport it will cost you 21Euro for a taxi back to Valetta/Sliema, and 7Euro for the coach service. But less than 1Euro on the 8 bus which goes from the bus stop right outside the airport building every half an hour. Bus from Sliema to Mdina was 1.16Euro for a 30 minute journey - bumpy and noisy, but authentic and interesting, sharing the real Malta with the locals.

Best Hotel Yet

This is the best hotel I’ve ever stayed in, fantastic quality, fantastic service, that’s without mentioning the view out of the infinity pool on the roof

Traveller's tip on saving a few bucks

Breakfast is a lot cheaper down on the harbour

Good hotel, good location

The Palace in Sliema is a lovely hotel, the staff were very friendly and always willing to help. Our room was very comfortable with good facilities - only minor issue was the air conditioning seemed to take a while to cool the room down for the night because it would auto-turn off during the day, but that was not a massive issue. Location was good (once we found it) with the Sliema waterfront only a few minutes away and direct roads to the main highway.