For my first trip to Malta I figured I should stay in the most historic area of the islands. Valletta is the capital of Malta and also the most historic area, yet it has few hotels compared to the rest of the country. When I was looking for hotels rooms hardly anything was showing up (at least at a budget rate). It turns out that most tourists from Europe come to Malta for a beach holiday, and visit Valletta as a day trip.
In situations like this where hotel prices are absurd I turn to Airbnb to see what rooms are available. I ended up finding a good private room in an apartment/house in the heart of the capital city.
Once the booking was confirmed I was sent a detailed map of how to get to the apartment from the airport bus. Getting around old Valletta is easy though as it is laid out in a grid format. The apartment itself is a typical Valletta building.
I prefer to rent a whole Airbnb apartment rather than renting a private room. Of course it’s a bit more expensive to do that in Europe, so I went with the private room option. In this case it turned out to be a good option as I got to see what life is like inside these amazing old apartment blocks.
The apartment I stayed was more like a house as it occupied the entire building. I was greeted by the friendly owner and shown to the top half of the apartment.
I had a large twin room on the top corner of the building which had windows on two sides.
The old furnishings were homely and made you feel like you were sleeping over at someone’s grandparents. The owner has lived here all his life, and his parents lived downstairs so it actually was like staying at a grandparents house.
Here is the view from my room, deep in the historic old quarter.
The shared bathroom was spacious and keep in good, clean order.
The host provided a continental breakfast in the kitchen (coffee and a pastry variety). There is free wifi in the apartment, and I had no problem getting a connection.
Overall this was a good room to stay in Valletta. Airbnb has been in the news a lot for taking up valuable rental accommodation in old cities, and that is far enough if whole apartments are being rented out. I think though that renting out spare rooms is a good thing.
Check out where I satayed here, or view all Valletta airbnb apartments.
If you’re new to Airbnb you can get a credit towards your first booking here: Airbnb signup credit.
And if you just want to book a hotel, search for hotels in Valletta.
