My wife and I stayed at this hotel on a bed and breakfast basis, which we found was perfect as we were not tied to the hotel for lunch & dinner. This allowed us the time to explore the island to the full.
The hotel bedroom was warm, comfortable and of a very high standard with everything you would expect of a 5 star spa hotel. English language TV however was limited to BBC World News.
A hearty breakfast was served in the hotel dining room, where there was a full selection of cooked or continental breakfast available. The cooked breakfast included Maltese sausages, which were an enjoyable and tasty change to the British banger.
Evening meals, when taken, allowed guests to select from an a- la-carte menu or the ‘hot meal of the day’. On both occasions we ate at the hotel we went for the set meal, which we found to be of exceptional quality and value.
Whilst the outside roof swimming pool was not open during our visit in March, too cold anyway to be honest, the hotel indoor leisure complex was warm and had a wonderful ambiance with slat beds around the heated swimming pool. The pool itself , whilst not large, was of an ample size to swim lengths, and the sauna, steam room, spa and cold water plunge pool were all well maintained. This area had a warm and relaxing atmosphere where you could chill out on returning to the hotel.
Le Meridien has a travel agent based at its lowest level (street level) and we booked all of our excursions here, but found that customers that consulted with the many street sellers of the hop-on-hop-off Maltese sightseeing buses could negotiate a better deals directly with the company.
There are 3 tours available on these buses: 1. North Island (red buses); 2. South Island (blue buses) or 3. Gozo (green buses), and we found that each of these tours dropped us off at our hotel at the end of our journey. There is also a fantastic free Valetta Grand Harbour boat trip from Selima with any of these tours.
The Malta Night Extravaganza is billed as an action packed spectacular musical show with a lavish three course meal and free flowing wine, however we found this to be expensive for what it was, and the live show had such a poor sound system that the story was lost to the rafters. However you will not arrive home hungry (so long as you enjoy rice) or seeking drink (as long as you like cheap plonk).
The Maltese service buses are a very cheap and convenient, if a little slow, way of getting around the island, but the one day charge allows you to travel on any bus as many times as you wish, to anywhere on the island during that day or evening, and from what we saw, the service runs until around 10 to 11pm every day.
Eating out in Malta cannot be said to be cheap, however there is tremendous choice of restaurants in St. Julian’s and St. George’s Bay, and the fish could not be fresher. Many displayed their ‘catch of the day’ from which you can select your meal.
Malta is a fantastic destination for winter sun, and the people are very friendly and have a high regard for British tourists. This Island has so many things to see and do, that we intend to return.