A car-free island with a stunning blue lagoon is 29°C in September, but tourists should hold off before visiting. Around 500,000 people live across the five islands of the Maltese archipelago, a favourite holiday destination thanks to its warm weather and intact historical centre.
The tiny island of Comino
As lovely as the better-known Malta and Gozo islands are, there is a smaller, virtually uninhabited island that also offers a huge amount. Comino sits between the two bigger islands and is now home to just two people, having been inhabited by farmers during Roman times and later abandoned entirely.
At 3.5km long with sand dunes running along the edges, it's not big, but it remains a big tourist draw for one particular reason. The Blue Lagoon has been hailed as a "paradise on earth" and is a broad expanse of crystal-clear azure waters complemented by a stretch of white sandy beach.
How to reach the Blue Lagoon
Adventure-seekers can reach the vibrant body of water via ferry from Cirkewwa or Marfa, take a day cruise from the Sliema Ferry, or sail by private boat. Although summer sees peak activity, the spot remains pleasantly warm with temperatures lingering around 25C in October, and nearer 30C in September.
The bay's hue, caused by sunlight reflecting off the white limestone seabed, sparkles in the sunlight, making it a dream for photographers. The island is a great place to spot birds and is completely car-free. There are no buildings to stay in, but visitors can immerse themselves in nature by camping on Comino.
Overcrowding and new restrictions
As lovely as all of this sounds, there's a good reason why people plotting a trip to the island should hold their horses. The tiny Mediterranean paradise is overrun by tourists for much of the year, many lured by social media to photograph its iconic Blue Lagoon.
From March until the end of October, the pool is completely overrun by daytrippers from Gozo or Malta. If you are going to visit, it's far wiser to do so outside of the long peak season, when you might get to enjoy the beautiful beach without being crushed by the crowds.
Colin Backhouse is a Maltese travel expert who advises people on where to go and what to see in the archipelago through his Facebook page, Malta Holiday Experiences. "It's wonderful at this time of year," he told the BBC in March. "But in summer? You couldn't pay me to go near it. It’s hell on Earth."
At its busiest, visitors stand shoulder-to-shoulder, litter spills from overflowing bins, rose shrubs are trampled, and any peace and quiet is ripped through by powerful motorboats. "I first visited in 1980. Back then, you could have the whole place to yourself. Unfortunately, I've seen first-hand the destruction over the decades. I really don't know why people bother anymore," Backhouse added.
In 2022, a local group called Movimenti Graffiti decided to strip the island of its deckchairs and sunbeds in a protest against the overcrowding, which really began after the Blue Lagoon featured in Game of Thrones. Now officials are taking action. Maltese authorities are introducing a daily visitor cap, reducing the number of tour boat day-trippers from 10,000 to 4,000.
Mark Sultana, CEO of BirdLife Malta, wants further action. "Limiting numbers is a good start. But we need a public sustainability plan that doesn't just focus on crowd control but also on preserving Comino's fragile ecosystem. We are insisting it should have a ticket control system where only a capped number of tickets can be issued each day," he told the BBC.
Getting to Malta and beyond
If you do fancy a trip to Malta, Ryanair flies there from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, while Ryanair, easyJet and Jet2 run services from Manchester Airport. Recently, the Liverpool Echo's Holly Clarke embarked on a journey to the Maltese Archipelago. Holly departed from Manchester Airport at 7am and was wandering around the breathtaking Balluta Bay by 12pm.
As much as Holly loved Malta, it was its much smaller, lesser-visited neighbour that really stole her heart. Before Holly realised it, she was setting off on a ferry to the island of Gozo, which is developing a new £2million airport that'll make journeys from Malta considerably quicker. For the time being, the ferry is direct and costs approximately 5 Euros for a return ticket.
