The St Julian's issue
Walking St Julian's rocky swimming coast
Tower Road has rock ledges, iron ladders and a 1658 watchtower. A walk along St Julian's swimming coast, with where to dive, eat and sleep.
By Callum ReidThe parts of St Julian's worth the walk.
Rusted iron bathing ladders are set into the pale limestone every few metres along Tower Road, and the shelf they drop from runs unbroken past Balluta, St Julian's Point and Exiles. Saint Julian's Tower has stood on that rock since 1658, squat and square with a small turret on its roof. The rocks are free to use.
Saint Julian's Tower and Tower Road
The tower was the fifth of the 13 De Redin towers, and Tower Road carries its name because of it. It is honey-coloured limestone, set low on a flat rock shelf at the St Julian's end of the road with open sea on three sides, the one piece of fortification on this stretch of coast and the sensible place to start the walk. Looking at it costs nothing.
A restaurant occupies the tower and the old battery beside it and takes bookings for tables, and eating inside is €€. Ten minutes outside is enough before you set off.
From the tower the Sliema–St Julian's coastal promenade (Tower Road) runs the length of the neighbourhood, a wide paved seafront walk along flat pale limestone shelves. It is free and unticketed, with cafés on the landward side the whole way. The surface stays flat and the route is lit after dark, so pushchairs and mixed-ability walkers manage it. Use it as the route between every stop here; among the free things in the neighbourhood it is the best.
Halfway along, Independence Garden (Tower Road) covers 2.7 acres laid out in 1990 on an abandoned farm, terraced down towards the water in palms and flowerbeds. A bright blue cat sculpture stands among painted benches with colony cats dozing on them, and steps drop from the garden to the rock shelf below. Locals call it the cat park. Shade, benches and public loos sit here between Balluta Bay and Exiles, and the playground and outdoor gym make it the easiest place for a family to regroup: children take the playground while the rest claim a bench. Use the loos before you go down to the rocks. Nothing is enclosed and nothing is charged.
Sliema Point Battery (Tower Road) is built out over the rocks further along, castellated limestone of 1876 with arched embrasures and crenellations. Dining tables are set in the old gun courtyard above the sea, and you can drink inside a British-period battery at €€. Walk in for a drink, but book ahead for a table. Restoration works were announced in August 2026 to strip the later additions and add a microbrewery, so check it is trading before you plan an evening around it.
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Balluta Bay
The Parish Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Balluta (Balluta Bay) rises straight off the pavement behind the bay's small sandy crescent, twin-towered and neo-Gothic in alternating red and cream stone under a rose window. It was rebuilt in 1877 to Emanuele Luigi Galizia's plans and again in 1900 by Gustavo Vincenti, then enlarged in 1958, which is why it reads half Maltese baroque and half French Gothic. It stands behind most photographs taken on this coast. Entry is free outside Mass; cover shoulders and knees at the door and keep the noise down inside.
Across the square, Balluta Buildings is Giuseppe Psaila's 1928 Art Nouveau terrace, five storeys of carved stone putti, deep arches and curved wrought-iron balconies built for the Marquis John Scicluna. It is the finest Art Nouveau block still standing in Malta, and the stonework is visibly weathered while it waits for restoration, so photograph the carving while it is still legible. The flats are private; the view from the square is the whole visit.
Barracuda (Balluta Bay) holds the eastern corner of the bay, an 18th-century limestone villa standing on stilts over the water, its open-air veranda rail directly above the sea. Fresh fish and shellfish have come out of this kitchen for nearly 30 years, at €€€€. The bill is high and the view from the rail carries it, with the St Julian's skyline curving away. Book the veranda tables for any summer evening.
Swimming at Exiles
The Exiles Beach Club (Fond Għadir) is the swim locals here take. Flat limestone ledges step down below the promenade to iron ladders, and the water off them is deep and clear from the first rung. A 1970s kiosk with plastic chairs and wooden benches serves whoever turns up, and a scrap of sand sits at one end. The rocks are free, and loungers and umbrellas are rented by the day for €5 to €10.
Go in off the ladders. The wet rock is slippery, and reef shoes earn their place on these ledges.
Surfside Bar & Grill (71 Tower Road) is built out on the rocks directly above those ledges, a split-level terrace of awnings and big-screen TVs with open sea on three sides. Burgers and grills come out for sandy feet at €€, and the place is big and casual enough to take a crowd, with sports crowds in for the screens. The kitchen runs to 01:00, so you can eat here mid-swim and go back down the ladders afterwards.
Merkanti Reef and Divewise
Merkanti Reef lies off the Dragonara shore, two parallel lines of concrete wave-breaker blocks dropped 150 m out that grew into the richest snorkelling on this coast. Crevices and small overhangs run the length of them, and the canyon between them drops to sand at 15 to 20 m, while divers work it at 10 to 12 m. The water is free and open, and there is nobody to sign in with.
The swim out from the entry point is 300 m, so take it with a dive centre or treat it as a long surface swim with fins.
Divewise (the Westin's rocky foreshore) shortens that considerably. Its house reef is Merkanti itself, and divers walk down concrete steps off the limestone straight into the water instead of spending an hour on a boat. Sign in and you are in the water within minutes, with cylinders and kit laid out on the rock. Scheduled dives and courses run daily from 08:30 to 18:00 at €€€, and beginners get take-a-try sessions and two training pools.
The Dragonara headland
Dragonara Palace & Dragonara Casino stands alone at the tip of a rocky peninsula, a white neoclassical summer palace of 1870 with a colonnaded portico and the Mediterranean on three sides. The Marquis Scicluna built it as his seaside residence, and it became Malta's first casino in 1964. Entry is free and the doors stay open 24 hours, though smart casual holds at the door whatever the hour. The age limit is 18, and every person at the desk needs a passport or identity card.
Allow 10 minutes to walk out along the headland. The building and the sea view are reason enough, and you never have to touch a table.
Spinola Bay
Happy Dayz Shack & Oki-Ko-Ki Banis Watersports sits on the fishermen's quay at Spinola Bay, a converted beach house in reggae-bright paintwork with ladders off its little pier and red and blue luzzu boats bobbing alongside. You swim off the ladders, dry out on the rocks and order a beer without moving from them. No drink on this shoreline is more Maltese. The bar takes walk-ins at € to €€.
The same desk sells the water toys. Banana boat and crazy sofa rides are €20 per person and carry up to six at a time, and the speedboat trip to the Blue Lagoon is €50 per person.
Gululu (Spinola Bay quay) is a five-minute walk round from the rocky coast, small bare-stone dining rooms stacked above the quay with windows looking straight down onto the luzzu boats. It is the one full Maltese menu in St Julian's: rabbit, bragioli and ftira at €€. Downstairs seats 40, the two upstairs rooms take 35 and 40 between them, and summer adds 50 seats outside, so a large party fits.
Where to stay on the rocks
The Westin Dragonara Resort holds its own rocky peninsula, and it is the one address here where you step from your room onto your own rock shelf. Two private rocky beaches and a cove were remodelled in 2022, the decks laid in limestone and timber with iron ladders down into the sea. The Reef Club sea-access lido admits day visitors; the resort pools are for in-house guests only. Divewise and Dragonara Palace sit on the same headland. €€€€.
Malta Marriott Resort & Spa (south shore of Balluta Bay) was rebranded from Le Méridien after a €30 million overhaul, and older guidebooks still print the wrong name. The position decides it: the hotel is 100 m from Balluta Bay and a two-minute walk from the swimming ladders. A spa, a squash court and the Cala Lido pool complex are on site, with a children's splash pool, at €€€. The rooftop pool deck looks across the water to the twin-towered church.
Closures and bookings
Confirm Sliema Point Battery is trading before you plan dinner there, and reserve a veranda table at Barracuda ahead of a summer evening. Anyone walking out to the casino needs a passport or identity card at the door.
See the St Julian's guide and the St Julian's hotel search.
Before you go
Where do locals swim on this coast?
The Exiles Beach Club at Fond Għadir. Flat limestone ledges step down from the promenade to iron ladders, and the water off them is deep and clear. The rocks are free; a lounger and umbrella cost €5 to €10 for the day. The wet rock is slippery, so bring reef shoes.
Can you snorkel Merkanti Reef from the shore?
Yes, and it costs nothing. The wave-breaker blocks sit 150 m offshore and the swim out from the entry point is 300 m, so you either go with a dive centre or make a long surface swim with fins. Divers work the reef at 10 to 12 m, and the canyon between the block lines drops to sand at 15 to 20 m.
Do you need ID for the Dragonara Casino?
Yes. You must be 18, and everyone shows a passport or identity card at the desk. Entry is free, the doors stay open 24 hours, and the dress code is smart casual. The palace dates from 1870 and the walk out along the headland has the sea views, worth doing even if you never play.
Is Sliema Point Battery open in 2026?
Check before you go. Restoration works announced in August 2026 will strip the later additions and add a microbrewery. Until then it trades as a bar-restaurant with tables in the old gun courtyard. Drinks are walk-in; book for a larger table.
Where can a large party eat near the swimming rocks?
Gululu on the Spinola Bay quay, a five-minute walk round from the rocky coast. Downstairs seats 40, the two upstairs rooms take 35 and 40 between them, and in summer another 50 seats go outside. The menu is Maltese: rabbit, bragioli and ftira.
