St Julian's 특집호
Walking St Julian's old village core around Spinola Bay
A slow loop from the Spinola boathouses to Balluta Bay, with the opening hours and prices, and the tables you need to book ahead.
글: Callum ReidThe parts of St Julian's worth the walk.
Painted luzzu fishing boats lie moored against the low stone quay at Spinola Bay, each with the eye of Osiris on its prow. Behind them stand arched stone boathouses 250 years old, set at water level. One of them is now a dining room.
Spinola Bay in the late afternoon
Spinola Bay is the old village waterfront, a horseshoe inlet of deep green water with café terraces and bay-windowed townhouses stacked up the hillside behind. Come in late afternoon, when the light comes off the water and onto the boathouses. The waterfront is public and free. The quayside promenade narrows by the boathouses.
The old village grew around this inlet, and it is the one view here that still reads as a fishing harbour.
LOVE Monument is on the promenade at the bay. Richard England put the piece up in 2003 and it divided Malta at the time. The letters are large white blocks mounted mirror-reversed on the quay edge, so the word reads correctly only in its reflection on the sea below, with the moored boats behind it. Stand on the far side of the inlet, where the reflection makes the joke work. It is now the photograph most people take of the bay.
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Spinola Palace above the bay
Spinola Palace is on the hill above the bay and gives the bay its name. Fra Paolo Raffaele Spinola built it in 1688 and had it inscribed as being for the people's recreation. The façade is honey limestone, with a Latin dedication over the main doorway and a clock topped by a carved crown. The French knocked that crown off in 1798 and it went back up in 2012.
Treat this as a façade stop. The building works as an institutional headquarters and the interior is closed, so you see the exterior and the grounds only. Walled gardens lie behind it, and the vaulted cellar below trades as a restaurant. Nothing here costs anything.
Lapsi Street and the two churches
Uphill from the water, the Church of St Julian (Lapsi Street) is the oldest surviving thread of the fishing village. A chapel has stood on the spot since 1580, when this was open hunting country belonging to the Knights. What you walk into is the third church there, completed in 1683: plain limestone, with a single bell-cot over a simple pedimented façade, on a narrow uphill street. Stone niches and a statue of the Assumption stand further along the same street.
The interior is tiny. Visit in a small group and keep clear of Mass times. The Lapsi feast each May fills the street.
The Parish Church of St Julian (Lapsi Street) is Arturo Zammit's building, first used on Palm Sunday 1968 and consecrated in 1978. Pope John Paul II was welcomed here in May 1990. The façade is clean-lined 1960s work in limestone, with a bell tower, a broad flight of steps and a forecourt at the top of them.
The village feast falls on the last Sunday of August, 30 August in 2026. The forecourt fills with festa banners and strings of coloured lights, and the greased-pole ġostra runs out over the water at Spinola Bay. The nave is large and takes a crowd. Dress modestly and avoid Mass times. Entry is free.
Five minutes along the front to Balluta Bay
The Carmelite Church (Our Lady of Mount Carmel) is at the head of Balluta Bay, a five-minute walk along the front from Spinola Bay, and it is the most photographed building in St Julian's. It began as a small chapel in 1859, Galizia rebuilt it in 1877, Vincenti rebuilt it again in 1900, it was enlarged in 1958 and it became a parish church in 1974. The neo-Gothic façade rises straight out of the seafront square, pale stone with pointed arches, a rose window and pinnacled towers. Pigeons and palm trees sit on the paving in front.
The interior is large and open outside service times, and it costs nothing to look. The square in front is the natural meeting point if you are walking with other people.
Balluta Buildings faces the same bay. Giuseppe Psaila built the block in 1928 for Marquis John Scicluna, and it is the best Art Nouveau set-piece on this coast: a long curved terrace of rhythmic bays, each one an enclosed timber-and-glass Maltese balcony, with decorative stone swags and ironwork above a ground-floor arcade of cafés. It frames the small shingle-and-sand beach at Balluta Bay below. You look at it from the pavement or from the bay, and nothing inside is open to visitors.
Dinner on Spinola Bay
San Giuliano is in the boathouses on Spinola Bay, so you eat inside Grand Master Spinola's 250-year-old arches with the fleet docked outside, and the menu is fish. A red staircase drops from the road into a dining room set behind big glass windows in the stone arches, and the boats are tied up a few metres from the tables. The band is €€€. Mains run €15.50 to €32.50. A €25 minimum food charge and a €2.25 cover apply. Book ahead if you want a window arch.
Gululu (133 Spinola Bay) is the waterfront Maltese tavern on the quay and the easiest introduction to the island's cooking in the village, built on rabbit stew, bragioli and ftira. It has held a Maltese Restaurant of the Year title. The interior is crowded with Maltese folk objects and painted boat colours, and the terrace tables sit directly over the quay, looking across to the boathouses. Prices are €€. Reserve, because from mid-May it is full most evenings.
Peppino's (65 St George's Road) has traded on the same corner above the bay for more than two decades and is the local default for a glass of wine with a view before dinner. The wine bar is downstairs, with a small raised street-level terrace holding a handful of tables. The restaurant is upstairs, with bay views over the boathouses. It opens 11:00 to 00:00, Monday to Saturday, and prices are €€.
Drinks at MÉZ and Saddles
MÉZ (102 Triq Spinola) is widely rated the best cocktail bar in Malta, and it is here in the village core. The bar is a dark snug hung with maritime memorabilia and spice-trade antiques, with a guest entrance off the Spinola Bay waterfront and terrace tables out over the inlet. The mixology is spice-led and the food is Indo-coastal. The bar opens at 17:30 daily, and weekend lunch runs 12:00 to 15:00. Prices are €€€. Book through the reservation system or call the enquiry line.
Saddles Pub has kept the same terrace on Main Street at the top of Spinola Bay for more than 40 years. An awning covers a wide pavement terrace of simple tables and chairs, with the bay and the fishing boats straight ahead. It opens 09:00 to 03:00 every day, there is no door policy and you do not need to book. It pours the cheapest pint with a view of the bay, and serves coffee in the morning and beer all afternoon. The band is €.
Eating above Balluta Bay
Barracuda (194 Main Street) has been a St Julian's institution for nearly 30 years, in an award-winning conversion of an 18th-century seaside villa that juts out over Balluta Bay on arches. The balcony dining terrace hangs above the water, with white shuttered windows behind it and the Carmelite church in the view. The kitchen is seafood, it is back on form under new operators, and the band is €€€. Book by phone or through the rooftop lounge site, and ignore the old barracudarestaurant.com domain, which spam has taken over. The rooftop lounge in the same building runs late on Friday and Saturday as a bar with DJs.
OKA's at The Villa (Main Street at Balluta Bay) fills a 19th-century palazzo that was an industrialist's summer residence, and it is the most handsome building in Balluta put back into use. The name comes from the Maltese word for oak that gave Balluta its own name. High-ceilinged rooms with contemporary interiors open onto wide stone terraces and a walled garden above the bay. Dinner service starts at 17:00 and you reserve direct. Prices are €€€. The terraces and garden make it the best group and private-event room in the old core.
Staying in the village core
Hotel Juliani (25 St George's Road) was Malta's first boutique hotel and is the only place that puts you on the bay itself. The renovated limestone townhouse faces Spinola Bay, the interiors are compact, and the rooftop pool and sun terrace look down over the fishing boats and the curve of the water. The Michelin-listed Zest and Café Juliani are downstairs. Rooms are €€€. Enquire direct, and note that a direct booking of four nights or more includes airport pickup.
Dean Hamlet Hotel stands in the back streets uphill from Spinola Bay, the sensible-value base inside the old core. The 3-star has a larger room count than the boutiques, apartment-style rooms, and a lounge bar and terrace. The rooftop pool deck opens year-round, with sea views over the rooftops. Rooms are €€, and it stands far enough uphill to miss the Paceville noise.
Hours and booking
Peppino's keeps to Monday to Saturday, and both churches want visitors clear of Mass times. Book Gululu, San Giuliano and OKA's direct, reach Barracuda by phone, and leave Saddles to walk-ins.
See the St Julian's guide and the St Julian's hotel search.
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When is the St Julian's village feast in 2026?
It falls on the last Sunday of August, 30 August in 2026. Festa banners and strings of coloured lights go up in the forecourt of the Parish Church of St Julian on Lapsi Street, and the greased-pole ġostra runs out over the water at Spinola Bay. The older Church of St Julian, on the same street, holds its own Lapsi feast each May.
Can you go inside Spinola Palace?
No. The building is an institutional headquarters rather than a museum, and the interior is closed. You can look at the façade and the grounds freely, including the clock and its carved crown, knocked off by the French in 1798 and put back in 2012. The vaulted cellar below the palace trades as a restaurant.
Where do you stand to photograph the LOVE sculpture?
Stand on the far side of the Spinola Bay inlet. Richard England's 2003 letters sit mirror-reversed on the quay edge, so the word only reads correctly in its reflection on the sea below, with the moored fishing boats behind it. The promenade is open and free, and you can photograph it without restriction.
Which restaurants in the old core need booking?
Gululu at 133 Spinola Bay is full most evenings from mid-May, so reserve. San Giuliano in the boathouses takes bookings, and it is worth calling ahead if you want a window arch. Book OKA's at The Villa direct; dinner service starts at 17:00. For Barracuda, phone or use its rooftop lounge site, because the old barracudarestaurant.com domain has been taken over by spam.
Where should you stay to be in the old village and away from Paceville?
Hotel Juliani at 25 St George's Road is the only place on Spinola Bay itself. It is a townhouse hotel at €€€, with a rooftop pool over the fishing boats, and direct bookings of four nights or more include airport pickup. Dean Hamlet Hotel sits in the back streets at €€, with more rooms and a year-round rooftop pool, far enough uphill to miss the Paceville noise.
