Walking Dragonara Point in St Julian's

The palace and the casino

Dragonara Palace & Dragonara Casino (Dragonara Point) stands at the end of the headland, and in daylight the Corinthian-columned portico and the balustraded sea terrace still look like the summer house they were built to be. The neoclassical interiors are open to anyone who comes through the door and never touches a chip. After dark the whole front is floodlit.

The door wants photo ID and admits over-18s only, and smart-casual is enforced in the evening. The palace also takes private bookings and events.

Dinner on the point itself is the Brasserie inside, € to €€€. The Sunday set menu is €30.

Merkanti Reef, off the point

Divewise Malta (beneath the Westin, Dragonara Point) works out of vaulted underground workshops dating from the time of the Knights, with the kit room and the compressor in the same stone rooms. Its house reef, Merkanti Reef, sits in the water directly off Dragonara Point between the Westin and the Hilton. Offshore, two parallel lines of huge sunken concrete blocks have grown over into an artificial reef. The top of it stands at 10 to 12 m, shallow enough for an easy dive.

The centre opens daily 08:30 to 18:00, and in summer heat the first slot of the day is the cooler one. A guided shore dive is €60 to €75. A try-dive is €110. Beginners and families are taken as a matter of course, and booking ahead is advised in summer.

The sand at St George's Bay

St George's Bay Beach (St George's Bay) is a small crescent of imported golden sand pinched between flat limestone shelves, with a wall of high-rise hotels standing behind it. A Blue Flag pole stands on the sand, and yellow buoys mark the swim zone offshore. The water is clean, swimming is free, and a pair of sunbeds costs €10 to €20.

The bay is small and it fills through August. A large party should come early for a patch of sand, or spread out on the limestone shelves on the Dragonara side.

Eating and drinking around the bay

Bagatelle Malta (St George's Bay) opened at the end of September 2026 with striped parasols and white cabanas over a pool deck, and a 180-cover indoor dining room that opens straight onto the sand. Walter D'Ambrosio is the chef. Lunch runs on the deck, and the room turns into a nightlife space after dark. It is €€€€, the site covers 1,960 m² and there is a private dining room inside it. Book ahead, and dress for the evening door.

TATEL Malta (St George's Bay) has been serving since summer 2026, a 182-cover Art Deco dining room of brass, dark wood and banquette leather with a live music stage set into the room. The cooking is Spanish-Mediterranean and the brand is backed by Cristiano Ronaldo. Doors are open daily from 12:30 to 00:00, €€€€. Parties of 10 and more go through a dedicated events desk. The Planning Authority issued an enforcement order over paperwork at the wider development in July 2026, and service has carried on through it.

Hugo's Terrace & Rooftop (Triq Dragunara) sits on the road that leads onto Dragonara Point, a glass-walled rooftop with a neon-lit bar that looks straight down onto the sand. The roof retracts and the terrace holds up in bad weather. It works for the first drink of the night, above street level, before Paceville. Prices are €€, the door is smart-casual and DJs play every day. Service can slow when the place is packed.

Portomaso Marina and the tower

Portomaso Marina (immediately south of Dragonara Point) is an enclosed rectangular yacht basin, dead calm, ringed by stepped ochre apartment terraces, with the 23-storey glass Portomaso Business Tower rising directly behind the masts. The quayside is public, free to walk and open at all hours. Walk it after sunset, when the basin and the tower are lit. A big group can usually get a table at one of the restaurants ringing the water.

Zeri's Restaurant (Portomaso Marina quay) is five minutes round the marina from the point, a white-linen terrace on the quay with yacht masts at eye level and whole fish and shellfish laid out on crushed ice. Chef-patron Mark Zerafa buys off the local day boats. It is €€€€, and walk-ins are not guaranteed from May to October, so reserve.

TwentyTwo (22nd floor, Portomaso Business Tower) is a glass-walled sky lounge at the top of the tower, with low-lit banquettes against the windows and a 360-degree view over the St Julian's coastline and the open sea. Go at dusk for that view. Capacity is 300 to 400. The door is 17+ and smart-casual. Entry is free before 23:00 and €10 with a drink after, and a group gets in more easily before the charge starts. €€.

The walk round to Spinola Bay

A 10-minute walk south of Dragonara Point, around the headland, brings you to the Love Monument (Spinola Bay), Richard England's chunky mirrored steel letters spelling LOVE in reverse on the quay edge. The water below reads the word the right way round. Painted luzzu fishing boats with eyes on the prow are moored behind it. It stands outdoors and unticketed at any hour.

Spinola Palace Gardens (Spinola Bay) was built in 1688 by Fra Paolo Raffaele Spinola and enlarged by Romano Carapecchia in 1733. The front garden is the piece you can walk into, a small walled baroque plot of clipped hedges and stone benches beneath a honey-limestone mansion, hemmed in now by modern apartment blocks. Entry is free in the daytime. The palace is a government building and closed to visitors.

Raffael (Spinola Bay quay) sets awninged tables along the quay wall, the painted luzzus moored an arm's length from the chairs. It is Italian-run and fish-led, €€, open daily into the late evening, with seating indoors and out.

Gululu (Spinola Bay) cantilevers a wooden deck out over the water and puts out Maltese plates, rabbit, baby calamari and bigilla. It serves 12:00 to 16:00 and 18:00 to 23:00 every day. Book if you want the deck in summer. €€.

Where to stay

The Westin Dragonara Resort, Malta (Dragonara Point) shares the headland with the casino and is the one hotel standing on it. The resort is low limestone spread across its own private promontory, with two large pools, a small sandy cove, a flat rock sun-deck of loungers and a restored 19th-century stone boathouse down at the water. It holds 413 rooms and a large conference and events operation. Rates are €200 to €400 a night depending on season. The Terrace buffet and the seasonal Boathouse Lounge both take non-residents.

Hard Rock Hotel Malta (St George's Bay) opened on 2 September 2026, a couple of minutes' walk from Dragonara Point. It is part of db Group's €350m City Centre scheme. The 397 rooms are stacked above St George's Bay under a cantilevered rooftop pool that juts out over the drop, with 11 pools in all and guitars and memorabilia throughout. A 466 m² ballroom handles events and large parties. Rooms are €180 to €320 a night, and the place is loud by design.

Hours, doors and bookings

Carry photo ID for the casino door and for the 17+ door at TwentyTwo, and keep to smart-casual after dark. Reserve Zeri's from May to October, book Bagatelle and TATEL before you travel, ask for the Gululu deck in summer and fix a dive with Divewise in advance.

See the St Julian's guide and the St Julian's hotel search.