For your Malta Harbour Cruise & Malta Experience half-day tour you will be picked up from your hotel in the morning at the time arranged with the activity operator.
First you will board a vessel for the Malta Harbour Cruise. This delightful excursion takes you around the two harbours on either side of Valletta – Marsamxett Harbour and the Grand Harbour. These natural harbours have been in use for thousands of years and have been strongly fortified and enhanced with extensive docks and wharves. Because of Malta’s strategic position in the Mediterranean, the harbours have played a key role in the island’s history.
Grand Harbour was the base for the Knights of St John for 268 years, and after their departure it became a strategic base for the British for a further 170 years. The Harbour saw much of the fighting during the Great Siege of Malta (1565 CE), when an Ottoman army attempted to oust the Knights of St John. The area was heavily bombed by the Axis powers during World War II.
The 90-minute cruise will take you around the many creeks and inlets and give you wonderful views from the sea of Valletta and the Three Cities of Cospicua, Vittoriosa, and Senglea. An informative commentary in English and German will explain what you are seeing. You will also be able to appreciate the scale of Malta’s historic defences – the famous Forts of St Angelo, St. Elmo and Ricasoli – and can see where the action took place during the Great Siege of 1565 and World War II.
After your cruise, you will be taken to The Malta Experience, an audio visual spectacular in 15 different languages. The attraction presents Malta's 7000 years of history in an action-packed 45 min, highlighting the most dramatic events in an entertaining and informative way from the Neolithic period to modern times.
At the end of the tour, you will be driven back to your hotel in Malta.