Best Dog-Friendly Hotels in Malta

Before you go

What happens when you get there

The tapeworm rule

Malta is one of only five places in Europe that still require a tapeworm treatment for dogs on arrival, with Ireland, Finland, Norway and Northern Ireland. A vet must treat the dog with praziquantel or an equivalent effective against Echinococcus multilocularis and record it in the pet travel document no less than 24 hours and no more than 120 hours before you arrive. Get the window wrong in either direction and the dog is refused entry, so book the vet appointment before you book the flight.

Buses

Malta Public Transport's published conditions carry guide, hearing and assistance dogs at any time. Every other animal may travel only if it is in a suitable carrier held on the accompanying person's lap. A small dog in a carrier is fine. A large dog cannot use the bus network at all, and since the buses cover the whole island cheaply, that turns a hire car from a convenience into the thing the trip runs on.

Getting to Gozo

The Gozo fast ferry publishes a full pet policy and the answer is yes. Dogs are accepted with advance agreement, on a fixed lead of no more than 1.5 metres, and you have to carry a muzzle that the captain can ask you to put on. Boarding can be limited at the captain's discretion if the boat is crowded. Crossings run about 45 minutes from Valletta, 30 from Bugibba and an hour and a quarter from Sliema. The Gozo Channel car ferry from Cirkewwa publishes no pet policy on its own site, so ring them rather than assuming.

Harbour ferries

Valletta Ferry Services' conditions of carriage use the same wording as the fast ferry, that dogs, cats, household birds and other pets may be accepted for carriage with the carrier's advance agreement, with the passenger taking full responsibility. There is no separate pet page and no published fee, so treat it as permitted by arrangement rather than guaranteed walk-on access, and ask at the kiosk before you queue.

Where to walk a dog

Four public dog parks are mapped on the island. Il-Park tal-Klieb Ta' Qali near Attard is the biggest and the one to use if you are at Corinthia Palace, with Ta' Qali National Park around it, and the others are San Gwann Dog Park, Il-Park tal-Klieb Ta' Gawhar and Gnien Gharram. Valletta has no equivalent, and that is the gap to be honest about. The capital's green is the Upper and Lower Barrakka, Hastings, Mall and Argotti gardens, all small and all formal.

Beaches and restaurants

Malta publishes no official list of designated dog beaches, so we are not going to name one. Several bays are used by dog walkers in practice, which is not the same thing as a published rule, and the difference matters when you are already on the sand. Malta also has a reputation for being relaxed about dogs in outdoor dining, but no authority states it either way, so ask the restaurant rather than taking it as read.

Stairs and traffic zones

Several of the Valletta conversions are palazzos with no lift and steep limestone stairs, often two or three floors with a tight turn at the top, which matters for an older dog, a big dog or anyone who would end up carrying one. The Embassy Valletta Hotel and Iniala are the two easiest Valletta options on that front. Mdina is a restricted traffic zone, so at The Xara Palace you walk in from the gate with your bags and your dog.

Vets

There is no 24-hour walk-in animal hospital in Malta that we could verify, so the honest position is that the island has after-hours emergency cover by phone rather than a round-the-clock hospital. Vetcare Animal Clinic in San Gwann is on +356 2137 3277, open Monday to Friday 08:30 to 19:00 and Saturday 08:35 to 16:00, with a published after-hours emergency number, 5250 2000, which carries a EUR 5 charge on the call. Dr Trevor's Veterinary Clinic in Attard is on +356 2142 3100.

Best walks

In Valletta the walking is the bastions. The St Barbara Bastion path runs from Iniala's front door with the Grand Harbour below it to the Lower Barrakka Gardens about five minutes along the same wall, and Upper Barrakka and Hastings Gardens sit on the Marsamxett side. In Floriana the Phoenicia's own seven acres, the Mall Gardens and the Argotti Botanic Gardens are all within five minutes. Along the coast, the seafront promenade runs unbroken from Spinola Bay round to Tigne Point in Sliema, close to an hour end to end and flat, paved and lit the whole way, with the Portomaso marina and the Dragonara headland at the St Julian's end. Inland, San Anton Gardens at Attard is one of the few big mature public gardens on the island and Wied Ghomor at San Gwann is one of the last valley walks left between Sliema and the centre. In the north, the Marfa Ridge tracks run the length of the headland behind Ramla Bay with the Red Tower about an hour on foot, the Qawra promenade goes right round the point to the Salini salt pans and birdwatching hides, and the quiet valley down to Mistra Bay carries almost no traffic. On Gozo, the Dwejra cliffs and the Wied il-Mielah window are a short drive from San Lawrenz, with empty country lanes straight out of the village.

When to go

October to May, and we would put that more strongly for Malta than for most places. July and August sit in the low to mid thirties with high humidity and almost no shade, and the island is limestone and asphalt end to end, both of which hold heat well past sunset with very little tree cover to break it up. For a dog that is a welfare problem rather than a comfort one. If you do come between June and September you are planning around dawn and after dark and accepting that the middle of the day is indoors, and a July booking is a bad idea however good the hotel is.