Walking Liesse Hill and the harbour steps in Valletta

Victoria Gate and the church under the bastion

Victoria Gate is the neighbourhood's front door, the point where Liesse Hill starts climbing off the waterfront. Emanuele Luigi Galizia built it between 1884 and 1885, on the site of the 16th-century Del Monte Gate, and set it into the bastion wall with Valletta's coat of arms and the British royal arms carved above. Ships' graffiti is scratched into the stone stairs beside it. Start here whichever way you arrive: the hill runs up from the arch to the gardens, and the bastion walk runs east along the water from the same spot.

Church of Our Lady of Liesse (Knisja ta' Liesse) stands wedged under the bastion wall at the foot of the hill, its facade facing straight onto the harbour road. The knights of the French langue rebuilt it in 1740, and the hill carries its name. It is a compact baroque church with an octagonal dome and a single belfry, and entry is free. Weekday hours run from morning to afternoon only, so see it before the evening drinks crawl. The interior is small: a handful of people fit comfortably, and a larger party should wait outside and go in in twos and threes. Keep silence through the 08:00 and 12:30 masses.

Up to the Upper Barrakka Gardens

Barrakka Lift climbs from Lascaris Wharf to the Upper Barrakka Gardens in under a minute. Two glass cars run inside a slim steel tower set against the sheer honey-coloured bastion face, and the whole Grand Harbour opens up through the glass on the way. It costs €1 up and nothing down, and it runs until 00:00. The cars are small, so a large group crosses in several trips.

Upper Barrakka Gardens sits at the top of the climb, free and open 07:00 to 22:00. An arcaded colonnade runs along the highest bastion, each stone arch framing the Grand Harbour and the Three Cities on the far shore, with bronze busts and bougainvillea between the columns. It is the best free panorama in Valletta. Come at dusk, when the harbour lights come up across the water. The terrace rail crowds in the minutes before each firing, so take your place at the parapet early.

The Saluting Battery and the Lascaris War Rooms

Saluting Battery occupies a stone terrace cut into the bastion one level below the garden. A row of polished black cannon faces the water, the gunners wear Victorian scarlet-and-blue uniforms, and smoke drifts out over the Grand Harbour after the firing. Entry is €3 for adults and €1 for children. It opens Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 17:00, and last entry is 16:30. English-language tours run at 11:00, 12:10 and 15:00, and audio guides in more than 10 languages cost nothing. The 11:00 tour puts you on the terrace in time for the noon gun. You can hear the firing from half the neighbourhood whether you pay or not.

Lascaris War Rooms are dug into the rock directly beneath the battery, and they are the one indoor sight here that repays an hour. The tunnels keep their 1940s plotting tables and chalked convoy boards under bare bulbs, with bakelite telephones on the desks and mannequins in WWII uniform at the map table. This was the Allied command centre for the siege of Malta and later for Operation Husky. Adults pay €20 and children €7; a family ticket is €35. It opens Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 16:30, and last admission is 16:00. Book online before you come, and carry a card, because tickets bought on site are card-only. A separate War HQ tunnel tour runs twice a day.

St Barbara Bastion and the Siege Bell

St Barbara Bastion is a one-sided street above the waterfront. Tall townhouses with enclosed timber balconies line one edge, and a low stone parapet opposite drops straight to the Grand Harbour and the Three Cities on the far shore. These are among the most sought-after addresses in Valletta, and the bastion under them is 16th-century. The pavement is narrow and the street is residential. The whole stretch is public, so walk it at whatever pace you like, and keep the noise down after dark.

Siege Bell War Memorial closes the walk, 500 m east of Victoria Gate. An open classical limestone belfry on the bastion edge houses a huge bronze bell, and a bronze shrouded figure lies on a catafalque beside it, the harbour mouth behind. The bell is tolled at noon for the 7,000 killed in Malta between 1940 and 1943. The memorial is open air, unticketed and open 24 hours, so it is the one stop you can take at any point in the day. The adjoining Lower Barrakka Gardens open 07:00 to 22:00.

The harbour ferry from Lascaris Wharf

Valletta Ferry Services runs the Three Cities crossing from the landing at the foot of the Barrakka Lift, every half hour, with later sailings on the summer timetable. The boat is a low white-and-blue catamaran that pulls away beside the baroque Customs House, Valletta's bastions towering astern. The crossing takes 15 minutes and gives you the harbour panorama from the water instead of the parapet. A single is €3 and a return €5; after 19:30 the fares are €3.50 and €5.20. You walk on without booking, and the ticket covers the Barrakka Lift the same day, so buy the return and ride back up the bastion on it.

Drinks on the St Ursula Street steps

The Bridge Bar (258 St Ursula Street) spreads coloured cushions and candles in jars down the stone steps, and drinkers sit all the way to the bottom. It opens Tuesday to Saturday, 19:00 to 01:00, and prices are €€. Live jazz plays on Friday nights through the warm season, with the first set at 21:00 and a trio set up on the little bridge arching overhead. Nobody takes bookings and nobody works the door. On a jazz night, get there by 19:30 for the upper steps, which have the sightlines and the harbour breeze.

Dinner on Barriera Wharf and on the roof above

The Harbour Club (4/5 Barriera Wharf) sits at the water's edge at the bottom of the steps, in a stone warehouse built in 1712 for the Order's 64th Grand Master. The interior is vaulted and low-lit, and the terrace is a line of white-clothed tables on the wharf, with ships moving across the Grand Harbour. The kitchen cooks Mediterranean food with a French hand, €€€. Lunch runs 12:00 to 14:00, and dinner starts at 18:30 with last orders at 21:45. It closes Tuesday and Sunday. Book by phone or email.

ION Harbour by Simon Rogan (St Barbara Bastion) sits on the roof of Iniala Valletta. The dining room is glassed from floor to ceiling on the bastion edge, with the full sweep of the Grand Harbour and the Three Cities behind every table and an open kitchen at one end. It is Malta's only two-Michelin-star restaurant, and it kept both stars for a third year in 2026. The format is tasting menu only, €€€€, in a small room, and tables go weeks ahead. Treat the restaurant and the hotel as one address.

Legligin and Maltese wine by the glass

Legligin (116-119 St Lucia Street) is a five-minute walk up from Victoria Gate. The cellar is candlelit and vaulted, with wine racks along the walls and small barrel-side tables, and plates of ġbejna cheese and local sausage come out in waves. The daily menu is built from whatever the market had. Prices are €€, with the set tasting menu at €45 a head, and the wine-by-the-glass list is the best Maltese one in the city. The cellar is tiny and fills up, so treat a reservation as mandatory. The kitchen stops at 22:00, so eat here first and take the steps afterwards.

Beds on the bastion and on Battery Street

Iniala Valletta (11 St Barbara Bastion) is a row of restored townhouses knitted into one hotel on the bastion edge, with enclosed timber balconies hanging over the Grand Harbour and reception set inside a historic stone vault. It traded as Iniala Harbour House before the rename, and it is Malta's only Forbes Five-Star hotel. Rooms and suites sit alongside private residences, and the residences have kitchenettes. At €€€€ it is the most expensive bed in the neighbourhood by a distance. No buyout policy is published, and reservations handle anything beyond a standard booking directly.

Grand Harbour Hotel (47 Battery Street) stands two minutes from the Upper Barrakka Gardens and the lift. Thirty small rooms sit behind a plain townhouse frontage with glazed enclosed balconies, and a simple roof terrace of tables looks straight down the Grand Harbour. Rates run €90 to €150 a night, €€. The decor is basic and the street carries some evening noise, but the balcony harbour views cost a fraction of the bastion prices. Check-in is 15:00 and check-out 11:00. Book early.

Opening days and booking

The Saluting Battery, the Lascaris War Rooms, The Harbour Club and The Bridge Bar all close on Sunday, and The Bridge Bar stays shut on Monday as well. Book ION Harbour weeks ahead, reserve Legligin and The Harbour Club before you travel, and buy the war rooms tickets online.

See the Valletta guide and the Valletta hotel search.