The Grand Harbour
The Three Cities and their walls facing you.
C T Johansson — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Frank Vincentz — CC BY-SA 3.0
Malta's best view, and free: the Upper Barrakka Gardens sit on Valletta's highest bastion above the Grand Harbour, built as a private garden by the Italian knights in 1661 and opened to the public a century later — arcades, trees, fountains and statues, with a terrace opening on the archipelago's greatest sight. Below you lie the deep natural harbour and the Three Cities on the facing promontory with their walls, domes and painted boats — nine hundred years of maritime history in a single glance, cruise ships berthed at your feet. And at exactly midday (and again at six) the Saluting Battery beneath the garden fires its eight guns in a daily rite going back to the Knights: be on the terrace a few minutes before noon. The lift from the harbour rises fifty-eight metres to the garden in seconds for a token fare.
The Three Cities and their walls facing you.
Eight guns in a daily rite from the Knights' time.
Triq Sant' Orsla, Valletta
The Saluting BatteryA historic artillery battery on a platform below the Upper Barrakka Gardens, loo1 minute walk4.8
Our Lady of Victories ChurchThe oldest building in Valletta, and the first thing built in it. Its foundation1 minute walk4.6
Lascaris War RoomsThe Allied Mediterranean command post beneath Valletta's bastions: a tunnel netw1 minute walk4.5
MUŻA National Art MuseumThe national art museum in the Italian knights' auberge: Malta's art museum move2 minutes walk4.3
National Museum of ArchaeologyThe world's oldest stone architecture, explained in one hall: the National Museu4 minutes walk4.3Birgu (Vittoriosa), Senglea and Cospicua on the facing promontory: the Knights' first cities before Valletta was built, reached by a five-minute ferry from the harbour below the garden.