3 Best Sights in Malta

This sprawling palazzo aspires to be a kind of mini Palace of Versailles, with its mirrored ballroom and Italian-style garden. Indeed, taking tea in its walled courtyard feels like the height of civilization as the church bells peal in the distance. The site is run by Christiane Ramsay Scicluna, descendent of the Marquis Guiseppe Scicluna, who set about transforming this building with neoclassical zeal into a grand winter palace when he bought it in 1898. It feels totally out of place in the quiet little town of Naxxar, yet all the more fascinating for it.

St. Paul's Island, off the coast of Mistra, is the alleged site of the shipwreck of the eponymous apostle in Malta. He is said to have introduced Christianity to the islands, so is universally revered in all manner of sites across Malta. These days, barring a statue of the saint himself, there is little to see on these two barren specks of land joined by a narrow isthmus. The adventure is in getting here, either by boat or kayak, to escape the bustle of the resorts and Jet skis that infest St. Paul's Bay, to explore caves used as bomb shelters, and to snorkel hidden waters.