Enjoying an exclusive location close to Malta’s largest sandy beach and graced with acres of beautifully landscaped gardens. The Resort is a regular meeting place for repeat guests from all over the world who have come to refer to the Resort as their ‘home away from home’. Mellieha Bay Hotel Website
Once a year I go on holiday with my daughter and grandchildren. Twice sometimes like last year for example. In 2016 we went to Malta and they enjoyed it. Early in 2017 I began a debate about where we should go later in the year. This didn’t take too long and the vote was unanimous – MALTA!
I am never really certain that it is a good idea to keep going back to the same place but Malta is one for which I will gladly make a regular exception.
I have been to Malta several times before. I first went there in 1996 and liked it so much that I returned the following two years. Each time I stayed at the Mellieha Bay hotel in the north of the island. These were family holidays with two teenage children, beaches, swimming pools, banana boat death rides and Popeye Village.
I liked it so much that I had always wanted to go back. I had repeatedly told Kim that Malta is special and that I was certain she would like it as much as I did. In 2015 the opportunity arose and I was able to find a combination of cheap flights and a hotel deal at Mellieha Bay Hotel for just £200 for four nights and five full days. A bargain absolutely not to be missed!
I have heard it said that you either love Malta or you hate it, there are no half measures, there is no sitting on the fence. I love it but upon arrival I could tell almost at once that Kim wasn’t overly impressed. The hotel was opened in 1969 and at nearly fifty years old and almost twenty since my last stay the place was showing its age and to be honest you would probably have to say a little beyond its best and in need of some attention.
But what the place lacked in style was more than compensated for by the welcome that we received at check in and then a wonderful five days by the end of which Kim was fully paid up member of the “I Love Malta” club, so much so that two years later she would have been bitterly disappointed if the children had chosen anywhere else.
The Mellieha Bay hotel is now the Mellieha Bay Resort and although it now has foyer shops and a fitness centre it has still retained the essential characteristics that made me fall in love with it twenty years ago. The restaurant is no longer waiter service, it is a buffet but it still has the Limelight Lounge, which has hardly changed a bit. This is where I used to play bingo, this was where there was children’s entertainment and this was the place where they played groovy disco music – and they are still doing it!
Maybe I will get to break the ‘don’t go back’ rule again next year – who knows?
Where is Mellieha Bay Hotel – Mellieha Bay, Malta
Official Rating – 4 Star, TripAdvisor Rating 4/5, My Rating – Fabulous!
How do I get there? – scheduled plane service and then taxi or bus ride (taxi recommended)
Booking a room – Don’t pay extra for sea view, all rooms have sea view anyway
Top places to visit – Mellieha, Valletta, the Silent City of Mdina, Island of Gozo
Have Bag, Will Travel 