WHERE TO STAY

THERE’S a wide variety of places to rest your head in Malta and Gozo, from Airbnb apartments to boutique hotels, or for something on a grander scale, the luxurious Corinthia St George’s Bay – where I stayed for four nights.

Opened in 1995, history is never far away in Malta and there’s a 16th century ury watch tower in the hotel grounds built during the time when the Knights of St. John ruled the island. When Napoleon invaded in 1798, this was the first area he landed at.

All 249 rooms and suites at the Corinthia St George’s Bay have uninterrupted sea views – and take your swimming costume and gym kit if you want to enjoy the compact indoor pool, health spa and gym.

Outside, there’s a cascading pool complex which I wasn’t brave enough to try in April, but I enjoyed pre-breakfast walks around the five pools which flow all the way down

dfrom the hotel level to the private beach lido.

Speaking of food, you don’t really have to leave as there are nine restaurants in and around the hotel with a wide range of styles and prices.

They range from Fra Martino, with its terrace for mouth-watering breakfast and ev evening buffets to the fine dining C Caviar & Bull (run b by renowned Malta chef Marvin Gauci) where specialities i include steamed lo local mini-prawns, wag wagyu tacos and handhand-carved, housesmoked salmon.

Surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea (and quite a few cranes and building work as Malta’s economy is booming), the hotel is about six miles away from Valletta.

There are free buses for hotel guests to the capital, resort town Sliema, with its promenade and open-air cafés, and the Royal Malta Golf Course.

Corinthia St George’s Bay hotel, Malta