Hotel Phoenicia Malta

Hotel Phoenicia Malta

The Phoenicia sits at the precise boundary between Valletta and the rest of Malta, just outside the City Gate, which is either the ideal position or a technicality depending on how strictly you define being in the capital. In practice it is the best of both: the Art Deco building, opened in the 1930s and renovated in 2017, has seven acres of private terraced gardens running down to the ancient bastions, an infinity pool at the garden's foot overlooking Marsamxetto Harbour, and St John's Co-Cathedral three minutes on foot through the City Gate. Queen Elizabeth stayed here as a young newlywed when Prince Philip was stationed in Malta, and her entry in the guest book is still on display in the lobby, which tells you something about the kind of hotel the Phoenicia has always been and continues to be. The 136 rooms and suites are furnished in a comfortable contemporary style, many with harbour or garden views, and the larger suites with their four-poster beds and walk-in showers are among the most generous rooms in Malta. The Palm Court Lounge, with its domed ceiling and afternoon tea service, is the social heart of the building. Contessa, the main restaurant, serves reimagined Mediterranean cuisine; the Bastion Pool Bar opens in summer for dining at the water's edge against the fortification walls. The spa runs to an indoor pool, sauna, steam room, salt room, and treatments, and the infinity pool is one of the more dramatically positioned in Malta. This is a hotel that suits people who want scale and infrastructure alongside the cultural substance of Valletta, families and couples equally, and guests who return annually, often for decades. The city is on the doorstep, the gardens are the escape, and the two together make a persuasive case for choosing the Phoenicia over anything smaller in the capital. The short version: A 136-room Art Deco Leading Hotel of the World at the gateway to Valletta, with seven acres of terraced gardens, an infinity pool against the bastions, and the most storied guest book in Malta.