Ask ten travelers about Malta and they’ll talk about Valletta, the Blue Lagoon, maybe Mdina. The Three Cities — Birgu (Vittoriosa), Senglea (Isla), and Cospicua (Bormla) — barely get a mention, which is exactly why you should go. These are the towns where the Knights of St. John first set up shop before building Valletta, where the Great Siege of 1565 was actually fought, and where Maltese daily life carries on without much concern for tourism.
Birgu is the star of the three: narrow lanes, waterfront restaurants, Fort St. Angelo looming at the tip of the peninsula, and the Inquisitor’s Palace — the only surviving example of an Inquisition headquarters in Europe. Senglea has the famous vedette (watchtower) with some of the best harbour views in Malta. Cospicua is the largest and least touristy, with WWII bomb damage still visible in places.
The easiest way to experience them is on a guided tour or harbour cruise from Valletta. The ferry takes five minutes, the tours start around $24, and you’ll see a side of Malta that most visitors miss completely.
- Short on Time? Here’s What to Book
- Harbour Cruise vs. Walking Tour
- The 5 Best Three Cities Tours
- 1. Valletta & Three Cities Harbour Cruise
- 2. The Three Cities and Wine Tasting Tour
- 3. Three Cities Guided Tour + Harbour Boat
- 4. Three Cities Walking Tour + Inquisitor’s Palace
- 5. Witchcraft and Blood in Birgu — Walking Tour
- When to Visit the Three Cities
- What You’ll See in the Three Cities
- Tips for the Three Cities
- More Malta Guides
Short on Time? Here’s What to Book
The Valletta & Three Cities Harbour Cruise ($23.97, 4.0★, 239 reviews) is the simplest option — a boat tour that loops through the Grand Harbour past all three cities with commentary on the fortifications and naval history. If you’d rather walk the streets, the Three Cities Walking Tour with Inquisitor’s Palace entry ($30.77, 5.0★, 65 reviews) gets you inside one of the most fascinating buildings in Malta.
Harbour Cruise vs. Walking Tour
There are two fundamentally different ways to experience the Three Cities, and which you choose depends on what you’re after.
The harbour cruise gives you the big picture. You’ll see the fortifications from the water — exactly the perspective that Ottoman attackers had in 1565 — and the sheer scale of the Knights’ defensive works becomes obvious in a way it can’t from street level. Fort St. Angelo, the bastion walls of Senglea, the docks where the Knights’ galleys were built — it’s all visible from the boat. The downside: you don’t actually walk the streets or go inside anything. It’s a viewing tour, not an exploring tour.
The walking tour gets you into the details. Birgu’s lanes are atmospheric enough on their own, but with a guide you’ll learn about the auberges (the Knights’ lodges organised by nationality), the Inquisitor’s Palace (where heretics were tried and sometimes executed), and the church of St. Lawrence where the Knights first prayed before moving to St. John’s in Valletta. You’ll also get to Senglea’s vedette — the ornate watchtower with carved eyes and ears, symbolising the city’s vigilance.
Best option: If you can only pick one, take the walking tour. The streets are where the real atmosphere is. If you have time for both, do the harbour cruise first (morning) and the walking tour after (afternoon), or vice versa.
The 5 Best Three Cities Tours
Ranked by total review count. These cover everything from a quick harbour cruise to a niche dark-history walking tour.
1. Valletta & Three Cities Harbour Cruise
Price: $23.97 per person | Duration: ~1.5 hours | Rating: 4.0★ (239 reviews)
The most popular way to see the Three Cities without leaving the boat. The cruise loops through the Grand Harbour with audio commentary covering the fortifications, the Great Siege, the naval history, and the various buildings lining the waterfront. You’ll pass Fort St. Angelo, the Senglea bastions, the old dockyard, and the Valletta waterfront. It departs from Sliema and is a relaxed, low-effort way to understand the harbour’s geography. The 4.0 rating reflects some gripes about sound quality on the audio guides — sit near the speakers or use the app on your phone with earbuds.
2. The Three Cities and Wine Tasting Tour
Price: $55.21 per person | Duration: ~4 hours | Rating: 3.5★ (105 reviews)
A walking tour of the Three Cities followed by a Maltese wine tasting. The first half covers the streets of Birgu and Senglea with a guide; the second half takes you to a wine bar or cellar to sample local varieties (Gellewża, Girgentina, and usually a couple of international grapes grown on Maltese soil). The concept is great — wine and history is a solid combo — but the 3.5 rating suggests execution is inconsistent. Some reviewers loved it; others felt the walking portion was rushed to leave more time for wine. Best for people who consider the wine tasting the main event rather than the history.
3. Three Cities Guided Tour + Harbour Boat
Price: $46.86 per person | Duration: ~3.5 hours | Rating: 4.0★ (91 reviews)
The best-of-both-worlds option: a walking tour through Birgu and Senglea plus a harbour boat ride. You get the street-level atmosphere and the waterfront perspective in one package. The walking portion covers the Inquisitor’s Palace exterior, the auberges, and the Senglea vedette, while the boat portion gives you the full harbour panorama. Pricier than doing each separately, but the combined logistics are worth it if you want everything in a single morning. The 4.0 rating is solid; a few reviewers noted large group sizes in summer.
4. Three Cities Walking Tour + Inquisitor’s Palace
Price: $30.77 per person | Duration: ~2.5 hours | Rating: 5.0★ (65 reviews)
Our personal pick for the Three Cities experience. This tour includes actual entry to the Inquisitor’s Palace — the only surviving example of an Inquisition headquarters in Europe, and genuinely one of the most fascinating buildings in Malta. You’ll see the tribunal room, the prison cells, and learn about the cases tried here (spoiler: most weren’t about heresy — they were about bigamy, blasphemy, and practicing folk magic). The rest of the tour covers Birgu’s highlights including the auberges, the waterfront, and St. Lawrence Church. Run by Colour my Travel (the same operator behind Malta’s top walking tours), so guide quality is consistently excellent. Perfect 5.0 rating.
5. Witchcraft and Blood in Birgu — Walking Tour
Price: $24.03 per person | Duration: ~2 hours | Rating: 5.0★ (30 reviews)
A niche pick for anyone who likes their history dark. This evening walking tour focuses on Birgu’s grislier past: the Inquisition trials, witch hunts, public executions, plague outbreaks, and the blood-soaked siege of 1565. It’s part history tour, part ghost tour, and the guides lean heavily into storytelling. Not for young kids, but perfect for history buffs who are tired of “and here’s a pretty church” walking tours. The 5.0 rating is perfect (albeit from a smaller pool), and at $24 it’s the cheapest option on the list. Runs in the evening, which adds to the atmosphere — Birgu by lamplight is genuinely atmospheric.
When to Visit the Three Cities
Best time: Late afternoon into evening. The harbour faces west, so sunset light hits the Three Cities beautifully. An afternoon walking tour followed by dinner on Birgu’s waterfront is one of the best evenings you can have in Malta.
Best months: April to June and September to November, same as the rest of Malta. Summer works but it’s hot and the harbour cruise can feel crowded.
Getting there: The easiest route is the harbour ferry from Valletta (€2.80, 5 minutes). It drops you right in Birgu. Alternatively, bus 1, 2, or 4 from Valletta takes about 20 minutes. Most guided tours include pick-up from Valletta or Sliema hotels.
What You’ll See in the Three Cities
Fort St. Angelo (Birgu) — The massive fortress at the tip of the Birgu peninsula, home base of the Knights and the nerve centre during the Great Siege. You can enter independently (€8) or view it from the harbour cruise. The rooftop views are spectacular.
The Inquisitor’s Palace (Birgu) — A small but fascinating museum showing how the Roman Inquisition operated in Malta from 1574 to 1798. The tribunal room, the cells, and the kitchen (yes, they had a good kitchen) are all intact. Entry is included on Tour #4.
Senglea Vedette — The ornate watchtower at the tip of Senglea, carved with eyes and ears as symbols of vigilance. The view across the harbour to Valletta from here is one of the most photographed in Malta.
Birgu Waterfront — A row of restaurants and wine bars with harbour views. This is where locals come for a lazy Sunday lunch, and it’s one of the few waterfront dining spots in Malta that isn’t overrun with travelers.
Malta Maritime Museum (Birgu) — Housed in the old Royal Naval Bakery, this museum covers Malta’s maritime history from the Phoenicians to the British Royal Navy. Small but well done, especially the WWII section.
Tips for the Three Cities
Don’t try to cover all three in depth. Birgu is the main attraction and could fill a whole afternoon. Senglea is worth it for the vedette and the views. Cospicua is mostly residential and less interesting for visitors — walk through it on the way between the other two rather than making it a destination.
Combine with the evening Witchcraft tour. If you visit during the day on your own, come back for the Witchcraft and Blood tour (#5) in the evening. Birgu transforms after dark — the narrow lanes lit by old streetlamps feel genuinely medieval.
The ferry is better than the bus. The harbour ferry from Valletta costs €2.80 and takes five minutes. The bus takes 20+ minutes and drops you at the edge of Cospicua, meaning a longer walk to reach Birgu’s waterfront.
Lunch at Birgu waterfront, not Valletta. The same views cost half the price. Restaurants like Tal-Petut and Two and a Half Lemon are excellent and far less touristy than anything on Valletta’s side of the harbour.
More Malta Guides
The Three Cities sit right across the harbour from Valletta, so combining them with a Valletta walking tour in the morning and the ferry over to Birgu in the afternoon makes for a near-perfect day. If all that history has you craving something completely different, the Blue Lagoon boat trips are about as far from medieval fortresses as you can get — pure turquoise water and sunshine, no sieges involved. For another deep-history experience that rivals the Inquisitor’s Palace, the Mdina walking tours take you through Malta’s original capital, where the streets are even quieter and the architecture even older. And if you’ve been eating on the go between sightseeing stops, consider carving out a proper afternoon for a Valletta food tour — after all that walking, you’ve earned the pastizzi.