Maltese islands
Diving in Malta
133 dive sites on Malta: 64 wrecks (11 of them aircraft), 29 caves, 58 reefs and 19 walls.
Depths run from 1 to 140 m. 40 suit Open Water divers and 36 are technical dives. 67 are shore dives and 66 need a boat.
Most of these sites close when the wind or swell comes from the N, NE, E and SE.
The most dived: Ċirkewwa Arch, Coral Gardens (Sliema), Exiles Reef and Finger Reef. Every site below has live sea conditions, a seabed sketch and the marine life to look for.
Best right now
- East ReefDelimara, Marsaxlokk74Good
- P33Marsaskala73Good
- St. MichaelMarsaskala73Good
Scores blend the wave, swell and wind forecasts for each site against the directions it is open to. Check the site page before you go.
Where to dive on Malta
- Mellieħa23 divesĊirkewwa, Paradise Bay, Armier, L-Aħrax
- Marsaskala15 divesWied il-Għajn, Żonqor Point, St Thomas Bay
- Xgħajra14 divesKalkara, Rinella, Fort Ricasoli, Smart City
- St Paul's Bay12 divesSan Pawl il-Baħar, Buġibba, Qawra, Xemxija
- Marsaxlokk9 divesDelimara, St Peter's Pool, Xrobb l-Għaġin
- Sliema9 divesTas-Sliema, Tigné, Exiles, Gżira
- Birżebbuġa8 divesPretty Bay, Benghisa, Il-Mara, Għar Ħasan
- St Julian's7 divesSan Ġiljan, Paceville, St George's Bay, Dragonara
- Valletta7 divesIl-Belt, Grand Harbour, Fort St Elmo, Ricasoli
- Pembroke6 divesBaħar iċ-Ċagħaq, White Rocks, St Andrew's
- Baħrija5 divesRabat, Fomm ir-Riħ, Ras ir-Raħeb, Mtaħleb
- Dingli3 divesDingli Cliffs, Ras id-Dawwara
Localities
Digital Render
Ċirkewwa
Cirkewwa, Malta
Digital RenderExiles
Malta
Digital RenderGħar Lapsi
Ghar Lapsi, Malta
Digital RenderMarsaskala
Malta
Digital RenderQawra Point
Malta
Digital RenderSliema
Malta
Digital RenderValletta
Malta
Digital RenderWied iż-Żurrieq
Wied iz-Zurrieq, Malta
Digital RenderAnchor Bay
Malta
Digital RenderL'Ahrax Point
Malta
Digital RenderDelimara
Malta
Most dived on Malta
Digital RenderĊirkewwa Arch
Cirkewwa, Malta
A natural stone span at 12 m with eight metres of clear water beneath it, reached along a reef wall stitched with short caves and tunnels. One of the best beginner dives anywhere in the Mediterranean.
Digital RenderCoral Gardens
Sliema, Malta
Sliema's canyon reef: narrow rock valleys, odd formations and short swimthroughs in 15 metres or less, right next door to Fortizza Reef.
Digital RenderExiles Reef
Exiles, Malta
The natural half of the Exiles site: a shallow limestone reef cut by narrow gullies and overhangs, wrapped in Posidonia and busy with small fish. Twenty metres is about as deep as it gets.
Digital RenderFinger Reef
Ghar Lapsi, Malta
A long, narrow reef running out from Għar Lapsi with a small colourful wall, a plateau with a swim-through, and a cave you exit through a hole in the roof. Twenty metres at the deepest.
Digital RenderFortizza Reef
Sliema, Malta
The best-structured of the Sliema shore reefs: caverns, arches, tunnels and gullies carved into the limestone below the old battery, none of it deeper than about 15 metres.
Digital RenderFra Ben Cave
Qawra Point, Malta
A short, shallow cavern with an open ceiling on the north side of Qawra Point, complete with a rock in the middle to swim around and a blowhole to surface in. Perfect on a sunny day and genuinely beginner friendly.
Digital RenderGħar Lapsi Cave
Ghar Lapsi, Malta
Forty-odd metres of wide, shallow cave running from the cove out to the open sea, lit by cracks in the ceiling that turn the passage into a light show on a sunny morning.
Digital RenderHMS Maori
Valletta, Malta
The forepart of a Tribal-class destroyer lying half buried in sand at sixteen metres in St Elmo Bay, reachable from a ladder and shallow enough for a newly qualified diver. Malta's most accessible piece of the war.
Digital RenderLe Polynesien
Marsaskala, Malta
A hundred and fifty metres of French ocean liner lying on her port side east of Marsaskala, torpedoed in the last summer of the First World War. Deck structures start at forty five metres and the sand is at sixty five.
Digital RenderP29
Cirkewwa, Malta
A 52 m East German built patrol boat sitting upright on sand at 34 m, reachable on a shore dive from Ċirkewwa. Clean, photogenic and probably the most satisfying wreck in Malta for the effort involved.
Digital RenderP33
Marsaskala, Malta
A former Cold War patrol boat sunk between the Marsaskala tugs in 2021, now broken into pieces by winter storms and dived as a scattered wreckage field at around 20 metres.
Digital RenderQawra Bay
Qawra Point, Malta
The sheltered shallow bay on the south side of Qawra Point, two to ten metres of sand and seagrass, and the place half of Malta learns to dive. Unglamorous, dependable, and better on fish than it has any right to be.