Malta or Cyprus: which island is best for your holiday?
Two fabulous Mediterranean islands. Two remarkable island countries. Two popular tourist destinations. Surely this is going to be a close contest between Malta and Cyprus?
In many ways, there are huge similarities between Malta* and Cyprus* historically, culturally, scenically and with their food and drink.
But there are myriad differences too across those categories and more besides, as you'll see when we head for a Mediterranean showdown between Malta and Cyprus.
Getting to the Mediterranean: whether you opt for Malta* or Cyprus*, find great value holidays to both islands with Travel Republic*.
Spectacular scenery
Malta spreads its charms across three islands: the mainland of Malta, smaller Gozo* and even smaller Comino. Coastal scenery is the big star with highlights including the Azure Window, a striking limestone stack off Gozo that used to be an arch until 2017. Comino's Blue Lagoon is striking too.
Cyprus offers a wealth of coastal scenery to more than rival Malta, but then knocks Malta out of the park with its mountains. The Troodos Mountains are an epic wildscape that soar up to almost 2,000m high.
Sometimes it's handy being Cyprus, almost 30 times larger than its Mediterranean neighbour. For this sheer diversity, Cyprus wins hands down on scenery.
Most bountiful beaches
Malta sports many beaches sweeping around its, at times, rugged coastline. There are wee coves and hideaways, as well as sweeping sandy beaches, such as Golden Bay and Mellieha Bay, the country's largest sandy strip. Gozo's Ramla Bay is another stunner with its red sands.
Cyprus has many more beaches with the sandy stuff. You will find great beaches right around the west and southern coast, all the way from the wild Akamas Peninsula, where turtles come ashore to nest on Lara Beach, right to the resorts of Paphos, Limassol* and Larnaca, which all sport sandy beaches.
Out east lie the best beaches around the resort of Protaras and Ayia Napa*. Cyprus is a clear winner when it comes to beaches.
Reach for the resorts
Malta's liveliest resorts are Sliema and St Julian's, with all-frills Sliema the country's largest. St Julian's meanwhile sports most of the luxury hotels, as well as the party hub of Paceville.
St Paul's Bay, Bugibba* and Qawra are rival resorts that have been gaining ground in recent years as they merge into one bigger strip. Up north, Mellieha and Marfa are more low-key.
Cyprus offers real strength in resort depth. Paphos* is very popular with Brits and has all the trimmings, plus UNESCO World Heritage sites. Limassol is a proper city with its resorts handily strung out east of the centre, so it's like a city and a resort all in one, with the best of both.
Larnaca* may have the busiest airport in Cyprus, but it's a more low key resort that is only now starting to catch up with Paphos and Limassol. Protaras and Ayia Napa are very popular further east, with the latter the island's number one resort party place. For its diversity, again, Cyprus comes up trumps.
Heritage & history
Malta's story delves back over 7,000 years, with the staggering legacy the Ggantija temples of Gozo. They pre-date even the pyramids of Egypt and are some of the world's oldest freestanding structures.
The UNESCO World Heritage-listed capital of Valletta* is a fortified riot of palaces and churches. Valletta is alive with Knights of St John history and also the story of how the city survived the Nazi siege in WWII.
Cyprus also wears its long and remarkable history on its sleeve. There is the UNESCO World Heritage Neolithic village of Choirokoitia. The Roman and Greek remnants of Paphos also make UNESCO's list, as do the eye-catching icon-sparkled orthodox churches of the Troodos Mountains.
If that isn't enough there is the ancient city of Kourion and the church in Larnaca where the relics of Lazarus, he of coming back from the dead fame, lie. As both countries are worth visiting for their history and heritage alone we will have to call this one a very honourable draw.
City slickers
Malta is the most densely populated country in the EU. Valletta is quite simply one of the Med's great cities, alive with a UNESCO-listed historic core. It is a great place to just wander around what like feels like the set of an atmospheric Hollywood movie version of Europe.
Valletta is backed up by 'The Three Cities' of Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua, which dance a fine line between city and heritage village. Then there is the 'Silent City' of Mdina: the centuries drift back here on the grand stone streets of the pedestrianised heart.
Cyprus meanwhile offers the unique interest of Nicosia, one of the world's last divided cities. Limassol is the more laidback, breezy Med port city, where fun is the main pastime, especially during the weekends.
Larnaca is more slow-paced, its old Turkish Quarter now home to wee art studios and the new artists square, which opened in spring 2024. Paphos feels more like a resort than a city, not a bad thing if you're on holiday. I'm going for another honourable draw here.
Food & drink
Malta offers the olive oil-laden salads and boat-fresh seafood you would expect with its influences on the plate drawn from the likes of Sicily, North Africa the and Middle East.
Look out for the likes too of hinterland specialties like rabbit stew fenek and ftira, a traditional Maltese bread. Pastizz are delicious flaky pastries, usually filled with ricotta or curried peas.
Cypriot cuisine also swims in Mediterranean influences, adding in even more Middle Eastern flavours, strong Greek tastes and the influence of the island's time as part of the Ottoman Empire.
Mezze is the multi-course stomach-bursting star, whether meat or fish. Look out too for the gorgeous salty halloumi 'squeaky' cheese, souvlaki kebabs and gorgeously slow-cooked kleftiko lamb. We're going to call this one a delicious draw.
Get active
There's an abundance of opportunities to try watersports in both countries. If you jump at the chance to don a snorkel mask or full scuba gear, you're in luck too. Malta offers aquarium-clear water, WWII wreck dives and Comino's otherworldly Blue Lagoon.
Cyprus boasts similarly clear waters, but even more impressive wreck dives. The Zenobia off Larnaca appears consistently in lists of the world's top wreck dive sites.
On to hiking and both islands are criss-crossed by trails. But Cyprus wins out with its remarkable hiking adventures in the forest-fringed trails of Troodos. Once again both islands impress, but Cyprus takes the top spot for getting active.
Where to stay
Malta has hotels to suit all tastes and budgets with the majority in Mellieha, Sliema, St Julian's and Valletta. You'll find everything from guesthouses tucked within the historic old cities to full-blown luxury hotels that are destinations in themselves.
Cyprus is similar with a real breadth of accommodation spread across its cities and resorts. The big trend in recent years has been to more luxurious offerings. Cyprus also has more space to expand as you can see in the massive new projects in Larnaca at the marina and the old oil refinery.
Comparing two of my favourite hotels directly, in Malta I stayed at the Ramla Bay Resort*. This welcoming four-star enjoyed a lovely location on the sea but did feel a bit dated, being built back in the 1960s.
The hotel stock in Malta is constrained by the lack of real estate, though to be fair to this bolthole they have a massive revamp planned for 2025.
In Cyprus, I recently enjoyed a stay at The Royal Apollonia*. A Limassol five-star, it has a great pool right on the Med with steps directly down to the sea. The bedrooms were gorgeous, the spa excellent and the Japanese restaurant worth staying in for. It tops its Maltese rival and, coupled with the push towards better hotels in Cyprus at the moment in a country with more space and options, again snares the top spot.
Compare weather
Use the graphs below to compare the weather in both destinations. Find out more about the weather in Cyprus and the weather in Malta as well as conditions across the region in our complete guide to the weather in the Mediterranean.
Malta vs Cyprus
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- Hours of sunshine
- Days with some rainfall
- Monthly rainfall
- Sea temperature
Maximum daytime temperature (°C)
Hours of sunshine per day
Days with some rainfall
Monthly rainfall (mm)
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