We visited the San Antonio Hotel in Bugibba, Malta back in July ’21 just as Covid restrictions were lifting, and while we enjoyed our trip (documented here) , the remaining Covid precautions and testing were onerous and tainted the trip somewhat.
I enjoyed our ’21 trip more than Ali had, and so pressed for us to return in the summer of ’25, flying EasyJet from nearby Southend airport.
Our outward flight was scheduled for six-thirty AM, stupid o’clock on Wednesday morning, but Ali cleverly suggested I investigate local taxi firms. It transpired that return taxis to and from Southend Airport would cost about the same as a week’s airport parking, so I booked a 4am pickup.
Southend Airport still pushed for a two hour check in.
The car arrived shortly before four and we were away, arriving at Southend Airport at four thirty. Bag drop and security were a breeze and by four forty five we were (somewhat guiltily) enjoying pre-flight Bloody Marys.
There were three early flights scheduled and the bar soon filled with travellers.
Our flight left promptly, and was quite civilised, the breakfast offerings no worse than we’ve had on many of the ‘best airlines in the world’.
One advantage of such an early flight is that we landed in Malta mid-morning and arrived at the hotel before lunchtime.
Unfortunately our room wasn’t available until three so we adjourned to the rooftop bar for a few drinks.
Both pool areas were heaving with people, the main pool with screaming children, while there was scarcely room to swing a cat by the rooftop pool.
The main restaurant was busier than on our previous visit, the hotel itself pretty rammed, but the staff were friendly and attentive.
Our room, when we finally got it, was a revelation, Ali described it as a ‘junior suite’ – later confirmed when we asked at Reception. Certainly it (Room 778) was much larger and better appointed than our previous room, although it was far enough away from the ‘smart’ lifts that it could be in a different postcode!
We had been advised, at check-in, to download the ‘hotel app’ to book reservations at the various restaurants around the hotel – guests are allowed one visit each week to each restaurant – and found that one was already fully booked for the duration of our stay. We booked ‘Tagine’ for our first night’s dinner, it promised “a journey of unique scents and tastes, all the way from Marrakesh to Mumbai” – a strange Moroccan/Indian fusion, but the food was fine, Ali particularly enjoyed the Moroccan salads.
On Thursday we spent the day ‘on campus’, but for a brief excursion down to the beach, through the hotel’s underground car park.
We also met our holiday rep who was remarkably low key. We mentioned to him that we had considered a visit to the nearby island of Gozo and, rather than promote the ‘official’ – and quite expensive – tour, he advised which buses to catch to join the public ferry which only costs five Euros each way.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and sleeping, still catching up from Wednesday’s early start.
Friday morning dawned bright and sunny, we had planned to take a local bus into town, but the crowds at the bus station dissuaded us. A check online suggested we could take an Uber for less than twenty Euros each way, so that formed a plan for another day. Instead we chilled in the rooftop bar, reading our books.
Ali managed a swim in the rooftop pool late afternoon, when the crowds had dispersed.
We hadn’t managed to book a ‘speciality’ restaurant for dinner, so defaulted to ‘Gueliz’ – the hotel’s main dining room that also serves breakfasts, lunch and afternoon snacks.
It’s a slick organisation that claims to be the largest buffet on Malta, with 750 seats and a full throughput of up to 1,300 diners per session. The food is good and we never experienced queues, it is impressive.
The rooftop bar was hosting a ‘wear white’ party on Friday evening, the music the deejays used to test the sound system persuaded us that we were not its target audience, and the sounds reaching our balcony later in the evening convinced us that we’d decided wisely. The hotel animation team seemed to be hosting beer drinking competitions, where the winning teams won – more drinks!
Another glorious morning on Saturday, we sat on our balcony drinking tea and catching up with the news.
We returned to the balcony after breakfast and discussed a trip to Valletta.
I booked us an Uber from the hotel to the waterfront and we enjoyed lunch at the Hard Rock Café. The line ‘Marella Explorer 2’ was docked a few yards away, towering over the quayside.
After lunch we considered taking the elevator up into the city centre, but it was stiflingly hot, so we booked another Uber and whizzed back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, we booked tickets for the ‘hop on, hop off’ bus tour that we’d enjoyed on our previous visit. We also upgraded to include a ‘two harbours, three cities’ cruise, but we could take that any time before our return home.
I found a (relatively) quiet corner of the rooftop bar and finished reading my book, while Ali enjoyed an afternoon swim. We’d booked dinner in ‘Rivaj’ a waiter-service Indian restaurant adjacent to the rooftop bar. The food was delicious.
Next morning, Sunday, we strolled up to the Santana hotel, where I’d stayed in my first (solo) visit to Malta in 2019. From there we caught the aforementioned ‘hop on, hop off’ bus tour. We neither hopped on nor off, but enjoyed a leisurely drive around the island.
We were particularly pleased that we’d visited Mdina ‘the silent city’ in the heart of the island on our previous trip. While we had enjoyed an almost deserted city in 2021, it now appeared rammed with tourists.
We had a late lunch and quiet afternoon before Ali went for a late afternoon swim. We were booked in for the hotel’s Latin American restaurant ‘Saboroso’ in the evening. The food was okay, although the authentic Brazilian Beef Churrasco was incredibly tough. Sadly, the timing of our dinner meant that we missed the ‘blood moon’ lunar eclipse.
Then back to the rooftop bar for a nightcap (or two).
On Monday morning we took an Uber down to Sliema to join the cruise that came with our bus tour. Unfortunately we learned, on arrival in Sliema, than the Valletta grand harbour was closed for a ‘Victory Day’ regatta, and so all the cruises were cancelled for the day. We returned to the hotel and chilled, with Ali taking another late afternoon swim.
In the evening we dined in the main dining room then tried the bar downstairs, outside the ‘Kozy Club’ entertainment hall. We found it smoky and soulless, so wandered back up to the rooftop bar.
Tuesday, our final, full day in Malta and, after breakfast we once again took an Uber down to Sliema. The cruises were running and we managed to catch the 10:30 cruise.
The cruise, while only ninety minutes long, was probably the highlight of our week The catamaran sailed through Sliema bay and Valetta’s grand harbour, offering views of exotic watercraft, Valletta itself and the three cities across the harbour – Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea.
Thankfully, there were no cruise ships docked, so our views of the Valletta waterfront were unimpeded.
Back at Sliema, we hailed another Uber to take us into the City Centre, dropping us near Republic Square. From there it was only a hundred yard walk to ‘The Pub’ where, famously, Oliver Reed enjoyed his final – epic – drinking session, before his untimely death in 1999. He’d been filming ‘Gladiator’.
It’s a decent approximation of an ‘English pub’ while also a shrine to Oliver Reed himself. I bought a T shirt and we enjoyed a pint.
From there we walked through town, down ‘Republic Street’, calling in to see the jeweller from whom we’d bought Ali’s ring on our previous visit.
We were back at the hotel in time for lunch, another Uber, and a lazy afternoon – the weather had been stunning, all week – and we did some packing in preparation for Wednesday’s return home.
Dinner was in the last of the ‘speciality’ restaurants – ‘Scalia’ – which promised Italian delicacies. We shared starters, and while Ali enjoyed her pizza, my cheeseburger (white roll, beef, cheddar and mayo) was uninspiring, a slice of tomato, onion and a lettuce leaf would have improved it, but the waiter rejected my suggestion.
We were both in bed shortly after ten.
We had planned a leisurely departure from the hotel on Wednesday morning. I was expecting to leave the hotel at about nine-thirty. That was until I received a reminder from EasyJet that our departure was at eleven twenty five, not twelve twenty five, and our car was due to pick us up three hours before our flight.
We actually left the hotel at about eight fifteen and were at the airport before nine.
Bag drop and security were painless and we soon found ourselves in the airside Hard Rock Café for breakfast – their version of a sausage McMuffin – and a pre-flight Bloody Mary.
The return flight wasn’t full, and left on time, the journey smooth before landing back at Southend. We landed a few minutes late, but received a ‘welcome home’ message from our driver. I sent him a message when we’d cleared passport control and retrieved our cases; he met us in the short-stay car park where he’d dropped us a week earlier, and we were home about a hour after landing.
In retrospect, it hadn’t occurred to me before, but Ali rightly observed that the hotel is reminiscent of a cruise ship. It has a large number of ‘passengers’ who rarely disembark, family pools and entertainment staff, a main dining room and a few ‘speciality’ restaurants. That said, the service was efficient, and the main restaurant worked very well. The speciality restaurants were less impressive, but eased the pressure on the main dining room, I guess.
All in all a pleasant enough break, with some late summer sun to recharge our batteries.