Day 1
You should arrive at the airport to take your flight. On arrival a coach will take you to your four-star hotel in St Julian’s, the Vivaldi, ideally located on a scenic stretch of coastline with one of Malta’s few sandy beaches 400 metres away. It well deserves its rating being a member of the Golden Tulip group, one of the most prestigious hotel chains in Europe. It has an extensive lobby; restaurant with sea views, offering a full international buffet; a gymnasium and swimming pool; plus all the facilities you would expect from a major international property. We stay on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis.

Day 2
Today you visit the wonderful 16th century city of Valletta where you enjoy a guided walking tour. Built by the Knights of St John after a huge siege by the Ottoman Turks, it was Europe's first planned city since Roman times. Valletta, one of the world's strongest fortresses, is located on a magnificent natural harbour and has changed little since it was built. Hugely wealthy, the order owned estates throughout Europe, which funded the range of monuments you see today. St John's Cathedral is remarkable, with overwhelming decoration and colour, an intricate marble floor, a wonderful ceiling covered in gold leaf and fine paintings with the high point being Caravaggio's masterpiece 'The Beheading of John the Baptist'.

You will visit the Malta Experience which tells the story of this wonderful island using the latest audio-visual techniques. In the afternoon you may want to visit the archaeological museum, the Grand Master's Palace or the National War Museum at Fort St Elmo which houses the replica of the George Cross. Valetta has a typical Mediterranean atmosphere and appearance: quiet squares lined with restaurants and intricate wrought iron balconies adorning the tall honey-coloured houses bedecked with geraniums, all brought to life by the constant chatter of the Maltese warmly greeting one another in the street.

Day 3
Today you visit the nearby sleepy island of Gozo and its capital, Victoria, a charming medieval town with twisting streets and alleyways with almost completely intact battlements. The pace of life is very relaxed here and what can be better than sipping a coffee whilst watching the world go by from a pavement café in a market place unchanged for centuries. We visit the largest and best preserved of the island’s prehistoric temple sites, Ggantija - even older than the pyramids and Stonehenge. Some of the stones weigh several tonnes and stand 6 metres high: legend says they were brought here around 3600BC by a female giant! It may be small but Gozo’s countryside with its low hills and fertile valleys creates a feeling of spaciousness, especially when the terraced fields turn into a patchwork of wild flowers and thyme. The coastline is simply dramatic and sheer cliffs plunge into deep blue waters: especially at Dwerja where geology and the sea have together formed a huge natural arch in the cliffs known as the Azure Window, with an inland sea, a cliff-bound lagoon, behind.

Please note
If you depart on a Sunday today is your free day and you will visit Gozo on day 4.

Day 4
Today you have a free day for you to explore as you wish. A wander around St Julian’s perhaps, with its picturesque quayside lined by excellent fish restaurants, or perhaps for a little nostalgia, explore the island on one of Malta’s legendary buses - many well preserved 1950s British vehicles, which will remind many of their schooldays! One thing in Malta we really recommend but cannot organise for you is a visit to the hypogeum, a series of underground burial chambers and temple dating from 3,500BC. Only discovered in 1902, it is superbly preserved with the builders obviously aware of sophisticated building techniques, perspective and sound resonance. Halls and chambers are hewn out of solid rock. A visit is a fascinating experience although, as with the experts, it will pose more questions than answers, for example, why was it built, and by whom? Visits need to be reserved a month or so in advance and are very limited. Cost is approximately 10 euros per person and tickets may be booked at www. heritage malta.org. A taxi from the hotel will cost approximately £20. (Should you wish to pre-book the hypogeum, Sunday is always a free day so this would be a good day to choose). If relaxation is on the agenda, why not soak up the sun whilst reading a book!

Day 5
After breakfast, you take the short drive to ancient Mdina, the jewel in the crown of the entire island and until medieval times Malta’s capital. Perched loftily on a hill and surrounded by huge walls, its quiet, narrow streets and alleys ooze history, the baroque dome of the cathedral dominates the skyline, and yellow limestone patrician townhouses are wonderfully adorned with wrought ironwork. Mdina, although unchanged for centuries is today a marvellously atmospheric place. During your guided tour you will see St Paul’s Catacombs at Rabat - a maze of early Christian burial chambers dating from the 4th century complete with over 1,000 tombs, plus an ancient Roman villa complete with its fantastically preserved mosaic floor. After some free time you visit the church of Mosta, with the third largest dome in the world, amazingly decorated, but principally famous as the unfortunate recipient during mass, of a direct hit by a bomb - fortunately failing to explode, establishing the legend of a miracle.

Day 6
Today is a free day to explore as you wish.

Day 7
After breakfast you visit the amazing Neolithic temples at Tarxien, which date between 3000 and 1800 BC and offer important evidence of the ancient cultures that once inhabited Malta. You also have a short walking tour of Vittoriosa, so named to commemorate the Great Siege victory of 1565, before continuing to the pretty waterside village of Marsaxlokk where for centuries fishermen have landed their catches and repaired nets on the picturesque quayside, which has changed little over the years. Today, lined with cafés and simple restaurants it is an ideal spot to relax.

Day 8
At the appropriate time you will be taken to the airport for your return flight.

Hotel Vivaldi - (http://www.goldentulip.com) four-star rated, ideally located on a scenic stretch of coastline with one of Malta’s few sandy beaches 400 metres away. It well deserves its rating being a member of the Golden Tulip group, one of the most prestigious hotel chains in Europe. It has an extensive lobby; restaurant with sea views, offering a full international buffet; a gymnasium and swimming pool. All rooms are fully air-conditioned with ensuite facilities, minibar and hairdryer.