scubish.com: Scuba diving Sliema - Malta

Sliema is in Malta.

Understand

Sliema and St Julian's are Malta's most modern and most built up areas and where most tourists stay. It is where one will find the most hotels, rental appartments, restaurants, bars, shops and clubs.

Get in

By car

By bus

By boat

There is the Sliema ferry which for 40ct will take you from Valletta.

Learn

Several of Malta's English language schools are located here.

Eat

Budget

Mid-range

Splurge
Baracuda in Baluta Bay has some of best food around. Fish is what they do best, fresh out of the sea.

Sleep

Budget

Hibernia House Gateway Hostel, Depiro Street, tel. +356-21-333859, . Cheap and friendly HI-affiliated hostel, just don't expect too many frills. Dorm rooms have basic cooking facilities. Good location a few blocks from the beach.

Mid-range

Splurge

Stay safe

Being the busiest tourist area petty crime associated with it is most rife here. That said there is still relatively little crime compared to many other mediterannean tourist destinations.

Cope

If one is looking for a quiet holiday in authentic surroundings then this is not the place to be.

Sliema (or Tas-Sliema) is a town located on the northeast coast of Malta. It is, relatively speaking, a modern town. It is a center for shopping, restaurants and café life. Sliema is also a major commercial and residential area and houses several of Malta's most recent hotels. Sliema, which means 'peace, comfort', was once a quiet fishing town on the peninsula across Marsamxett Harbour from Valletta. Sliema and the coastline up to neighbouring St. Julian's constitutes Malta's main coastal resort.

Name

Sliema got its name from a chapel dedicated to The Virgin Mary under the title of Star of the Sea, which served as a beacon and a reference point to the few fishermen who lived in that area. The name could have thus also been connected with the first words of the Hail Mary, which in Maltese is "Sliem Għalik Marija". With the 'Għ' being silent so the first part of the phrase would sound like 'Sliem a'.

History

Siege of Malta
At the Great Siege of 1565, il-Qortin, as it was then known, was a camp centre for Turkish troops led by Dragut. He met his fate there, having been killed by a bombardment from Fort St. Elmo at the other flank of Marsamxett Harbour, where Sliema stands. Fort Tigne was eventually developed by the Knights of St. John in the late 18th century and further developed by the British in later years.

The British period
In 1855 a new church dedicated to Our Lady Star of the Sea "Stella Maris" was built. Around the new church, the small village grew into a town. By 1878, the population grew to an extent that the religious authorities had the Stella Maris Church declared a Parish in its own right and it was separated from that of Birkirkara.

The town began to develop rapidly in the second half of the 19th century and later it became popular as a summer resort for wealthier Valletta residents. Their elegant villas and town houses lined the quiet, inland...