Megalithic Temples of Malta

I managed to visit 4 of the 6 inscribed temples so I wanted to leave some short thoughts on them (and also some updated pricing info)! You can buy a pass to all museum sites in Malta (besides the Hypogeum) for 60 euros now as of 2025... but this is too expensive if you just want to see the WHS. So, instead I spent 26 euro seeing 4 temples.

• Tarxien: only a 10 min walk from the Hypogeum! Tarxien has rock carvings, something I didn't see at the other 4 temples -- giving it a different "vibe" from the others. Hypogeum museum staff even gave me a map at the specifically encouraging me to visit it so it's hard to pass up :) I think this is also the only site I visited that is completely wheelchair accessible, with paved ramps taking you in and around the temple.
  • Cons: most of what was interesting there seemed to be reconstructions. Tarxien also doesn't stand as tall as the other sites.
• Ħaġar Qim & Mnajdra: These two are really similar and hard for me to differentiate. Main benefit is that they aren't hard to get to from Valleta and are near touristy things like the Blue Grotto. They are a 10 minute walk away from one another, so it makes sense to visit both.
  • You can buy a combo ticket for the 3 aforementioned temples (Tarxien, Ħaġar Qim & Mnajdra) for 16 euros.
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Read others' reviews first for more in-depth content on individual sites.

There are six temples scattered across the island. Here are my and my wife's experience visiting them in December 2024 during Malta's "off season":

1. Ġgantija on the island of Gozo: Tied for the best of the Megalithic Temples, absolutely worth a visit. A great interior museum area giving you context for the temples, their history, their mystery, and what has been done recently since their re-discovery to preserve them. After the interior museum, a walking path leads you down a beautifully manicured landscape to see the astoundingly-preserved temples and walk inside them.
2. Ħaġar Qim South of the airport: Excellent, just like Ġgantija, but offering a different type of experience. This temple has a great audio guide that you can load onto your phone and it will guide you through the whole experience as you wish. (It's very good, I recommend it.) There's an interior musuem area that is more "interactive" than Ġgantija's and focuses on different aspects of the temples than the other museum does. After the great museum, there is a long outdoor walk to two major temples that are well-preserved and have a lot of neat history to see inside. Hiking trails are also available on the premises to visit other minor landmarks.
3. Mnajdra: This is wrapped up on the same large park site as Ħaġar Qim but technically requires a separate payment. If you're visiting Ħaġar Qim, you should …

Whilst Malta may bear many cultural and linguistic similarities to nearby Italy and North Africa respectively, prices seem to be more influenced by the period of British rule than their Mediterranean neighbours. In 2023, Heritage Malta offered a pass for 50€ that covers most of their sites, but not all. Indeed, the Hypogeum requires a separate ticket at an eye-watering 35€ and a reservation long in advance. The multisite pass does include all of the temples inscribed as WHS so I bought one for convenience in spite of the high cost. All of the temples are easily accessible by Malta’s extensive bus network, which I found very easy to use with the contactless Tallinja card purchasable from vending machines in Luqa airport. Ġgantija on Gozo was the most impressive to me and it’s clear why it was inscribed first. I visited in a day trip from Valletta, where I was staying, using the fast ferry to the port of Mġarr followed by a bus. As the ferry pulled into the harbour, I could see the bus leaving so timing is rather tight but another one came along 30 minutes later. However, I did have to fend off taxi drivers and tourist bus touts during the wait. Ta' Kola Windmill is very nearby to Ġgantija and worth visiting if you have bought the multisite pass for an insight into 18th and 19th Century rural life but I’m not sure I would have paid for the site on its own merit. On …

When we visited Malta in 2017, we really didn’t know what to expect. We stumbled on the temple complexes of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, we were extremely surprised.

The megalithic temples in Malta are the oldest free-standing structures in the world, dating from 3000 B.C. We’ve been to old structures before: The Pyramids, Stonehenge, and even Ireland’s passage tomb. The megalithic temples of Malta are much, much older and were one of the most impressive things about Malta.

While impressive, the structures confused us. So much is unknown: who built them and what they were for. For us, the uncertainty took away from the impressiveness of these prehistoric structures.

It's kind of weird that a small island nation like Malta hosts two great prehistoric sites. But it does, with the Hypogeum being the most stunning. The temples are also great and they offer the added benefit of taking you all across the islands of Malta.

Of the temples I have seen Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra were the most scenic; the previous reviewers seem to indicate the same. Built on a cliff, you get great views of the Mediterranean Sea and Filfla island. Nowadays, both temples are covered by huge tent constructions for protective reasons. Our resident Maltese, Clyde, disparaged the constructions. While I understand the necessity, I have to agree with Clyde: The tents really take away from the atmosphere. The light just isn't the same

Also tent covered is Tarxien. It's a fairly large site and it's also not as old as the others. To me, it offered the best visitor experience as there are pathways and signs. There is even some rock-art. If you visit only one temple, Tarxien is a good choice. It's also a good choice if you are time limited as it's the closest to Valletta and a few blocks down the road from the Hypogeum. Indeed, with proper planning (and a reservation for the Hypogeum) you could cover all Maltese sites in a single day.

Skorba and Ta'Hagrat are without a tent cover. Both a rather small. For Skorba, you can skip buying a ticket as you can see …

I visited 4 of the 6 Megalithic Temples in January 2015: Tarxien, Ta’ Ħaġrat, Skorba and Ġgantija.

Tarxien is located near the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum (which was maddeningly fully-booked when I was in Malta), a 40 minute walk from Valletta. We passed through some quite untouristy areas and saw groups of African migrants (presumably 'boat people') looking for work. Malta is one of those countries shouldering more than its fair share, so I would imagine work is scarce for them.

Ta’ Ħaġrat and Skorba are near one another but far enough from Valletta that we needed a hire car. They are very low-key but you're likely to the only ones visiting, which is a plus!

Ġgantija is on Gozo and is the grandest of those I saw. Getting there required a roll-on roll-off ferry ride, but was worth it because the island is a treasure trove of photogenic churches and coastlines (we also visited the Azure Window).

I have visited this group of WHS several times. My favourite has to be Ggantija Temples in Gozo because of their unique shape. The Hagar Qim Temples in Malta were also my personal favourite because of its alignment with the sun. However, in recent years, a controversial tent-like structure has been built to protect the megalithic temple from sea erosion, rain and direct sunlight. IMO this is too much of an eyesore compared to how the temple looked without this modern monster. Apart from this, the sun played an important role in the construction of these temples that are older than the Pyramid of Giza or Stonehenge!

I'm from Malta and am 51 years old now.

I mention this because in my childhood, my family visited many historical places which were not yet "institutionaliased". We frequently had picnics at some of these sites. We explored these places and knew every nook and cranny of these temples. I've played hide and seek in these temples. Great fun! At that time they were simply open to the public.

While I think it is laudable for many of these historical sites to now be recognized as part of our heritage, and to be preserved, and while I am glad there are funds allotted to conservation, I think there has been a lot lost along the way.

Nowadays when I take visitors to see these sites, I have to explain that "round that corner they can't see", unless they are giraffes with EXTREMELY long necks, there's a really interesting feature, etc etc.

Many museums are making features more accessible to visitors. Unfortunately, I can now only walk a very limited walkway in the centre of the temple structures. Why can't I come up closer? Move around the structures more freely? Would I be vandalizing them by doing so?

Such a pity that in the interests of preservation, visitors can't explore more. Can't come up close. Can't feel the excitement of walking through the temples from room to room.

It 's a see but don't touch feeling. What a shame! There's no engagement.

Spread across Malta and Gozo, these temples are over 5,000 years old - meaning they are older than the Pyramids and older than any other manmade, free-standing structure on Earth. They are among Malta's biggest tourist attractions, and are certainly an impressive sight. Most people visit the temples at Tarxien in a Valletta suburb and the famous Ggantija temples on the island of Gozo. I went there as well, but I found the complex of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra to be the most impressive, especially because of their scenic location on the southern coast. Mnajdra especially has a beautiful setting, even though both temples are now covered by a tent-like structure to protect them against the elements.

The inscribed site also includes Ta Skorba and Ta Hagrat, but these seem to be little visited and not as impressive as the others.

“Megaliths” are defined as “large mostly undressed stones arranged by man for a religious purpose …(during the period) from the 5th to the 2nd millennium BC (approx Neolithic to Early Bronze)”. The UNESCO list contains a number of such sites from among the many thousands in Europe (I wonder if Els’s “themes” shouldn’t separate them out from within the general archaeological list?). Those on Malta are “up with” the best and should not be missed by anyone visiting the islands. OK they might not equal Stonehenge for grandeur and mystery (though that site unfortunately is impossible now to see under ideal conditions) but you will I am sure be amazed at the technical achievements of these long passed peoples and left wondering about the beliefs which drove the constructions. The wonderful “fat ladies” also add a human touch. Ideally you will need a car and merely searching out the sites can provide a useful framework for a tour of Malta (as we did in Dec 98). You should cross to Gozo to see the 2 originally inscribed (1980) temples at Gijantija as well as at least a couple of the other 5 whose inscriptions were later (1992) extensions. Hagar Qim and Mnajdra in the south of the island are perhaps the "best" if you are going to limit your visits, whilst Tarxien is the easiest as it is close to Valletta and the Hypogeum - and has a fine statue (Photo).

I visited them the wrong way around, I now notice: the "youngest" temple first. This one is at Tarxien, in the town of Paola (close to the Hypogeum). It looks like you're in someone's backyard, but there are really fine features here. For example the animal reliefs.

On the other side of the island are the temples of Hagar Qim and Mnjadra. The Mnjadra temples have the most beautiful setting, near the sea and the islet Fifla.

After that, I went to Gozo island to visit the Gigantija temples. Less refined, bulkier than the others they are. A visit to the archeological museum in Valetta to see the more delicate findings finished it all.

These seven temples are distributed across Malta and its sister island of Gozo. They consist of some of the oldest freestanding buildings in the world, providing an insight into some of the earliest forms of human worship. As such there is no doubt about the legitimacy of this inscription.

The first group of temples we visited were those at Tarxien, in the suburbs of Valletta and only a few minutes walk from the Hypogeum. These temples were built in the latest phase of temple building on Malta and contain some more advanced features, such as carvings of animals and the statues of ‘Fat Ladies’ in Paul Tanners picture below. I have to say that I was very under whelmed by this site, to the uninitiated it looks little more than a pile of large boulders in a patch of wasteland left over in the middle of town. However the staff were friendly and informative and they had great plans for a new visitors centre so hopefully things will be looking up for this site.

The other site we visited was the Ġgantija temple on the neighbouring island of Gozo. These were much more impressive and larger than the other temples, they also claim to be the oldest free standing structures in the world, though the temples at Ta'Hagrat and Skorba are probably older. I enjoyed this visit much more as the temples were in a much nicer location overlooking Gozo and back to Malta, the structures were also much larger. …