Blue Lagoon Malta Boat Trips From Bugibba and the North

Where Bugibba and St Paul's Bay are

Malta is small enough that visitors often assume the distinctions do not matter, and then discover that they do. Bugibba and St Paul's Bay sit together on the north-east coast, roughly at the top of the island, forming one continuous resort area built around a wide bay.

That is a different world from Sliema, St Julian's and Valletta, which cluster around the harbours on the eastern side, further south. All of them run boat trips and all of them go to the same lagoon, but they start from different places and the day is shaped accordingly.

The north is the holiday end of Malta: apartment blocks, promenades, restaurants along the front and a great many people on their annual week. It is not the historic Malta of the harbour cities, and it is considerably closer to Comino.

Why leaving from the north matters

Comino lies in the channel between Malta and Gozo, off the north-west tip. A boat leaving from the northern bays has a short run to reach it. A boat leaving from the harbour towns has to travel up the whole eastern coast first, and then back again at the end of the day.

On a six-hour trip, that difference is not academic. Time spent transiting is time not spent anchored in a bay with a ladder down, and the proportion of the day that goes on getting there is one of the real differences between otherwise similar excursions.

The trade is that you have to get yourself to the north coast, which for anyone staying in Sliema or Valletta is a bus ride rather than a walk. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on where you are staying.

The meeting point, and reading your confirmation

The operator runs more than one sailing, and the meeting point may vary depending on which option you book. This is stated plainly in the tour conditions and it is the single most important thing to check after booking rather than before.

There is a six-hour sea breeze trip and a shorter sunset sailing, and they are not necessarily boarding in the same place at the same time. Assuming a single fixed berth for an operator running several departures is how people end up standing on the wrong quay.

Read the confirmation, note the actual address and the actual time, and if anything is ambiguous ask before the morning of the trip rather than on it. A quay in a resort town is not always obvious from a street name, and the operator would far rather answer a question the day before than find you missing at departure.

The northern bays, with the channel to Comino opening ahead

Getting to the boat without a car

Malta's bus network reaches the northern resorts frequently and cheaply from most of the tourist areas, and Bugibba is a major terminus rather than a stop somewhere on a route. From Valletta, Sliema or St Julian's it is a straightforward journey, though not always a fast one in August traffic.

If you are staying in the north already, the boat is very likely within walking distance. That is the main reason to pick a northern departure: for a large number of visitors it removes the transfer entirely.

Allow more time than the timetable suggests in high season. Roads in the resort areas are busy, buses fill up along the way, and a boat with a full manifest does not wait for a passenger stuck in traffic two villages back.

What the sail out is like

The route runs along the top of Malta and across to Comino, past a coastline of low cliffs, bays and headlands. This is the stretch that holds Mellieha, Golden Bay and Ghajn Tuffieha, so the transit is genuinely scenic rather than dead time.

It is also the part of the day when a sailing catamaran is most obviously a sailing boat rather than a platform, and when the nets at the bow come into their own with water moving underneath them. If there is wind worth using, this is where you will feel it, and it is the stretch people remember from the journey rather than from the anchorages.

Then the boat rounds into the channel between Malta and Comino, and the first stop is the Blue Lagoon, anchored outside the busy channel rather than in it.

Coming back

The trip returns to where it started, which for a northern departure means you finish the day back in the resort area rather than needing another journey while sunburnt and salty. That is a small thing at nine in the morning and a considerable one at four in the afternoon.

The last stretch back is often the quietest part of the day on deck, with a boat full of people who have been swimming since late morning. It is a good time to be on the netting.

If you are staying elsewhere on the island, plan the return leg before you sail. Buses run late in season, but a bus after six hours of sun is an easier prospect if you already know which one it is.

Before you book

Reaching the boat

1. Check which sailing you booked

   The meeting point may vary by option, and the operator runs more than one departure. Read the confirmation rather than assuming a single berth.

2. Get to Bugibba or St Paul's Bay

   One continuous resort area at the top of the island, a major bus terminus, and walkable from most accommodation in the north.

3. Allow for August traffic

   Roads through the resorts are slow in high season and a full boat does not wait. Leave more margin than the timetable suggests.

4. Board early for the nets

   Sun beds are first come, first served, and the trampoline netting at the bow fills fastest. Arriving in good time is the only reservation there is.

5. The run across to Comino

   Along the top of Malta past Mellieha, Golden Bay and Ghajn Tuffieha, then into the channel. Short from the north, long from the harbours.

6. Back to the same quay

   The trip returns where it started, so a northern departure means no second journey at the end of six hours in the sun.