Malta · North Malta
Mellieħa Bay
Il-Għadira
The biggest sandy beach on Malta, in shallow forgiving water — the easy one, and the right answer with children aboard.
Mellieħa Bay, or Il-Għadira, is the largest sand beach on Malta and the water in it is shallow a long way out. That is the whole character of the place: it is gentle, it is easy, and nothing about it is dramatic.
For a charter with children on board it is often the sensible stop. You can be in water that stands up in, close to the shore, without the depth and the rock that make somewhere like St Peter's Pool exciting.
It is on the north coast so it is exposed to weather from that quarter, and the shallow gradient that makes it pleasant also means there is less room than the size of the bay suggests.
The salt marsh behind the beach is a nature reserve and a stop on the migration route.
Getting it right
- Getting there
- The main road runs along the back of the beach.
- When
- Settled weather, and it is busiest in the middle of the day.
- How busy
- The beach is packed in August. The water is fine.
- Shape of the day
- A north-coast stop, usually alongside Comino.
Where it is
- Departure marina
- Destination
Sailing here
Boats we list that are berthed within reach of Mellieħa Bay:
Also on Malta
- St Paul's BayOne of the largest anchorages in the country, with good holding in sand and two uninhabited islands across the mouth of it.
- Coral LagoonA collapsed sea cave off the north coast — a circular pool of turquoise inside the rock, open to the sky, entered through an arch.
- Slugs BayA tiny pocket of sand between two rock arms below Selmun — too small to be busy and too awkward to reach on foot.
- Fomm ir-RiħThe wildest bay on the island — blue clay cliffs, a pebble shore, no development at all, and a land route that has been closed off.