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 the main island of Malta, the two seaside temples, Mnajdra and Ħaġar Qim, are also excellent, not just for the ruins but also the dramatic setting. Tarxien is similar although a little less well preserved, perhaps due to being surrounded by the urban environment. Perhaps I was unlucky but Tarxien was also by far the busiest, likely thanks to its proximity to Valletta, and I had to walk around quickly in between two enormous tour groups from a cruise ship that had just docked.

Ta' Hagrat and Skorba are located near the town of Mġarr, not to be confused with the port on Gozo of the same name, and are within easy walking distance of each other. Although a Google search suggested Skorba would open at 9am, when I arrived there was nobody to be seen with the gate padlocked shut but it didn’t matter too much as what little remains of the temple can be easily seen through and above the chain-link fence around the small site (see picture attached). Skorba is by far the weakest of the six inscribed temples and, whilst it be would reductionist to describe it as a ‘pile of rocks’ given this and nearby Ta' Hagrat are the oldest of sites, that would not be too far from the truth. Ta' Hagrat is at least recognisably a temple and did open at 10am as promised. My multisite pass was accepted without issue whereas others who tried to get in could not as it seems tickets are not sold on site with these other visitors directed to a nearby restaurant. There is a seventh, uninscribed temple that is included in the multisite pass called Borġ in-Nadur in the far south of Malta, on the outskirts of the port town of Birżebbuġa. Committed to getting full value from the multisite pass, I ventured on the bus south to visit this and the nearby cave of Għar Dalam, which has an impressive collection of fossil remains from hippos, deer, and the Maltese Dwarf Elephant, although there is nothing left to see in the cave itself. There is even less at Borġ in-Nadur than at Skorba so I can understand why it wasn’t inscribed. Several exhibits at these various sites make reference to the Xagħra Stone Circle on Gozo, supposedly a counterpart to the Hypogeum on Malta, but it is not open to the public. A second extension to the site would be likely well received to include this but the Maltese tentative list doesn’t seem to have been updated since 1998.