Nightlife in the capital amounts to no more than a drink or two in a bar or an evening trot in a horse-drawn karrozzin round the city’s floodlit ramparts. However, there is plenty of action in resorts to the northwest.

Those seeking the bright lights should head to the small area of St Julian’s known as Paceville. Here you will find scores of discos, pubs and late-night bars. In summer the neon-lit streets are crammed with action-seekers. St Julian’s is also home to Malta’s casino – the only place where the nightlife could be described as glitzy. Beyond the headland, St George’s Bay has a growing number of fashionable discos. Lesser concentrations of bars with live music, and the occasional discos, can be found in Sliema and in the St Paul’s area, around Buggiba and Qawra.

Discos open early in the evening for the benefit of the young (and not-so-young) Maltese visiting from the countryside who have to catch the last bus home at around 9 or 10 pm. For the rest, the music throbs on into the early hours of the morning. The older generation of visitors to Malta are usually quite content with hotel entertainment, which take the form of folk nights, cabarets and possibly discos. These events are normally open to non-residents.

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