The best sports activities in Malta for an active holiday

With more than 300 days a year of sunshine, varied landscape, perfect blue waters and usually a gentle sea breeze, Malta is ideal for an active outdoor holiday.

In summer, the Mediterranean Sea is hard to resist and activity tends to be focused on the water, while the rest of the year, when it is a little cooler, is ideal for land-based action.

Malta enjoys year-round sun – so it’s just the place for a sun and sea holiday. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend your whole time prone on the beach or lazing on a lilo. There are plenty of more active ways to salt the skin and get a tan.

Malta has some of the best swimming waters in the Mediterranean: warm azure seas surround the islands – and there’s great visibility.

Voted Europe’s top dive destination, Malta attracts 50,000 people a year to explore its rich underwater landscape, wildlife and wrecks. Many top dives are reachable direct from the shores of Malta, Gozo and Comino and there are dive centres across the country.

You don’t have to be a diver to enjoy subterranean Malta, though; snorkelling is very popular too, particularly off the many rocky shorelines where water is clearest.

Coastal boat trips often supply snorkels or you can bring your own or buy one here. There is plenty of marine life as well as some colourful corals.

For those who would rather stay on the surface or the water, there’s plenty of opportunity for exploring the coastline.

Sailing, from dinghies to yachts, can be enjoyed on training courses, trips, racing or on charters – with or without crew. Several modern marinas provide for those arriving in their own vessel.

The main tourist beaches have all the usual watersports: waterskiing, jet skis, wakeboarding, paragliding and stand-up paddle boards too.

The island’s climate provides useful breezes for windsurfers particularly in Mellieha Bay and St Thomas’s Bay.

In Gozo, sea kayaking with Gozo Adventures, paddling around the coast or even across the strait to Comino, is a wonderful way to see the coastal landscape close-up in bays and caves not accessible from land or to larger boats.

There’s no need to get wet if you don’t want to; Malta has as much to offer on land. Swap a hull for a horse, a bike or Shanks’s pony to explore the remarkably varied landscape of the Maltese islands. Walking is an ideal way to get to know the more rural areas.

From the towering cliffs of Dingli and Ta’ Cenc to diminutive fields surrounded by dry-stone walls; sharp-cut valleys to flat-topped hills; remains of Neolithic temples to the British fortification, the Victoria lines, that stretch right across the main island, there are walks to suit all ages and interests.

The tourist board produces some useful booklets/downloads detailing walks complete with maps and information on what you will see along the way.

The Cliffs centre at Dingli offers an enlightening introduction to the area and guided walks are available in the Majjistral National Park and on Gozo too.

Malta offers lots of opportunities for rock-climbing enthusiasts. Climbers can now choose between 1,500 different routes in about 30 locations ranging from reasonably straightforward to very difficult.

A wide range of other sports are offered by hotels and clubs – particularly the old colonial Marsa Sports Club which owns the nation’s only golf course as well as extensive facilities for tennis, squash, polo and cricket. Guests memberships are available.

So there are plenty of opportunities to stay active while on holiday in the Maltese islands and by the time you’ve swum, dived, climbed, sailed, snorkelled, biked, paddled, ridden and explored, you’ll be ready to lie down and enjoy the sun.

Malta is more

Malta is home to a myriad of holiday choices packed into a compact island. Just three hours from the UK, Malta has the history, culture and activities to keep every holidaymaker happy.

Whether you’re after a city break, a foodie weekend, sun-and-sea seclusion, a high-octane party week or simply a warm welcome for families, couples and LGBT travellers, Malta has it all.

For more about a perfect island break on Malta, go to visitmalta.com