The North, the most rugged of all Malta's regions, offers spectacular views across to Comino and Gozo. It also has Malta's most established beach and holiday resorts, Bugibba, Qawra, St Paul's Bay, and Malta's largest sandy beach at Mellieha. Also northwards are Malta's other larger sandy bays, Golden Bay, Ghajn Tuffieha and Paradise Bay.

Sliema and St Julian's are Malta's main coastal resort towns and a heartland for shopping, entertainment and café life. They also house some of Malta's newest hotels and apartments. St Julian's and Paceville are Malta's main nightlife areas.

Valletta, as befits the 16th century baroque city, offers accommodation with a time-honoured atmosphere. Options here range from five-star hotels to bed and breakfast. Malta's capital is very much a working city; a bustling cultural centre and the administrative and commercial heart of the Islands.

The South is characterised by its fishing villages and quiet bays. It offers an authentic insight into Maltese rural life. It is also the location of two of Malta's prehistoric temples, Hagar Qim and Mnajdra. The region is largely undeveloped. Most hotels are in the harbour town of Marsascala, a southern resort which bustles by night yet is charming and quiet by day.

Malta's sister islands of Gozo and Comino provide a tranquil haven and scene change. Greener, more rural and smaller than Malta, life on Gozo moves at a leisurely pace.

Accommodation options here range from charming old farmhouses, often with private pools, to five-star hotels and apartments with spectacular sea views to secluded hotels with stone trulli and cottages as guest quarters.

Tiny Comino is the ultimate escape, all year round. Car-free and carefree, it has just the one resort hotel but it makes an excellent choice for those who want seclusion or to make the most of water sports.