Malta

Some proclaim Malta’s climate—Mediterranean at its balmiest—the best in the world. Certainly it's hard to come up with a country with a better blend of sea-softened temperatures and generous heaps of grade-A sunshine. A stepping-stone archipelago between Europe and North Africa, Malta promises some of the most pleasantly subtropical of European beaches—and a bountiful side dish of history.

The Maltese archipelago is a smattering of limestone banks marking an otherwise submarine shelf that links Sicily and Libya under the waters of the central Mediterranean. Three of the islands are inhabited: Malta, Comino, and Gozo. Typical scenery ranges from valley-struck plateaus to coastlines lobed with bays and inlets and often ruggedly scenic, walled with cliffs. Great coastal landmarks include the capital of Valletta’s magnificent Grand Harbour, the Blue Grotto of southwestern Malta, the Blue Lagoon off Comino, and the Azure Window rock arch of Gozo. Many a rockbound cove shelters a neat and perfect beach, and Maltese waters offer some of the finest snorkeling, diving, and windsurfing in the Mediterranean.

Malta has been occupied by many of the region’s mightiest historical powers, from the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans to the Arabs, Sicilians, French, and British (it attained independence from Great Britain in 1964). And history runs deep here: Gozo’s limestone-forged Ggantija Temples, likely built between 3600 and 3200 BCE, are among the oldest standing human structures on the planet. Gozo is often considered to be the mythical home of Calypso from the Odyssey; legend holds that the Calypso Cave on the island was where the bewitching nymph delayed Odysseus on his homeward voyage.

Old fortifications stud many a coastal promontory, including Fort St. Elmo, used by the Knights of Rhodes against the Ottomans during the Great Siege of 1565. Malta’s military utility came intensely into play during the Second World War: The main island suffered massive damage as German and Italian forces attempted to seize it, although ultimately the Allied defense proved successful.

Whether in the heart of Valletta or a sleepy Gozo village, you’ll find Maltese culture a fascinating embodiment of the archipelago’s cross-cultural heritage. The distinctive Maltese Carnival holds its own in terms of pageantry and revelry with any other. The varied cuisine echoes cooking traditions from Italy to Tunisia, and well-regarded Maltese wine—red, white, and sparkling—draws upon millennia of tradition.

Smiled upon by Mediterranean breezes, etched in the annals of myth and antiquity more boldly than its size and population might suggest, Malta’s enthralling. It's one of those places that feels simultaneously out-of-the-way and right at the center of history's great sagas.