The City’s Secrets Above and Below: Mdina and Rabat Walking Tour

Malta’s ancient capital has been watching over the island since the Bronze Age.

On this walking tour, you’ll trace Mdina’s layered history, beginning with its Roman origins, to Arab fortification, and medieval noble rule. You’ll also explore the surrounding suburb of Rabat and the remarkable underground burial complex of St Paul’s Catacombs, where rotating stone doors and mysterious carved dining tables raise questions that archaeologists are still working to answer.

The tour starts at Mdina’s Main Gate, where Baroque stonework and centuries-old coats of arms set the tone for what lies inside. You’ll walk along Villegaignon Street, past the palazzos of noble families who still live behind those ornate doors today. From the bastions, you’ll take in sweeping views across Malta toward Mosta, where a WWII bomb fell through a church dome mid-Mass and inexplicably failed to explode.

As you cross through the Greek Gate into Rabat, you’ll discover how this suburb was once part of Roman Melite, a prosperous city far larger than anything visible today. The tour ends at St Paul’s Catacombs.

On this 90-minute tour, you’ll have a chance to:

• Explore Palazzo Falson, a medieval palazzo from the 1200s that houses curiosities including a ten-hour clock from Napoleon’s failed decimal time experiment
• Spot the Game of Thrones filming locations from the series’ first season at Pjazza Mesquita and Vilhena Palace
• Admire St Paul’s Cathedral, rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake that reshaped much of Mdina’s skyline
• Visit Domus Romana, a 1st-century BC townhouse with original mosaic floors that once belonged to a wealthy Roman family
• Descend into St Paul’s Grotto, where the shipwrecked apostle is said to have sheltered in 60 AD
• Learn why Maltese gallarija – those distinctive enclosed wooden balconies – were as practical as they were fashionable
• Stop for pastizzi and a Kinnie at one of Rabat’s oldest pastizzerias

This tour gives you a rare chance to walk through a city where medieval streets, Roman ruins, and Arab fortifications all occupy the same hilltop – and where much of the history beneath your feet has yet to be uncovered.