8 days best of Malta guided tour

The tour was with an agent, not the tour company. He deserves 5 stars—the tour companies not so much (next paragraph) The agent met with us the first night and got us hard to get tickets to the hypogeum (not cheap, but a must do) and kept us informed daily on every detail. The airport transfers were seamless. Somehow, we ended up with a different tour guide everyday and that’s not a coincidence. We saw our previous and future guides each day with other groups doing the same things. That was great, because not all guides were good. The tours were very strenuous. If you are not in good shape, Malta is not for you. Some tour guides patiently waited and counted everyone (Valentina in Gozo was amazing—5 stars) , some did not and lost people (Michael at the ruins on Friday—1 star). Some explained every detail, some did not say much. Lunches were tasty but more like comfort food than anything special, usually pasta and chicken. Vegetarians got salad. Every place we visited was a bit rushed. We were glad to have the free last day to fill in the missing places, like the Museum of archeology—the 7000 year old figure of the reclining fat lady is a must see. The 45 minutes to get lunch in Valletta was not enough time to see that museum and eat. We also saw the St Paul’s grotto in Rabat on our own. Some used that day to see the “optional” Blue Lagoon, but read the reviews. It’s a miserable trip that we opted not to do. The ferry to Gozo passes by that island anyway. My biggest disappointment was although we did see the main 6000 year old ruin on Friday, the other one a mile down the path was not included. (Michael was our guide that day, so we wouldn’t have missed much). One could sneak away and run down there (and buy the separate admission first). To miss the guide’s explanation of the main ruin—and the exhibits that were a huge waste of time—would have been better. I’m not sure there are better tour alternatives. All the companies seem to do the same thing The agent made Malta special for us. However, getting around Malta on your own is economical with the Bolt app, but you need to be on a cellphone grid for that. The agent told us about Bolt. They also have Uber. There’s a bit of a price war between them. One other thing, when you go to the artisan market, sneak away and go to Malta Stone. It’s not on the tour, but you pass by it. They have very reasonably priced jewelry. Worth skipping the glass blowing if you’ve seen it before. We wasted 30 minutes that day at a viewpoint that needed no more than 10 minutes and not nearly enough time at the artisan market. Stay at the Doubletree. There’s a 6000 year old ruin in the middle of the pool area! We booked an extra day on our own at the beginning using our Diamond status to get upgraded and we’re treated very well. Although we didn’t get points with the agents booking, they did transfer our status and kept our room upgrade overlooking the ruin and having a balcony view of the sunset. We also got room nights credit although not points.