The Xara Palace Relais & Chateaux

Rooms and decor

Picture checking in to a hotel that sits inside the walls of a 4,000-year-old town — a place that was once the capital of the Maltese knights, and the only hotel allowed to operate within those walls. That is The Xara Palace Relais & Chateaux. The building is an early-17th-century palazzo of the noble Moscati Parisio family, carefully restored into a boutique of just 17 suites. Open the door and you do not find the generic furniture of a chain — you get carved baroque beds, French damask over the headboard, crystal chandeliers, original stone fireplaces as old as the building, and oil paintings on the walls like a small museum. Some rooms have church-like vaulted ceilings; some are duplexes over two floors with an old wooden staircase. The most special are the Bastion-facing suites, with a small balcony that looks through the stone wall across the island of Malta — a green-and-gold carpet stretching out to the harbour at Valletta in the distance. Waking up to that, with church bells ringing from the town, is an atmosphere you really cannot find elsewhere. Several real guests describe it as "sleeping inside a medieval novel," which sounds over the top until you are actually there.

Food and amenities

If there is one reason people will drive 30 minutes from Valletta to stay here, it is dinner at de Mondion, the 1-Michelin-star rooftop restaurant with a Michelin Key. What turns the meal into the dinner of the trip is the setting — tables on an open terrace with a 360-degree view, the yellow lights of Mdina beneath your feet, the island spread all around, and on a clear night the lights of Valletta glinting far off like a jewel box. The menu is contemporary Mediterranean built on local Maltese produce: fish caught day by day, island-raised lamb, and olive oil from groves nearby, with an unhurried multi-course tasting menu paired with island wines you rarely see elsewhere. Real reviews agree it is the "best dinner of the Malta trip." For lunch there is Trattoria AD 1530 in the small square in front of the hotel, serving pasta and stone-oven pizza in a relaxed setting, plus a rooftop bar for a cocktail in the cool air as the sun drops behind the old stone walls. Breakfast is made fresh and brought to your table in the quiet — not a rushed big-hotel buffet — a detail that makes it feel more like staying at a well-to-do friend's villa than a hotel.

Location and getting there

The location is exactly why people choose this place. The hotel sits in Mdina, or "Silent City," Malta's old capital, founded by the Phoenicians more than 4,000 years ago and the island's capital through the Roman, Arab and Maltese-knight eras. The whole town is ringed by honey-coloured sandstone walls, and inside is a maze of stone lanes that are almost entirely car-free, which is how it earned the name Silent City. The moment many people fall for is the night — once the day-trippers have gone, only the few dozen hotel guests are left walking the town, warm light on the medieval stone, the bells of St. Paul's cathedral echoing in the lanes, and the feeling that you have rented the whole old town to yourself. For getting around, the hotel is about 15 minutes by car from Malta Airport (MLA) and roughly 30 minutes from Valletta, with a transfer service for guests. The bus stop is in neighbouring Rabat, about a 5-minute walk, and buses into Valletta are cheap. If you plan to use Mdina as a base and day-trip to Valletta, the Three Cities or the island of Gozo, the location works very well.

Things to know before booking

To be straight with you, the first thing is the location, which is not Valletta. Many people assume the hotel is in the capital, but it is in Mdina in the middle of the island, about 30 minutes from Valletta. If you mean to be in the capital every day, budget the travel time and fares both ways; if your trip is about strolling Strait Street every evening, this may not be your first choice. Second, Mdina is car-free — only residents' vehicles and delivery vans get in. On arrival you drag your bags over winding cobbled lanes from the drop-off to the hotel, so if you have large luggage, tell the hotel ahead so they can help. Third, there is no pool or full spa, because the building is an old walled palazzo in the middle of the city. Anyone expecting a luxury resort with a rooftop pool and spa should look elsewhere — the draw here is atmosphere and story, pure and simple. And finally, this is a centuries-old palazzo, so some rooms genuinely carry an old, period feel; some find that charming, others would prefer modern, so choose your room type from the photos before booking.

Our take

From reading across many real reviews, The Xara Palace Relais & Chateaux sells "an experience inside history" so completely that it is hard to find a match — the only hotel inside the walls of Silent City Mdina, a genuine 17th-century palazzo of the Maltese knights, a 17-suite boutique dressed in antiques that are real, with the rooftop de Mondion at 1 Michelin star as the highlight of the trip. If the picture in your head is waking in a room with 400-year-old wooden beams and a fireplace, stepping out into a medieval town before the tourists arrive, and ending the day with dinner under the stars and a 360-degree view, this is a choice that will stay with you for a long time. But if the heart of your trip is walking Valletta every day, or you want a big pool, a full spa and modern polish, it may not be the right fit. Overall we give it 9.0/10 — best for couples and romantics who fall for old medieval cities, history lovers, and anyone chasing a Michelin meal in a special setting.