Marsaxlokk Market and Blue Grotto guided tour

Lovely visit and lovely guided tour. We bought local food, local goods and nice souvenirs

Sunday Market visit and blue grotto boat ride

The caves were epic.

Well organized, very friendly guide, clear explanation in English and Italian. Enough time to see the market. The boat ride to the Blue Grotto was very nice. I would eliminate the trip to Qrendi, we stopped for 10 minutes, I didn't understand the purpose, because we only got off the bus in a small square to take a photo.

Blue grotto was spectacular! Definitely spend the 10€ (cash only) for the 20 minute boat ride. I don’t suggest going on a Sunday because it is market day in Marsaxlokk and the crowds are plentiful.The fish monger stalls are interesting but the general flea market section is not. Tracie was an excellent guide! Malta is extremely hot in August!

Loved the colourful fishing town. We went on a boat trip around the island to St Peter‘s pool. The trip just over 1 hour and we enjoyed it very much. The price was €10 per person which we felt was fine. There a quite a few market stalls around the harbour and man different eateries offering a good choice of food.

Great half day tour with a wonderful tour guide (Josephine). The market at Marsaxlokk was everything we expected - loud, crowded, colourful and fantastic. We enjoyed the blue grotto but we like the one on Gozo Island better. Transfer to and from meeting points were very good. Josephine was excellent - her English was very good, she was very knowledgeable and we found the information she provided to be interesting. Highly recommended tour.

If you have a Sunday in Malta, we highly recommend this 4 hr tour that takes in two unique attractions on Malta. The tour provide hotel pickup, guide and transportation to both the market and Blue Grotto. The Blue Grotto boat trip (well worth the 8 euros) is not include in the tour price. At both sites there was time to wander and explore before meeting the bus to continue the excursion. We appreciate tours that are on time with competent guides and equipment. Overall excellent value for money spent.

The Blue Grotto was an amazing boat ride. However we did not have a walk through Qrendi village as advertised. Only a quick photo stop outside the church.

Good trip overall. Market was very busy on Sunday so it was difficult to get to see everything. Our guide was very informative and made the trip really enjoyable. The boat trip to the Blue Grotto was choppy but was worth the ride to see the beautiful water and caves at the end.

BE careful what you ask for on holiday. You may get it.

We booked the hop-on-hop-off South sightseeing bus on a Sunday specifically to go shopping at Maxsaxlokk market which only operates on a Sunday.

As things turned out it was the worst of four stops we made during the day.

So much praise had been heaped on the market about its variety and the unusual crafts on offer that we had set aside two hours to explore it. We left after less than one.

What many reviews don't tell you is that the crowds flocking to the market make it almost impossible to enjoy, to shop or get anything out of the event other sore toes from your feet being trodden on.

The market itself along the harbourside stretches for hundreds of metres and does include a few genuine buys of interest including local honey, carob, a few high quality lace outlets, biscuits, tiles and even one olive wood carver displaying his wares.

Balanced against this is the inescapable fact that this is predominantly a locals market selling things locals want to buy such as pots and pans, fruit, veg, fish and the like.

On top of that the winding gap through hundreds of stall is barely wide enough for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder so progress is grindingly slow. Yes, you can go much faster by sneaking round the back and walking down the road, but then you can't see the stalls.

We stuck it out for forty minutes, slogging our way forward past stalls for shoes, clothes, olive oil, bread and meat, our progress occasionally brightened by glimpses of multi-coloured boat hulls bobbing in the harbour.

Eventually, after buying just one small piece of lace as a gift, we gave up and squeezed out into the road, grabbed a cold drink and managed to catch the next hop-on sightseeing bus first to a fascinating prehistoric cave and museum at Ghar Dalam and then on to the Blue Grotto itself.

If Marsaxlokk Market had been a grind then the Blue Grotto was sheer exhilaration.

Malta's weather hadn't been great and, while it was sunny, there was quite a swell running in the little harbour as we queued for tickets on a small boat out to a number of sea caves including the Blue Grotto.

Just clambering into the boat got pulses racing since the rise and fall of the sea made stepping off the harbour wall and into the boat a bit of a lottery.

My turn came but as I stepped down so did the boat and my feet met nothing, the boatman grabbing me as his craft rose back to meet my feet.

Then he made sure everyone was evenly distributed on board and that everyone had put on a lifejacket. We soon found out why that was needed.

There were a few gently shrieks of surprise as the boat chugged out through the harbour and got splashed by waves. Then we met the open sea which was a lot rougher, our boat swooping up and down as the boatman skilfully guided us along quite close to a rocky shore.

The sea caves and the Blue Grotto itself were amazing with gin-clear water down to a white sandy bottom which varied in depth from 15ft-35ft.

We actually went into the hollowed out cliff, into the caves and into an appreciation of the power of the sea which surged into the openings and sucked and swirled against the rocks.

The journey back to harbour was an education in seamanship since our boatmen took us out to sea and then cut round to return with the wind at our back, our craft rearing and dropping as the swell toyed with us.

All this adrenalin cost us just 10 Euros and was worth every cent because we will remember that boat ride long after we've forgotten Marsaxlokk Market.

To sum up, by all means visit the market but it is not worth more than a single hour. The time we saved by cutting short our visit let us visit the cave and museum, still go to the wonderful Blue Grotto and be able to round our day off by visiting the temples at Haqar Qim and Mnajdra in time to catch the last bus home.

Excellent guide, pickups went well.unfortunately couldn’t do the blue grotto boat ride due to windy conditions, but had good view from cliffs. Could have done with extra time at market but overall good trip.