Physical dive shops are concentrated in Sliema/St Julian's, the nomad-relevant seafront districts a short ferry or taxi ride across the harbour from Valletta's Old City, rather than inside Valletta itself.
- Open Water course
- €400
Updated July 2026
Good to know
Good to Know
- You won't do your actual diving 'in the city' — Valletta functions as a base, with the HMS Maori wreck and Fort St Elmo reef the only sites within the city's own peninsula; everything else (Cirkewwa, Sliema, Wied iz-Zurrieq, Ghar Lapsi, Qawra) is a short drive across the island, typically 20-45 minutes.
- Shore diving in Malta often means carrying full gear down or up stairs, ladders, or rocky paths — factor in fitness and consider arriving early for easier parking/entry spots at popular sites.
- Always carry a surface marker buoy (DSMB) when diving around Fort St Elmo/St Elmo Bay due to boat traffic entering and leaving Marsamxett and Grand Harbour.
- Several deeper or wreck-penetration sites (P29, Um El Faroud, Tug 2, plane wrecks) require Advanced Open Water certification or specific wreck training — check requirements with a dive centre before booking.
- One diver review flagged the HMS Maori/Fort St Elmo area as underwhelming with typically poor visibility, so set expectations accordingly if this is your only Valletta-area dive.
- Dive shops are not located inside Valletta's Old City itself — expect to take a short ferry across the harbour or a taxi/bus to Sliema or St Julian's to reach an operator.
- Try-dive (Discover Scuba) sessions are widely available and cheap, making it easy to test the water before committing to a full Open Water course.
- One dive center (Divewise) noted it provides recreational enriched-air (Nitrox) free of charge to continuing-education divers — worth asking about at other centers too.
- Course prices fluctuate by season (summer is peak and can be pricier/busier) — get a direct current quote rather than relying on averages.
Typical Costs
Discover Scuba Diving / Try Dive
- Price
- €78
- Note
- Observed listed prices ranged roughly from €70 to €85 for a single introductory try-dive session; no certification is earned.
Certifying Bodies
- PADI
- SSI
Open Water Diver (full certification)
- Price
- €400
- Note
- Approximate typical market range for a 3-4 day standalone Open Water course in the Malta area; one operator's 4-night 'referral' package (finishing only the open-water dive portion, theory done elsewhere) starts at €450 per person including basic accommodation. Treat the standalone figure as an estimate rather than a single confirmed quote.
Certifying Bodies
- PADI
- SSI
Advanced Open Water Diver
- Price
- €300
- Note
- Estimate based on general regional course pricing; not independently confirmed with a specific current quote for a Sliema/St Julian's operator.
Certifying Bodies
- PADI
- SSI
Divemaster
- Price
- €900
- Note
- Divemaster pricing varies widely by operator and program length; this is a rough estimate, not a confirmed quote.
Certifying Bodies
- PADI
- SSI
Operator Density
- Summary
- Malta-wide there are roughly 18 PADI-affiliated dive centers, plus SSI-affiliated centers; several named operators cluster specifically in Sliema and St Julian's, the closest diving hubs to Valletta.
Named Operators Near Valletta Sliema St Julians
- Watercolours Dive Centre (Sliema, Malta Tourism Authority-registered, SSI XR center)
- Dive Systems Malta (Sliema, SSI Diamond center)
- Diveshack Malta (Sliema, operating since 1992, SSI Diamond Instructor Training Centre)
- Scuba Malta (St Julian's, Portomaso Marina)
- Divewise (St Julian's, PADI center, one of the island's longest-running dive centers)
Sites Directly At Valletta
HMS Maori (St Elmo Bay)
- Type
- Wreck (shore dive)
- Depth
- Roughly 8-16m; wreck is largely broken up and half buried in sand
- Access
- Shore dive, entered via one of several ladders/stairs/sloping paths around St Elmo Bay at the tip of the Valletta peninsula
- Marine Life
- Nudibranchs and breams are commonly reported on the wreckage
- Notes
- Widely used as a beginner/certification wreck dive because of its shallow depth, but the structure itself is heavily broken up with 'not a huge amount of interesting things to see' according to one diver review, and visibility in the bay is inconsistent
- Description
- A WWII British Tribal-class destroyer sunk in Grand Harbour by a German air raid in February 1942 and later relocated to its present position beside Fort St Elmo.
Fort St Elmo Reef
- Type
- Reef (shore dive)
- Depth
- Up to about 35m
- Access
- Shore dive; same general entry points as HMS Maori, at the seaward tip of Fort St Elmo where Marsamxett and Grand Harbour meet
- Notes
- Divers are cautioned to watch for harbour boat traffic entering/leaving Marsamxett and Grand Harbour and to carry a surface marker buoy (DSMB) at all times in this area.
- Description
- A natural reef dive site round the point from St Elmo Bay.
Other WWII Wrecks Inside Grand Harbour
- Type
- Wreck
- Access
- Technically present but very rarely dived
- Notes
- Additional WWII-era wrecks lie inside Grand Harbour itself, but these are essentially not dived in practice because of the busy commercial/ferry boat traffic in the harbour.
Day Trip Sites From Valletta Base
Um El Faroud
- Type
- Wreck
- Depth
- Roughly 18-36m depending on point of the wreck; commonly cited max around 36m with the bridge shallower
- Access
- Boat or shore-adjacent entry near Wied iz-Zurrieq; considered an advanced dive due to size and depth
- Location
- Wied iz-Zurrieq, south coast
- Best Season
- Summer to early autumn for calmest seas and best visibility
- Marine Life
- Squid, barracuda, large schools of seabream, parrotfish, silversides, and occasional amberjack or tuna are reported around the wreck.
- Description
- A former oil tanker that exploded in Valletta's harbour area in the 1990s, later split into two sections by a storm, now resting on the seabed near Wied iz-Zurrieq.
East Reef and West Reef & Caves (Wied iz-Zurrieq)
- Type
- Reef / wall / cave
- Depth
- East Reef is a wall reaching around 30m; West Reef & Caves has boulders, seagrass, sand and cave sections
- Access
- Shore entry down steep steps near the Blue Grotto boat-launch area; can be tiring with gear
- Location
- Wied iz-Zurrieq, south coast
- Notes
- Popular with tourist boat traffic overhead in the same cove, so divers are advised to watch for boats.
Cirkewwa Reef / Susie's Point
- Type
- Reef, cave, wall
- Depth
- Shallow learning area near the surface down to roughly 40m in parts of the wider site
- Access
- Shore dive; one of the most heavily used training and multi-level sites on the island
- Location
- Cirkewwa, northwest tip of Malta
- Marine Life
- Rock pools, walls, seagrass meadows, caverns and sandy bottoms host varied species along this stretch.
- Notes
- Includes natural arches, swim-through tunnels and a submerged Madonna statue landmark.
P29 Patrol Boat (Cirkewwa)
- Type
- Wreck
- Depth
- Sits at roughly 33-34m on the sand with the top of the superstructure around 14-21m
- Access
- Shore-accessible, roughly 150m swim offshore from the beach
- Location
- Cirkewwa
- Marine Life
- Large dentex and moray eels are regularly seen on and around the wreck, with swim-throughs where engines were removed before sinking.
- Description
- A former East German/Maltese Armed Forces patrol boat and mine-sweeper, deliberately scuttled in 2007 to form an artificial reef.
- Certification Note
- Advanced/wreck-diver training recommended for penetration; non-penetration viewing is fine for less experienced divers.
Rozi Tugboat (Cirkewwa)
- Type
- Wreck
- Depth
- Around 35m, sitting upright on white sand
- Access
- Shore or boat dive; roughly 150m from the P29
- Location
- Cirkewwa
- Marine Life
- Seabream, scorpionfish, rainbow wrasse, cardinalfish, grouper, moray eels and stingrays have all been reported here.
- Description
- A 35-40m tugboat that formerly operated in Valletta's Grand Harbour, deliberately sunk around 1991-1992 to create a dive/tourist attraction.
Tug 2
- Type
- Wreck
- Depth
- Roughly 20-22m (top) to 40m depending on source
- Access
- Shore or boat dive from the Sliema/Exiles area
- Location
- Off the Exiles reef, Sliema
- Marine Life
- Triggerfish, stargazers and weaver fish are cited as species seen here that are less common at other Malta sites.
- Description
- A former Grand Harbour tugboat deliberately sunk in 2012 as a newer artificial reef near Sliema.
Ghar Lapsi
- Type
- Reef, shallow cave
- Depth
- Roughly 10-20m
- Access
- Shore dive via a rocky inlet, but involves a walk from the car park with gear
- Location
- Siggiewi, south coast
- Marine Life
- Sponges, coral formations and schools of damselfish are commonly seen; can be dangerous to enter in high wind.
- Description
- A shallow cave/inlet system where sunlight floods through cracks in the rock, popular for underwater photography.
Qawra, Northeast Coast
- Name
- Qawra Point area (Fra Ben Cave, North Reef & Arch, L-Cave, Qawra Reef, Imperial Eagle wreck)
- Type
- Cave, reef, wreck
- Access
- Fra Ben Cave and North Reef & Arch are shore-accessible; L-Cave, Qawra Reef and the Imperial Eagle wreck require a boat.
- Notes
- A cluster of separate named sites around one peninsula, mixing easy shore entries with boat-only sections.
Blenheim Bomber and Bristol Beaufighter Wrecks
- Type
- Wreck (aircraft)
- Depth
- Roughly 38-45m
- Access
- Boat dive only, and less frequently requested/booked than the main shore sites
- Notes
- WWII plane wrecks for advanced/technical divers; not part of the standard shore-dive circuit.
Best Season
July to October is generally cited as offering the calmest seas and best visibility for diving out of the Valletta area; water temperatures and conditions are workable for much of the year given Malta's mild Mediterranean climate.
Access Summary
Diving here is genuinely shore/day-boat based, not liveaboard-dependent. Malta's dive sites are reached either by walking straight in from rocky shore entry points or via short day-boat hops of a few hundred metres; there is no liveaboard scene needed to dive Malta's main sites.
Visibility And Conditions
Visibility across Malta's sites is generally very good, with some sources citing 40-50m even at 30m depth, and currents/tides are typically weak; however conditions right at St Elmo Bay/HMS Maori in Valletta itself are noted by at least one diver as inconsistent, sometimes turbid.
Certifying Bodies Offered
Certifying Bodies Offered
- PADI
- SSI
Gozo Comino Note
Many operators based in the Valletta/Sliema area also run day trips to Gozo (e.g. the Blue Hole, Inland Sea tunnel, MV Karwela and other scuttled wrecks) and to Comino (e.g. Santa Marija Caves, boat-only), which extend the day's diving beyond the main island but remain single-day boat excursions rather than liveaboard trips.
Location Context
Valletta's Old City has no dive shops physically inside it. Almost all operators serving the area are based across the Grand Harbour/Marsamxett in Sliema and St Julian's, both walkable-to-ferry or a short taxi/bus ride from Valletta and themselves major nomad/expat residential hubs.
Levels Commonly Available
Levels Commonly Available
- Discover Scuba Diving / Try Dive (no certification, taster experience)
- Open Water Diver (entry-level certification)
- Advanced Open Water Diver
- Rescue Diver
- Divemaster (first professional level)
- Dive Instructor / IDC (offered by some centers a few times per year)
- Various specialties (wreck, deep, enriched air/Nitrox, and technical diving at at least one operator)
Freediving Crossover
No genuine freediving-course crossover was confirmed for the Sliema/St Julian's dive centers researched here — these are scuba-focused PADI/SSI operations. One shop (Watercolours) offers technical scuba diving alongside recreational courses, which is a different discipline from freediving. Anyone specifically wanting freediving certification should verify directly with operators rather than assuming it's offered.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.