The Mike Hotel

Convenient location near transportation and city center. Clean, modern rooms with comfortable bedding and spacious bathrooms. Variety of breakfast options. Friendly, responsive staff and great service.

For a start it’s the perfect location for the 3 cities. Clean and comfortable room. Excellent staff and a great idea to serve breakfast at your door in little baskets. Able to WhatsApp to request your breakfast time. Staff full of local knowledge too. I would have just liked hair conditioner for the shower and hooks on the back of the door! Not the end of the world though 😁

I spent a while puzzling over where to stay in Malta. I wanted to stay near Valetta but knew that, in general, it's sometimes better value to stay just outside the capital and after a lot of searching and filtering eventually shortlisted The Mike hotel. The hotel is in a narrow, not particularly glamorous short road near a main road. The hotel is staffed in the mornings, for arrivals in the evening they issue a unique code which works for the communal front door and your room. My room (no 3) was a reasonable size with a spacious bathroom. The room had a fridge, room safe, UK and European mains sockets, USB A power and one complimentary bottle of water. There's a rail to hang clothes but no wardrobe. The bathroom has hand wash, shower gel and shampoo - great for those flying with luggage liquid restrictions. No 1 is on the ground floor, 2 and 3 are up a narrow spiral staircase and the rest are accessible via other stairs plus a tiny lift. No 3 is on the back of the building, the small window look over a light well leaving the room a bit dark. They serve a simple breakfast each morning in your room, filter coffee, juice, a croissant or sandwich, a small cake/biscuits and freshly sliced fruit. There's a small lounge area which can also be used by prior arrangement for breakfast for ~4 people, perhaps 6 at a real squeeze. The lounge area features a small honesty bar too. Good, modern air conditioning units in the room, a touch noisy but not problematic in anyway. I tried sleeping without it but the building was a it too hot plus it's incredibly quiet there so any small noise can wake you up! There's no store room for luggage in this small hotel but you can leave your luggage on the ground floor. I picked mine up at 1pm (checkout is 11am) and the friendly staff were still there. The shower was very good but I consciously had very short showers at a low flow rate. Water is precious on small islands. I tried drinking the water. It's got a strong chemical, chlorine-like taste and isn't pleasant but is just about bearable. The staff told me it wasn't suitable for drinking. I wasn't sure if they meant it was unpleasant or non-potable. If it's from a water tank then the notes in the room should include a warning not to drink it. The location is great for the ferry over to Valetta, that's just under 10 minutes walk along the attractive marina and goes every 30 minutes. It's a modern, 200 seat ferry with indoor and outdoor seating over a clam harbour, a truly wonderful start to the morning. There's a convenience shop opposite that sells huge bottles of water for 80 cents, a nearby counter that sells snacks and a very affordable bar where the locals hang out in the evening. If it's not too hot it's walkable to the Hypogeum (need to buy tickets 6-8 weeks in advance or visit Fort St Elmo first thing to try and buy the last minute tickets - I did latter) and Tarxien Temple ruins. Just over half an hour walk. In early June I needed half a litre of water ea