The 10 Best Dive Sites In Malta

I get asked this constantly — on the boat, in the classroom, in my inbox: "What are the best dive sites in Malta?" As an instructor who dives these islands every working day, across all 67 sites we run, here's my honest top ten — not a copy-paste travel listicle, but the sites I'd actually take you to, with the depths, the access, and who each one suits.

1. Ċirkewwa Marine Park — the all-rounder

If you only get one day in the water in Malta, this is it. A freshly refurbished marine park on the north tip of the island with two intact wrecks — the P29 patrol boat and the Rozi tugboat — plus the famous Arch, training pools, and a reef system you could dive for a week. All from one car park, all as shore dives. Beginners get sheltered shallows; wreck lovers get a legendary two-wreck circuit at around 34m.

2. Um El Faroud — Malta's signature wreck

A 110-metre oil tanker scuttled in 1998 off Wied iż-Żurrieq, sitting upright from 15m at the funnel to 36m at the propeller — and it's a shore dive. The Um El Faroud is the wreck every visiting diver asks for by name, and rightly so: vast, atmospheric, richly colonised, with penetration for trained wreck divers and plenty for everyone else on the upper decks.

3. Blue Hole, Gozo — the icon

A natural rock pool linked to the open sea by an archway at 8m, dropping onto a wall that falls past 60m — with the tumbled boulders of the collapsed Azure Window next door. The Blue Hole is one of the most famous dives in the Mediterranean and it still earns its reputation on every single visit.

4. Inland Sea, Gozo — the most dramatic entry in Malta

Kit up in a fishing lagoon, fin out through an 80-metre tunnel in the cliff, and emerge at 26m onto a sheer wall in open blue. The light play in the Inland Sea tunnel is unforgettable — and combined with the Blue Hole five minutes away, it makes Dwejra the best shore-diving day trip in the islands.

5. MV Karwela & Cominoland — Gozo's photogenic pair

Two ex-ferries scuttled side by side at Xatt l-Aħmar. The Karwela (to 45m) has the most photographed staircase in Mediterranean diving — divers call her a tiny Titanic. Ideal decompression-procedures territory, and a brilliant boat or shore day with her sister alongside.

6. MT Hephaestus — the newest wreck

Gozo's newest resident: the tanker famously driven aground at Qawra in the 2018 storm, cleaned and scuttled at Xatt l-Aħmar in 2022. The Hephaestus sits upright and intact at about 46m — clean, open, penetration-ready, and colonising more with every season. Diving her now means watching a wreck become a reef in real time.

7. Santa Marija Caves, Comino — the best cave day

A honeycomb of light-filled caverns and swim-throughs off Comino, made for a relaxed boat day between the big dives. The Santa Marija Caves are friendly rather than fearsome — sunbeams, arches and resident bream — and they show off Malta's legendary visibility better than almost anywhere.

8. HMS Stubborn — the technical classic

A genuine WWII Royal Navy S-class submarine, upright and intact at 57m off St Paul's Bay. HMS Stubborn is the dive that pulls divers into technical training — she needs Trimix, and she's worth every hour of the course. History you can hover over.

9. Le Polynesien — the finest wreck in the Med?

A French ocean liner torpedoed in 1918, lying on her side between 50 and 65m — many well-travelled divers call Le Polynesien the best wreck in the Mediterranean, full stop. Size, intactness, artefacts, atmosphere: she has it all. Trimix territory, and the reason a lot of divers finally book the course.

10. Tug 2 & Exiles Reef, Sliema — the local secret

Right off the Sliema seafront — our house reef at Dive Systems. The Tug 2 sits in 12–18m, perfect for training, check dives and night dives, with the quietly brilliant Exiles reef alongside (seahorses, if you know where to look). Proof you don't need a boat, or even a car, to dive well in Malta.

Want to go deeper?

If your logbook runs to trimix depths, Malta only gets better — HMS Southwold, ORP Kujawiak and the deep aircraft wrecks are covered in my guide to Malta's best technical wrecks, and if you're not sure what your certification unlocks, start with Malta wrecks by certification level.

When to come — and how to dive them

Malta dives twelve months a year: 26–28°C water in high summer, the sea still warm as a bath into September and October, and the clearest visibility of the year in the quiet winter months. Every site on this list is one I dive regularly — so if you want to see them with someone who knows every corner, come dive them with me, on open circuit or CCR, at whatever pace suits you.