Blue Grotto Malta Boat Tour: Two Half-Day Tours Compared

No, on neither listing. The Sunday market tour says it plainly: at the Blue Grotto you can take a 20-minute boat ride at an extra cost, payable at the grotto directly. The Qrendi tour says the same in other words: there is time to buy an optional boat ride into the grotto, for a fee paid on location. So the price of a Blue Grotto Malta boat tour covers the road trip, the guide and the time at the caves; the boat itself is your choice on the day. Neither listing gives the price of the ride, so keep some money for it.

The second thing to know: the small boats go out only when the weather allows. One listing offers the ride if weather permits; the other says it is always subject to favourable weather conditions. If the boats stay in, the stop still stands. The Qrendi tour builds it around the views: the main arch, about 30 metres high, and the Honeymoon Cave, the Cat’s Cave and the Reflection Cave.

At $34 per person, this is the cheaper Blue Grotto Malta boat tour of the two, rated 3.8 from 937 reviews. Pickup is included, with the details shown when you check availability, and a live guide speaks English, German, Italian or French.

The day starts at the Blue Grotto, a set of sea caverns on the south coast of Malta, west of the small harbour in the Zurrieq Valley and facing the uninhabited islet of Filfla. You get one hour there. The listing says that from sunrise until about 1 pm the sunlight reflects off the water inside the caves in many shades of blue, while other caverns stay a deep, dark blue.

Then you drive on to Marsaxlokk for 1.5 hours. The market sells fresh fish and seafood, and you can barter for honey, fruit jams, wine, vegetables, clothing and souvenirs, then take time on your own in the village before heading back. To book, open the Sunday market tour.

Book the Qrendi tour. At $43 per person it is the better-rated Blue Grotto Malta boat tour here, 4.1 from 757 reviews, with hotel pickup in Valletta, a guide in five languages and a third stop the other listing does not have.

Want more market time for less? The Sunday market tour at $34 per person gives you 1.5 hours in Marsaxlokk and an hour at the grotto. On both, budget for the boat ride on top.

At the grotto, the sea part is a short ride in a small boat. For a full day at sea, our top pick is the boat and bus day from Sliema, $50 per person for 7.5 hours: a boat to Mġarr on Gozo, a bus to Victoria, then about 90 minutes at the Blue Lagoon. All eleven trips, from 3-hour boats out of Ċirkewwa to private speedboats, are side by side in our full list of boat trips.