Almost everything on this site depends on the weather. The film set at Anchor Bay is half a swim, the boats to Comino go when the sea lets them, and a shore dive is at the mercy of the wind. Which means every holiday in the north of Malta eventually produces the same morning: grey, blowing, children awake since six, and nothing on the plan that still works.
The Malta National Aquarium is the north's answer to that morning. It is at Qawra, it is indoors, and that is genuinely most of the case for it. We would rather say so at the top than write eight hundred words pretending it is a destination.
What it is
An indoor aquarium in the northern half of the island, close enough to the Mellieħa and St Paul's Bay end of Malta to be reachable from the same base people use for Popeye Village. It is the sort of place you decide on in the morning and are at by lunchtime, rather than something that shapes a day.
You will not find a tank count, a species list or a floor plan on this page. We have not sourced any of them, and a page that invents that kind of detail is doing the one thing this site exists not to do. What the attraction contains is described on its own website, by the people who put it there.
The honest verdict on size
It is small by world standards. That is our own assessment rather than a measurement, and we put it here because it is the single thing most likely to decide whether you have a good afternoon.
If your reference point is a major city aquarium, with a tunnel you walk through and a queue that starts outside, this is not that, and arriving expecting it is how people end up disappointed by a perfectly decent attraction. If your reference point is two hours out of the rain with a five-year-old who wants to look at fish, it does that job well and does not need to be anything larger.
The same logic runs through every page on this site. Almost every unhappy verdict on a Maltese attraction is a mismatch between what somebody expected and what the place has ever claimed to be, and the aquarium is a textbook case of it.
Why an aquarium has a page on a site about a film set
Because they answer the same question. Popeye Village earns its ticket on the day it is warm and the bay is swimmable, and it is a much thinner morning when it is not. The aquarium is the version of that day that does not need the sky to cooperate: indoors, in the same corner of the island, and aimed at the same age group.
Put bluntly, this is the page to remember on the morning the forecast ruins the plan, and it is worth knowing it exists before you need it rather than while standing in a car park in the wind.
What it costs
Less than you would like to know from us, and here is the honest reason.
- 1 bookable option through our booking partners
- about €17 per person at the time of checking
Taken from the operators' own listings, checked 15 September 2026. Ratings are theirs, not ours, and we do not host reviews.
One partner carries this attraction and their listing publishes no headline price, so there is no price band on this page and no rating either. We are not going to fill that space with a figure taken from somewhere else, because an admission price that is wrong by a euro is still wrong, and the version that is actually correct today sits on the partner's own page and on the attraction's own website. Both are a click away. Neither is any use to you second hand.
The same applies to opening hours. They are seasonal at almost every attraction on these islands, and a page that prints a winter closing time in September is a page that misleads somebody in February. Check before you drive over.
When to go
On the bad day. That is not a joke, it is the whole strategy: keep it in reserve, and spend the good weather on the coast where the good weather is worth something.
Within a day, an indoor attraction in a windy season is going to be busiest when everybody else has had the same idea, so early is worth more than it looks. Allow about two hours, which is our own planning estimate rather than anything the operator publishes, and treat it as an afternoon rather than a day out.
What else is close
This page exists as the alternative to everything else on the site, so the rest of it is the good-weather list. Mellieħa Bay is the big shallow beach nearest Anchor Bay and the obvious swap the moment the wind drops. Golden Bay and Għajn Tuffieħa are over on the coast facing north west. The Blue Lagoon on Comino and a day on Gozo both start with a boat from the north, and the diving at Ċirkewwa is the other way to spend a morning in the water. The film set itself, and who actually enjoys it, fills this site's front page.
The honest downside
It is a fallback, and it is the rare attraction that is improved by bad weather, because bad weather is what makes it the right choice. On a blue-sky day in July, driving inland to stand in an aquarium is a strange use of a Maltese afternoon, and we are not going to pretend otherwise to sell a ticket.
It will also not hold a teenager, and it will not hold an adult who came to Malta for the history or the diving. This is a young-children attraction with a weather-related excuse attached, and the moment either half of that stops being true, the honest advice is to spend the afternoon somewhere else.
Common questions
Where is the Malta National Aquarium?
At Qawra, in the north of Malta. That puts it within reach of the same bases people use for Anchor Bay and the northern beaches, which is why it is the standard wet weather answer at this end of the island.
How much does it cost to get in?
We do not publish an admission price. The one partner that carries this attraction lists no headline price either, so the current figure lives on the attraction's own website and on the partner's own page. A price typed here would be stale before it was useful.
Is it worth visiting in good weather?
Usually not, and we would rather say so. This is the indoor answer to a day the sea has taken away from you. On a warm calm day in the north of Malta, the coast is a far better use of the afternoon.
How big is it?
Small by world standards, which is our own assessment rather than a measurement. If your reference point is a major city aquarium you will find it modest. If your reference point is two hours out of the rain with a small child, it is the right size for the job.
How long should I allow?
Two hours or so is a sensible allowance, and that figure is our own planning estimate rather than anything the operator publishes. Treat the visit as an afternoon rather than a full day out.
Is it good for teenagers?
Less so. This is aimed squarely at younger children, and an older group will be finished with it quickly. If the party is teenagers and the weather has closed the sea, a town with something to walk around is a better fallback.
Last checked: 14 September 2026. Entry fee, opening times, tank count, species list: none of the four appears above, because we hold none of them to a standard worth publishing. Confirm the current price and hours with the attraction itself before you set off.
