The wonder of Malta. Closer than you think.

"The feast of St George Martyr is one of Gozo's largest and most famous festas, transforming Victoria's historic streets and citadel surroundings with brass bands, fireworks and the island's most passionate procession."

Festa ta' San Ġorġ Martri, Victoria

"Sannat's relaxed feast of St Margaret is one of Gozo's most welcoming small-village festas, with modest fireworks, intimate band marches and room to watch the procession in comfort from the village square."

Festa ta' Santa Margerita, Sannat

"The feast of St Joseph in the clifftop village of Qala is an atmospheric Gozitan celebration with panoramic views over the Comino Channel, band marches through narrow lanes and a fireworks display visible across the eastern tip of the island."

Festa ta' San Ġużepp, Qala

"The feast of St Peter in Chains in the fishing village of Birżebbuġa is renowned for its Saturday-evening mechanised ground fireworks (irdieden), drawing enthusiasts from across Malta for one of the most technically impressive pyrotechnic displays of the season."

Festa ta' San Pietru fil-Ktajjen, Birżebbuġa

"The feast of Our Lady of Pompei in the traditional fishing village of Marsaxlokk combines the colour of the UNESCO-recognised Maltese festa tradition with the distinctive setting of a working harbour lined with luzzu fishing boats painted in vivid eye-of-Osiris colours."

Festa ta' Our Lady of Pompei, Marsaxlokk

"Lija's feast of the Transfiguration is legendary across Malta for the quality of its fireworks displays, with the village's pyrotechnic societies staging aerial and ground-firework shows considered among the finest on the islands."

Festa tat-Trasfigurazzjoni tal-Mulej, Lija

"San Lawrenz's feast of its patron St Lawrence is one of Gozo's most intimate village festas, celebrated in a quiet agricultural hamlet near the Dwejra cliffs where the small community gathers around its single baroque church for processions and fireworks."

Festa ta' San Lawrenz, San Lawrenz

"Mqabba is Malta's undisputed fireworks capital, and on the eve of Santa Marija its Tower of Light structure fires around 10,000 shots synchronised to music from a 62-metre steel frame, making this small village the most spectacular pyrotechnic destination of the entire Maltese summer."

Festa ta' Santa Marija, Mqabba

"Qrendi's Santa Marija festa, celebrated on the same night as neighbouring Mqabba's Tower of Light, answers with its own pyro-musical display from the village bypass, making the southern Maltese sky above these two rival villages one of the most vivid sights of the feast season."

Festa ta' Santa Marija, Qrendi

"The Santa Marija festa in Mosta unfolds beneath one of the largest unsupported church domes in the world, the Rotunda, whose floodlit bulk anchors the procession and fireworks in a setting unique in the Mediterranean."

Festa ta' Santa Marija, Mosta

"Gudja's quiet village festa for Santa Marija on Malta's national public holiday offers an authentically local alternative to the larger nearby celebrations, with a full programme of band marches and a procession through the village's old stone lanes."

Festa ta' Santa Marija, Gudja

"Attard's Santa Marija festa brings the village adjacent to Malta's Presidential Palace to life on the national public holiday with competing banda clubs, illuminated streets and a solemn procession carrying the statue of the Assumption."

Festa ta' Santa Marija, Attard

"The small farming village of Għaxaq celebrates Santa Marija with a full traditional programme of band marches, decorated streets and fireworks that makes this UNESCO-recognised festa one of seven simultaneous celebrations across Malta on the national public holiday."

Festa ta' Santa Marija, Għaxaq

"Victoria's Santa Marija festa is Gozo's contribution to the island-wide public holiday celebration, filling the small capital's medieval streets and cathedral square with band marches, lantern-lit processions and fireworks that echo across the island."

Festa ta' Santa Marija, Victoria (Rabat), Gozo

"Dingli's Assumption festa takes place in Malta's highest and most cliff-edged village, where the procession winds through terraced lanes with sweeping views over the Mediterranean and the celebration retains the unhurried character of a genuinely rural Maltese community."

Festa tal-Assunta, Dingli

"The Assumption festa in Gozo's small and rarely visited village of Żebbuġ is one of the island's quieter celebrations, where the stone church glows with festival lights against a backdrop of rural fields and only villagers and a handful of visitors fill the square."

Festa tal-Assunta, Żebbuġ, Gozo

"Perched on a ridge overlooking the northern valleys, Għargħur's feast of St Bartholomew is a traditional Maltese village festa where the community gathers in a tightly knit hilltop square for band marches, fireworks and a candlelit procession."

Festa ta' San Bartilmew, Għargħur

"Għajnsielem's Loreto festa includes a distinctive community tradition unique on the island: each year a special cloth is chosen and villagers buy lengths of it to make into matching garments worn by the whole community throughout the celebrations."

Festa ta' Sidna Marija tal-Loreto, Għajnsielem

"Xagħra's feast of the Nativity of Our Lady falls on Victory Day, Malta's national commemoration of the Great Siege of 1565, lending this Gozitan village celebration a rare double energy as fireworks light up the large village square and the crowd carries both devotional and patriotic fervour."

Festa tat-Twelid tal-Madonna, Xagħra

"Naxxar's Victory Day festa for Our Lady of Victories commemorates the Great Siege of 1565 as well as honouring the parish patron, filling one of Malta's most photogenic baroque village squares with elaborate street decorations and a powerful procession at the close of the summer season."

Festa tat-Twelid tal-Madonna, Naxxar

"Mellieħa's hillside parish church, one of the most important Marian shrines in Malta and home to a venerated medieval fresco, forms a dramatic backdrop for the Victory Day festa that draws pilgrims and visitors to the north of the island for the closing celebration of the summer season."

Festa ta' Santa Marija, Mellieħa

"One of Gozo's most intimate village festas, the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help fills the quiet lanes of Kerċem with petards, band marches and illuminated church façades in a community small enough that visitors are welcomed as neighbours."

Festa ta' San Ġorġ Martri, Kerċem