It’s all happening for Malta. New direct flights on Air Malta starting May 4 will whisk you from Southend to Valletta on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Built on a tiny peninsula, the 2018 European Capital of Culture retains its 16th-century elegance and deserves its Unesco World Heritage Site status for its high concentration of historic sights. Just across the Grand Harbour from Valletta, Senglea is a fortified city undergoing a regeneration project with new bars, restaurants and a hotel.

Built into the 16th-century bastion walls, the luxury all-suite Cugó Gran Macina Grand Harbour is the island’s first Design Hotel.  Deriving its name from the centuries-old steel crane structure used to hoist heavy cargo from the Mediterranean, the 21-suite hotel blends old with new, using natural light and materials to maximise high vaulted ceilings with chalk-white walls, limestone, and slates.  Suites all have harbour views from large living rooms and bedrooms, dressed with free-standing baths and walk-in showers and Tom Dixon lights. There is one adapted room and disabled access to all other areas.

The ground floor Hammett’s restaurant and bar serves à la carte menus with the Med-inspired dishes you'd hope for in a country set between Sicily and Libya. Guests can hone themselves for posing in the rooftop pool with views of Vittoriosa across to Valletta with yoga, pilates, personal training sessions and in-room spa treatments. Valetta is a five-minute ferry journey away, which can be arranged by the hotel.

* Double rooms from €215 per night room only, Design Hotels™