Qawra Palace: A mid-range hotel by the sea

In the Maltese municipality of Qawra, a district of the city of San Pawl il-Baħar, the Qawra Palace Hotel is one of the few hotels in this region that offers all-inclusive stays on request. This type of catering is not as widespread on the Maltese islands as it is on the Balearic Islands, for example.

Qawra is a very touristy place. This means that there are an enormous number of hotels, restaurants, shops and other businesses that are specifically geared towards tourists. This is actually surprising, as there is no sandy beach here. Rocks and pebbles dominate the entrance to the Mediterranean.

The Palace Hotel has a direct view of the Salini Hotel, which is located on the other side of the bay. The two hotels have nothing in common. The hotel in Qawra has its own access to the sea, but no beach in the true sense of the word. You enter the cool water via a ladder, as is common in many places on the Maltese islands.

If you prefer to enjoy the sandy beach, you have to take bus 221, which can be used free of charge with the personalized Tallinja Card, to the municipality of Mellieħa. There are several public beaches there, which are characterized by fine sand and extremely shallow water. More information about the most beautiful beaches in the Republic of Malta under this link at Aviation.Direct.

Large pool by the sea

The Qawra Palace Hotel has a large swimming pool, which is not surprisingly located near the sea. For the colder seasons, there is also an indoor pool, which is even open in summer, but is not surprisingly rarely used in the typical Maltese summer heat. There are parasols and loungers by the pool, which hotel guests can use at no extra charge. Drinks and snacks can be purchased at the pool bar or at the hotel bar. If you have booked all-inclusive, these can be obtained free of charge.

This is where the typical Maltese bureaucracy comes into play, as the AI ​​guests receive a magnetic stripe card, which is swiped through an MSR reader by the staff every time they order a drink or a meal, and then you can watch the staff typing away at a screen. And this bureaucratic work occurs with every drink, be it beer, cocktail or water, and every meal.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served buffet style. Guests have a relatively large selection to choose from. They try to offer something for every taste and every need. Vegetarians and allergy sufferers will have no problem as there are alternatives. However, some are only available on request from staff as these are apparently rarely accepted by the general public. When booking, please note that the Qawra Palace Hotel offers various inclusive packages from "room only" to "all inclusive". At this hotel, it is worth asking reception directly by phone or email about a current special offer before booking via major portals or tour operators. Maltese hotels generally tend to pass on the commission saved (for agents) to the guest as a price advantage when booking directly.

Clean hotel in good condition

In general, the Qawra Palace Hotel is in good condition, but you can see in various places that the building is no longer up to date and the name "Palace" is a little misleading. It is a normal holiday hotel that offers a little more service, but otherwise it is simply normal middle class and nothing more and nothing less.

The rooms are functionally equipped. If you are expecting excessive luxury, the Palace Hotel is definitely not for you. The core target group of this hotel are holidaymakers, mainly from the United Kingdom. Apparently they expect that most of the time will be spent by the pool or by the sea. Regardless of this, the Qawra Palace was always impeccably clean and the room service was also carried out discreetly, daily and thoroughly.

The Qawra Palace does have one oddity: the inner courtyard is beautifully designed and has a kind of mini golf course. It is not a course with traditional courses, but rather a miniature golf course. During the test stays, however, no guest was ever seen taking advantage of this opportunity. However, there were always a few people sitting on the benches around the palm trees and flowers.

Conclusion: Mid-range hotel with a few extras

All in all, the Qawra Palace Hotel is a solid holiday hotel. It should be noted that the all-inclusive package only applies when the bars and restaurants are open. Outside of these hours, there is nothing at all - even if you pay. But in Qawra, this is not really a problem, as there are numerous tourist shops all around with extended opening hours. A large Greens supermarket is about a five-minute walk through the village.

If you want to use the Qawra Palace as a base for excursions and exploration, you can save yourself the all-inclusive package. However, if you want to spend a lot of time at the pool or directly by the sea, it can be worth it. A bit odd: inside, drinks are served in glasses, outside in plastic cups, which have to be returned because they are reusable cups. When asked, the staff explained that this was for safety reasons, as one or two glasses had already been broken at the pool.

However, you shouldn't have too high expectations of the Qawra Palace Hotel. You get a little more than in other hotels of a similar category in this area, but that's about it. A typical mid-range holiday hotel that relies heavily on package holidaymakers who book through tour operators.