Bay Street

Bay Street is the kind of place where a quick errand turns into an afternoon. The complex stands on St George's Bay in St Julian's, the heart of Malta's best-known resort district, and mixes indoor and outdoor shopping with restaurants, services and family entertainment. It opens from 10am to 10pm seven days a week, which makes it one of the easiest places on the island to shop around a holiday itinerary. Bay Street is listed on VisitMalta.co.uk with the island's clothing shops in Malta, and clothing is where most visitors start.

The mix combines familiar high-street names, independent shops, eateries and activities for children, so a group with different interests can split up, browse for an hour and meet again for coffee. Because there is an indoor floor plan as well as open-air areas, Bay Street also works as a rainy-day or hot-afternoon alternative to the beach, and it is a sensible place to buy a swimsuit, sandals or sunglasses you forgot to pack. A regular programme of events keeps the atmosphere lively through the year, from charity fitness mornings to seasonal family weekends such as the Halloween celebrations.

Fashion and footwear

Fashion is the backbone of the centre. For women there are Women'secret for underwear, sleepwear and swimwear, Lindex with Scandinavian womenswear, lingerie, kidswear and cosmetics, Pedro del Hierro and Cortefiel for elegant occasion and business wear, Springfield for easy casual clothing, Stefanel for refined knitwear and Accessorize for stackable jewellery, hair accessories and bags. Victoria's Secret has a ground-floor store with lingerie, sleepwear, sportswear and beauty products.

Menswear is well covered. Harmont and Blaine is known for colour-led collections, GANT has an official store, and Bortex and Friends is a men's space where you can browse clothes, buy wine or cigars, have a haircut or shave and have a coffee. Terranova and Calliope bring trend-led collections for younger shoppers, and Calliope also stocks children's and accessories ranges.

Sports and footwear shoppers can visit the Adidas and Skechers brand stores and EA7 Emporio Armani sportswear, while DOLCE sells ladies' shoes with handbags from Mario Valentino and Roccobarocco, and ALDO offers fashion footwear, leather goods and accessories. For children there is Original Marines, an Italian label for ages 0 to 14, and Urban Bratz, which sells sneakers and lifestyle clothing for two to fourteen year olds from brands such as Nike, Converse and Vans.

Beauty, jewellery and gifts

Beauty counters are well represented. KIKO Milano sells Italian make-up and skincare, Lucy is a colourful make-up and skincare store, Franks is a long-established retailer of fragrances and cosmetics, and L'Occitane en Provence offers products inspired by the south of France. If you are shopping for a present, jewellery and watch specialists include Sterling Jewellers, HEBE, Swatch and Sunlab, and Travellers stocks luggage and leather goods from brands such as Samsonite, Delsey and Roncato.

For a gift that is not clothing, the Model Shop is a family-run toy shop that has traded since 1983, Exotique covers gaming, smart devices, computing, appliances, music, film, photography and toys, and Mobile Outfitters sells customised phone accessories. If you are looking for a book to take on holiday, the Agenda Bookshop is another good stop elsewhere on the island.

The brands behind the shopfronts

Many of the names at Bay Street have a story worth knowing before you step inside. Stefanel was founded in Treviso, Italy, in 1959 and built its name on fine knitwear and understated style. Springfield began in 1988 as a casualwear label for men and women, and Original Marines belongs to an Italian group founded in 1983 that makes casual and sporty clothes for children up to 14, with more than 500 shops in Italy and over 160 across Europe, Asia and Africa. Lindex began more than 60 years ago as a lingerie company in Sweden and now sells womenswear, kidswear and cosmetics as well.

Accessorize has offered affordable, stackable accessories since 1984, and Skechers designs more than 3,000 shoe models for men, women and children, from walking and running shoes to memory-foam lifestyle ranges. In beauty, L'Occitane was born in Provence in 1976 and uses ingredients gathered mainly in the south of France and the Mediterranean, while Franks has more than a hundred years behind it and is the largest retailer of fragrances and cosmetics on the island. Swatch has made Swiss watches for over three decades, and Sunlab imports branded watches, jewellery, sunglasses and optical frames, together with leather goods and business gifts.

Eating out has its own colourful backstories. Caffe Pascucci grew from a food trading business into an Italian coffee roaster whose shops now operate in more than 20 countries, and Rainforest Cafe took 17 years of development to reach 45 restaurants around the world. McDonald's runs nine restaurants across Malta and Gozo, and the one at Bay Street is a convenient family stop.

Dining and family fun

Bay Street is as much about eating as shopping. Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonald's, Costa Coffee and Caffe Pascucci cover quick bites and coffee, M&S Foods sells ready meals, specialty foods and wine, and Cioccolatitaliani serves chocolate-led ice cream, pancakes and coffee. Fluid Rib and Steak House focuses on beef, ribs, burgers and fresh pasta, while Rainforest Cafe is a themed restaurant with mist, waterfalls and animal figures that children tend to love.

Entertainment comes from Multimaxx, which offers laser tag and virtual reality sessions and takes bookings for birthdays, youth groups and team-building events. Parents looking for more ideas can see Adventure Hub and Afterglow Events, both listed in our directory for children's activities.

Getting there and parking

The complex has its own car park, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Shoppers who buy from any outlet can have their parking ticket scanned in store to take two hours off the time they pay for, and only the first scan counts. The standard tariff is €1.50 an hour from Monday 06:00 to Friday 18:00 and €2.00 an hour from Friday 18:00 to Monday 06:00, with a maximum of €10 for each 12-hour period. A lost ticket costs €15, and bicycles and electric vehicles are welcome.

Many visitors arrive by bus. Services stopping in the vicinity include routes 16 and 233 at the Migbed stop, routes 14 and 120 at the Ganado and Paceville stops, and a large group of routes at the San Ġiljan stop, among them 13, 14, 16, 110, 120, 121, 202, 212, 222, 225, 233, 13A, X2 and N13. A taxi is the simplest option after dinner, and the lit-up walk along the bay makes a pleasant end to an evening. If you are still choosing where to base yourself, our pages on hotels in Sliema and St Julian's and where to stay in Malta compare the area, and the bay itself makes a pleasant setting for a combined day.

Planning your trip around Bay Street

Because opening hours are long, Bay Street fits neatly around other plans. A harbour trip with Adventure Cruises Malta or an afternoon at AMIS City Spa can be followed by dinner and an evening browse. Our guide to things to do in Malta will help you plan the rest of the week, the Malta weather guide shows when an indoor shopping day is the smart choice, and flights to Malta lists the routes from the UK.

Families heading to the island for a longer stay can browse our Malta holidays overview for ideas on timing and budgets, and Bay Street is an easy place to restock on essentials during a week or a month. The centre also welcomes enquiries about new business, events and work opportunities, which is useful if you run a brand and want to find out about opening an outlet here. To ask a question of any kind, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to the Bay Street team.