Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex

Most visitors to Malta swim in the sea, but anyone who wants proper lengths in a regulation pool ends up at Tal-Qroqq. The complex is run by SportMalta, the national sport agency, and acts as the island's main base for aquatic sport and a good deal of indoor activity too. It sits on the edge of the University of Malta campus, on the boundary between Gżira and Msida, and is listed in our guide to swimming pools in Malta.

For a holidaymaker the appeal is simple. You can pay for a single session, swim in a full Olympic pool that is heated through the cooler months, and be back on the Sliema seafront within a short taxi ride. Residents and longer stay visitors have more options, from half year memberships to a busy timetable of weekly classes.

The pools and the wider complex

The centrepiece is the National Swimming Pool. It has two tanks: a 50 metre Olympic pool used for training and competition, and a smaller 25 metre pool that suits steadier swimmers, lessons and aqua classes. Both are warmed in winter, which makes Tal-Qroqq one of the few places on the island where serious swimming carries on comfortably right through the winter. Water quality is checked with modern monitoring equipment to World Health Organization standards.

Stands around the pool deck seat around 1,800 spectators, and this is where Malta stages its national and international swimming and water polo fixtures. Water polo is a much loved summer sport on the island, so if a match is on during your stay it is well worth watching. Inside the building you will find changing rooms and air conditioned spaces, and the complex also houses the Maltese Olympic Committee, the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta and the Swimming Promotion Unit.

If your main interest is the pool itself, our separate page on the National Pool Complex goes into more detail on lane swimming.

Swim sessions and memberships

The easiest way in for a visitor is a single session, which lasts up to two hours. An adult session costs €12 and a child aged 5 to 17 pays €6. That makes a morning swim a sensible plan on a windy day when the sea is too rough, or a way for keen swimmers to keep up their training while on holiday.

For anyone spending a season in Malta, there are two longer options. A six month membership is €130 for an adult and €55 for a child, and a full year costs €200 for an adult and €85 for a child. Shorter memberships of three months, one month or seven days are not currently offered, and there are reduced rates for students and older people, so ask about these before you pay. Remember that full members swim within set hours that are shorter than the complex's general opening times, with a gap in the middle of Sundays and public holidays.

Let's Move Malta classes

Alongside open swimming, Tal-Qroqq hosts a large share of SportMalta's Let's Move Malta programme. The winter 2026 timetable is built around Saturday mornings for families and weekday sessions for adults, and each class is priced for one weekly slot across the programme.

Children can take swimming from 4 to 16 years old, grouped by age and ability, in hourly Saturday slots between 09:00 and 12:00 for €90. Gymnastics runs on Saturday mornings in separate groups for ages 4 to 5, 6 to 7 and 8 to 10, at €60. Sport fundamentals introduces 4 to 6 year olds and 7 to 10 year olds to a range of games, also €60, while a longer three hour Saturday session mixing various sports with swimming for ages 7 to 12 costs €120. Toddlers aged two and a half to three can join a parent and child class on Saturdays for €60.

Adults aged 17 and over have plenty of choice. Swimming lessons for beginners, intermediate and advanced swimmers run on Saturday mornings at €90. Pilates takes place on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings, yoga on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and there is an early yoga morning flow at 07:00 and a yoga and Pilates fusion class at 08:00 on the same two days. Aqua fitness runs five mornings a week, and dance fitness on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings. In the evenings there are fitness classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and on Tuesdays a run of line dancing, beginners' sequence dancing and an improvers' sequence dancing class.

Most adult classes cost €60 for one weekly session, and where more sessions are offered the price rises in steps of €60, so two a week is €120, three a week €180 and four a week €240. Aqua fitness can be taken five times a week for €300.

Fitting a visit into your stay

Tal-Qroqq is best suited to visitors staying around Sliema, Gżira and St Julian's, or anyone renting an apartment in the central harbour towns for a longer spell. Our page on hotels in Sliema covers the nearest places to stay, and Valletta is also close, so a morning swim followed by an afternoon in the capital with our Valletta guide works well.

If you prefer to keep fit on dry land, the area has a good spread of gyms in Malta and yoga studios, and our list of sports clubs in Malta is a good starting point for team sport. Divers will find The Dive Warehouse nearby in Msida.

In summer the sea is usually the bigger draw, so pair a pool session with a day out from our best beaches in Malta list. The Malta weather guide explains when the sea cools down and an indoor heated pool becomes the more comfortable option, and our things to do in Malta page has more ideas for an active break.