What’s actually here
Wied iz-Zurrieq is a small fishing inlet on Malta’s south coast, with a tiny harbour, a slipway and a handful of restaurants. The famous Blue Grotto sits a few hundred metres to the east, a series of sea caves carved into the cliffs with extraordinary water colour caused by the way light reflects off the white sand floor.
Most visitors take the local boat trip from Wied iz-Zurrieq into the caves, a 25-minute round trip in a small wooden boat. By private boat you can do the same approach yourself, but the cave entrances are tight and only the smaller boats and tenders can get inside.
Anchoring
Wied iz-Zurrieq itself is too small for anything but the local fleet. Anchor offshore in 8 to 15 metres on sand and weed in the wider bay, then tender to the caves. South-coast position gives good shelter from summer northwest. Anything from the south is the wrong day.
Practical notes
Go in the morning when light angles are best and the water is calmest. The caves are at their most dramatic between 9 and 11am. Restaurants on the slipway are basic but genuine. Combine with Ghar Lapsi just round the corner to the east for a south-coast morning that hits two of the more dramatic stretches of Maltese coast.