Parking in St Julian's and Sliema: where to leave the car

St Julian’s and Sliema fit hotels, flats, bars and offices along one short stretch of coast, and the rules for each parking space are written in paint and on small plates that are easy to misread. Princess Garage, family-run since 1945, is based in St Julian’s. Each rule below comes from Maltese law or from the car park or ferry operator, and the sources are listed at the end.

Read the kerb before the bay

The line along the edge of the road tells you what you may do there. These meanings come from Malta’s Traffic Signs and Carriageway Markings Regulations (S.L. 65.05):

• A single yellow line at the edge of the road means no waiting. You may stop long enough for a passenger to get in or out, and the driver must stay at the wheel with the engine running.
• A double yellow line at the edge means no stopping at all.
• Short double yellow lines about a metre long, or a solid yellow line, at a street corner mark the five metres from the corner where you may not park. In the grid of streets behind the front, look for these marks before you reverse into a gap.
• A space marked RESERVED is kept for a special purpose, for example outside a ministry, a government department or a hotel. Leave it free.
• A yellow line marked SCHOOL KEEP CLEAR, or with a hospital, ambulance or fire station named, has to stay clear of stopped cars.
• Parking bays are marked with white or yellow lines, solid or broken. Park inside the lines, centred in the bay, and where bays differ in size use one that fits your car.

What the signs and plates mean

A “No Parking” sign lets you leave the car for ten minutes at most, unless a plate under the sign gives another time. Plates can also set the days, the hours and the vehicles a rule covers. A time plate applies on working days only, unless it has a red border, which extends it to every day of the week. With no plate, the rule runs all day, every day. A “No Waiting” sign carries the same rule as a single yellow line, and “No Stopping” the same as a double one.

Signs also reserve these bays, and a car parked in one without the right to be there will be towed away:

• Blue Badge bays, for cars displaying a Blue Badge, where the tow comes without prior notice
• car-sharing bays, for registered car-sharing vehicles carrying the transport authority’s sticker
• electric-vehicle charging bays, which only electric cars, plug-in hybrids included, may use at any hour. From 07:00 to 22:00 the car must be charging, or have finished no more than 30 minutes earlier.

A “Tow Zone” sign warns that a car left there can be towed, and a “Clamping Zone” sign that it can be clamped. Both zones are always signed as no-stopping areas.

Two car parks at either end of the front

When you would rather not circle the block, two paid car parks stand at opposite ends of the stretch.

Bay Street, St George’s Bay, St Julian’s. The car park is open 24 hours, seven days a week. On 9 November 2026 Bay Street listed €1.50 an hour from Monday 06:00 to Friday 18:00 and €2 an hour from Friday 18:00 to Monday 06:00, with a maximum of €10 for each 12 hours. Buy something at one of the complex’s outlets and you get two hours free. A lost ticket costs €15.

The Point, Tigné Point, Sliema. You enter from the Fortina side, through the first barrier on the left. On 9 November 2026 The Point charged €2 for each of the first two hours and €1 for each of the next two, with €6 the most you pay in a day. The shopping centre lists its hours as 10:00 to 19:30 daily and gives no separate hours for the car park, so check the sign at the entrance if you plan a late return.

Operators change their tariffs, so read the board at the entrance before you take a ticket.

Leave the car parked for Valletta

From Sliema you can reach Valletta without the car. Valletta Ferry Services runs boats from The Strand to Valletta from early morning. In winter (1 November to 31 May) the timetable lists the last boat back from Valletta at 22:45 from Monday to Thursday, with later boats on Friday and Saturday nights, and on Sundays and public holidays the service runs only from 08:45 to 18:30. The summer timetable (1 June to 31 October) runs until about 01:30. Check the timetable for the night you travel.

On 9 November 2026 an adult day ticket cost €3 single or €5 return. From 19:30 the night fare applies: €3.50 single or €5.20 return.

If you do drive into the capital, read our guide to Valletta parking and the CVA charge first. A hire car pays the charge like any Maltese-registered car.

A smaller car fits more gaps

Many of the streets behind the front are narrow, with cars parked along both kerbs and steep climbs from the water. A short car fits spaces that a family estate has to pass by. If you are based here and the car carries two or three people, we suggest the Hyundai i10 class. Our guide to driving on the left covers the hill streets and passing oncoming cars in a narrow lane.

Tell us where you are staying

Put the name of your hotel, or the street of your flat, in your enquiry so we can plan the handover: collection from our desk in St Julian’s, or delivery to your hotel along the St Julian’s, Paceville and Sliema front. If you only need a car for some days of your stay, give us those dates and we will quote for them.

See car hire in St Julian’s and Sliema for how pickup and delivery work along the front, or send us an enquiry with your dates. The desk is open every day from 09:00 to 17:00, and in those hours we aim to reply within the hour.

Sources

Checked on 9 November 2026:

• Traffic Signs and Carriageway Markings Regulations, S.L. 65.05, on legislation.mt: yellow edge lines, the five-metre corner zone, RESERVED and KEEP CLEAR markings, parking bays, “No Parking”, “No Waiting” and “No Stopping” signs and their time plates, Blue Badge, car-sharing and electric-vehicle bays and the charging-hours rule, tow and clamping zones.
• Bay Street, contact and car park page: opening times and tariffs.
• The Point, contact page: car park entrance and rates, shopping centre hours.
• Valletta Ferry Services, timetables and fares: Sliema to Valletta sailings, day and night fares.
• Desk hours and reply time: Princess Garage, confirmed by the owner on 9 November 2026.