Ramala Lodge Hotel Reviews

Beware the security at this resort Hotel and Timeshare apartments leaves a lot to be desired, we have just returned from this location following the break in and theft from one of the outlying timeshare apartments, they are only protected by a shabby chain link fence which has now been botched repaired again, outsiders can come onto the complex and in the dark on the outskirts break in through the flimsy patio doors and steal your belongings, apart from the fence there are no other security measures in force as security patrols do not go around into this area, nor are there any other devices to warn of intruders at the outskirts in the area of the outlying apartments. As a Four Star Hotel it is showing signs of age and looking shabby in some areas, it should be reduced to 3 star rating in my opinion, the rooms in the hotel are superior to the apartments, unfortunately we did not object sufficiently to being put out into the apartments as the hotel was full on our arrival, having paid extra for sea views and a balcony on 2 hotel rooms, this led to some of our family members having personal items stolen from a poor substitution of a hotel room , one nightmare holiday we would not wish to repeat. Be Warned !!!!

I was very disappointed with this hotel it is definitely not a 4 star. Reception would interupt seeing to you to answer the telephone. We requested extra pillows on arrival which never materialised.
We asked for an early morning call the day of leaving which never happened.

The restaurant was a farce which you had to queue up for, only to be asked two or three times which board you were on even to order drinks, and there was no sense of organisation. If they cant cope with a mixture of BandB, HB and All Inclusive, then they shouldnt offer the options.

Very little choice on the menu and very poor for children.

The animation team walked around the place but by no means encouraged you to take part in anything.

The pool was invaded on Sundays by all the locals, no room for hotel guests.

Nothing outside of the resort and taxis were quite expensive to go in to Mellieha every evening.

The room we had was quite large, had a fridge and tea and coffee, but the other members of our group (wedding party) had nothing in their rooms.

Some of our party were on the all inclusive package but that was limited, not all drinks were included and stopped at 11 o'clock. Also no tea and cakes in the afternoon as stated. All in all this hotel doesnt know what market it wants to cater to and we will not be going back there again.

Malta itself was OK, we have been before many years ago. I would recomend the Cross Keys in Mellieha for Karaoke. St Julians is a young persons place, full of loud bars and 3 Lira for 12 shots, that sort of place. Some nice bars on the waterfront of St Pauls Bay.

But dont go to this Hotel, it's in the middle of no-where and very poor.

Hotel
We stayed at the Ramla Bay Resort for two weeks in early-mid June on a bed and breakfast basis. We booked this hotel based on their website, which promised 'a lifetime of relaxation' and said that the resort has ample land where one could find 'peaceful solitude'. Unfortunately, this wasn't our experience. The hotel was full of young children (many of whom were school age), which we hadn't expected, who were running around the bar area late at night, and the 'ample land' proved to be a gross exaggeration - which meant 'peaceful solitude' was only possible in our room! Worse still, at weekends and on public holidays the hotel is open to the locals who turned up in their droves with their own screaming kids and rambunctious teenagers and took over the pool area. The hotel had to open up an 'overflow' area behind the pools to cope with the extra people.

Furthermore, on Sundays the hotel does a Sunday lunchtime buffet, which is open to the general public and lots of locals turn up for this - taking over the reception area! I would advise anyone staying in the hotel to go on a trip on the Sunday if possible. Other complaints were that the bar closed at 11 pm, which was the time we were coming back from our evening in Mellieha to have a night cap - the reason seemed to be that the 'all-inclusive' guests couldn't get a free drink after 11 pm, so they all went to their rooms at that time and I guess the bar didn't make enough money from the paying guests.

The breakfast was mediocre and stopped being served at 10 am, so there was no chance of a lie in! We came down at 9.30 am most mornings, and by that time the coffee machine had run out of milk, and on some days the juice machine had run out of the flavouring. We had to ask for a 'do not disturb' sign, as a hotel employee knocked on our door at 8.40 am (while we were still in bed) and then just walked in to deliver an envelope from the Thomas Cook rep containing a list of excursions! The same morning the cleaner walked in at 9 am while I was in the shower. Although tissues, shower gel and shampoo were supplied at the start of the holiday, they were never replenished and the towels were very thin - although they were replaced every day. In fact, the facilities in the room were pretty limited - there was nothing in the mini bar (although the empty bar made an excellent fridge to store lots of water in - six packs of 0.5l bottles of water are on sale in the hotel shop for LM1.50 (£2.40)) and nothing to make tea and coffee with. Also, it would have been a nice gesture if the hotel had given guests a complimentary bottle of water on the evening they arrived. The tap water is salty and undrinkable, and if you arrive at the hotel after 11 pm you have nowhere to buy drinking water.

The toilet was badly designed and we had to lift the handle after flushing it or water would continue to run into it throughout the night. A couple of times the flush mechanism broke completely, but it was repaired fairly quickly. When we booked we had asked for a higher-floor room with a double bed, so we were very disappointed to be given a first-floor room with twin beds. I wouldn't have minded this, if it hadn't been for the fact that the first floor rooms round the front of the hotel had very small balconies and didn't have a table, just 2 plastic chairs. The view from our room was of Armier Bay (so we did have a partial seaview) and the shanty town of ugly concrete buildings around it (which is not mentioned on the hotel website or any tourist information).

The a la carte restaurant wasn't open during our first week, but it did open on 9th June. I would not expect any of these things from a 4-star hotel. However, it wasn't all negative - it was in a quiet location, with a good bus service in the day time. It had nice décor and was clean. The a la carte restaurant, once open, was very good with fantastic views of Gozo and Comino. On the whole the staff were professional and friendly. The 'animation' staff were the shyest I have come across - which was good in a way, as there was no pressure to join in, but often advertised activities just didn't happen. We wanted to have a go a learning salsa dancing, but never saw a dance class actually take place! The guests at the hotel were from all over Europe including Eastern Europe, which made for a nice cosmopolitan mix.

Location
The hotel is at the northern end of the island and the nearest village (Mellieha) is approx 5 km away (10 minutes by bus or 1 hour on foot). The hotel has two restaurants (a buffet-style one and an a la carte one), a bar and a poolside café (in the day time). There are two other hotels in the area - the Riviera, which has a pizza-type restaurant and a bar open to the public and the Paradise Bay, which is opposite the ferry terminal (about a 20-minute walk away) - we didn't eat here, as we couldn't see where the restaurant was (if there was one). We went into Mellieha most evenings to eat - there are some restaurants in Mellieha Bay and more in Mellieha village. It is quite a pleasant walk from the Ramla Bay, as long as you don't go along the bus route (we made this mistake the first time - it is a busy road with no pedestrianized area at the side of the road and lots of scary blind bends!).

Instead, go out of reception and follow the road until you come to a junction, turn right and continue on this road until you come to the main road. Turn left onto the main road (there is no pavement, but a section on the edge of the road seems to be for pedestrians and it's only for a short while) and continue into Mellieha Bay. It takes about 30 minutes at a gentle walking pace. It's not a difficult walk - there is a slight slope at the beginning, but then it slopes downhill into Mellieha Bay. To get into Mellieha village from Mellieha Bay takes another 30 minutes and includes a steep hill (but there is pavement all the way). Just walk along the sea front (watching the locals going for a swim after the tourists have left the beach and having barbecues on the beach) and follow the road as it bends to the right.

Buses
The bus service from the nearest bust stop to the Ramla Bay Resort is frequent, reliable and very cheap. The only complaint is that it stops running quite early in the evening, so if you want to go to Mellieha for a meal you either have to eat early to catch the last bus back to the resort (at approx 9.30 pm) or get a taxi (which are exorbitantly priced). (These bus times are based on the winter timetable, which changed to the summer one on 16th June). The bus stop is a 5 minute walk from the hotel - go out the back of the hotel, turn left and walk towards the Riviera Hotel (you will have to walk over a small section of beach) - the bus stop is at the top of the hill, just round the bend to the right. Tip: if you have a digital camera, photograph the timetables for reference. The buses from here run to Valletta (45 and 145), Sliema (645) and Bugibba (48). All the buses go through Mellieha and it takes about 10 minutes to get to the village - the last bus in the evening leaves Ramla Bay at 8.05 pm. (A word of warning - on Sunday evenings crowds of teenagers get on the bus at Mellieha Bay, presumably to go back to Valleta, etc after a day on the beach and it's almost impossible to get off the bus in Mellieha village, so if you are planning to go into Mellieha village, either sit at the very front of the bus or walk in!) The 45 and 145 are cheaper (23c (40p) to Mellieha), whereas the 48 and 645 are considered 'tourist' buses and the fare is 50c (80p). To get to Valletta takes I hour and costs 25c. The last bus to Ramla Bay leaves Valletta at 8.40 pm. To get to Sliema also takes 1 hour, but costs 50c and to get to Bugibba takes 30 minutes, but also costs 50c! You have to wave at the bus for it to stop when waiting at a bus stop and ring the bell for it to stop when you want to get off.

Taxis
Taxis are incredibly expensive and pricing is very inconsistent. We used both Billy's and Drifters to take us from Mellieha village to the Ramla Bay Resort and paid between LM4 (£6.50) and LM5 (£8) depending on the taxi driver. The most honest driver (for Drifters) was an ex-pat who now lives in Malta and checked the book that lists all the prices, where it stated the fare should be LM4 (we gave him a LM1 tip for his honesty). The most dishonest, was also a Drifters driver, who insisted that the same journey was LM4.50 (needless to say, he got no tip!).

Restaurants
A general comment on restaurants - we found service in many of the restaurants on the island to be appalling. There were exceptions (eg Bouquet Garni in Mellieha), but in general we were often ignored by the waiter/waitress and on several occasions we did not tip.
It's best to book a table in restaurants on Saturday nights, as they get very busy.

Bouquet Garni, Mellieha village - if you only go to one restaurant during your stay, you MUST go to this one. It is at the top of the hill, near the bus stop. It is quite small inside, but the food is out of this world and the service is excellent. Everything is freshly cooked, including the complimentary homemade bread and dip and the wonderful desserts -we had the lightest homemade chocolate fudge cake, which was wonderful. The bill was very reasonable for the quality of the food (LM21 (£33) for a meal for 2 including 1 starter, 2 main courses, a bottle of wine, a bottle of water and a dessert). The only negative thing about the restaurant was that they didn't have the air con on, but instead opened up the big windows that looked out onto the main road, which made it a bit noisy. We ate here twice, but would happily have gone back again if we had discovered it earlier in our holiday.

Il-Mithna, Mellieha village (this is a little bit away from the road where most of the restaurants are. Follow the road round to the left at the top of the hill and walk for a few minutes and it is on your right.) We ate here twice - the first time was better than the second, mainly due to poor service the second time. The food was good and the open-air terrace at the front is nice.

Alang-Alang, Ramla Bay Resort - this is an outdoor restaurant, only open in the summer months. It is above the poolside café and has fantastic views of Gozo and Comino - we watched the sunset and then fireworks over Gozo. We ate there three times and the first two times we were very impressed with the quality of the food, but the third time, I suspect a different chef may have been on duty (it was OK, but not as good as the other two times) - also that third time the evening was spoilt, by them offering us pancakes with strawberries for dessert and then telling us there were no strawberries and offering us coffee, but telling us there was no milk (although there was milk in the hotel bar, a 30 second walk away!). Meal for 2 (inc 1 starter, 2 main courses, 1 dessert, 2 coffees, bottle of wine and bottle of water) was LM22.55 (£35.60). The service here was good.

Sole e Mar Pizzeria (part of the Riviera Hotel, Marfa Bay) - good food, but small portions (except the pizzas) and no vegetables. The pizzas were huge and very good. We ate here twice. Service was a bit slow - it took ages for us to catch a waiter's eye to get a dessert menu. One of the reasons here may be that none of the staff work in the same place two nights in a row - the cocktail barmaid in Charley Noble's was a waitress in Sole e Mar the next night!

Ix-Xatba , Mellieha Bay - a small restaurant, with a few tables outside, but more inside. Good food - the dishes came with vegetables and roast potatoes (meal for 2 of 1 starter, 2 main course, I dessert, bottle of wine and bottle of water was LM20 £32).

Horizons, Ramla Bay Resort - this is the buffet-style restaurant which is mainly for the 'all-inclusive' and 'half-board' guests. We only ate here on our first night, as we arrived too late to go out for dinner. It closes to customers at 9.30 pm. The food was good - meat, fish and vegetarian options, plus a couple of vegetable and potato side dishes. Also, a good choice of desserts. There was a lack of atmosphere, but it was good value (LM13.90 (£22) for the meal (for two people) and LM2.25 (£3.50) for half a litre of local wine).

Zeffirino's, Mellieha Bay - good service, but mediocre food. A few tables outside, but more inside. The meal was a reasonable price for this part of Mellieha (I starter, 2 main courses, bottle of wine, bottle of water was LM19 (£30)).

Al Ponte Pizzeria (part of Maritim Hotel, Mellieha village) - very nice location just off the main street - we ate on the patio area behind the restaurant. Pizza was very good, but chicken was very dry and the chips were 'oven chips'. The service was appalling - one of the few times we didn't tip.

De Buono, Mellieha Bay - part of the Tunney Net complex (owned by the Seabank Hotel). Very poor service and food. The duck was unrecognizable and the vegetables were cold - when we sent them back they obviously microwaved them (as even the side salad came back hot!) and then gave us a complimentary bowl of chips to go with the potoatoes! I ordered risotto and left most of it as it was so horrible and was charged LM5 (£8) for a bowl of mainly rice! The saving grace was the garlic mushroom starter, which was good. We wouldn't have tipped here, but we needed them to order us a taxi, so felt we had to tip!

Cafés
We mainly ate at the Ramla Bay Resort poolside café - it has quite a good menu compromising salads, sandwiches, burgers, etc, which were all OK and big portions. Try the ftira - a local toasted sandwich containing tuna, tomatoes, onion, capers and pesto sauce. It comes with a huge portion of crisps (so don't make the mistake we made and order chips as well!). It is the most expensive place to have lunch, but very convenient and also the coolest place, as the tables are in the shade and there always seems to be a breeze blowing through (2 ftira, 1 pt beer and 1 coffee cost LM6.20 (£10)).

Valletta - café in Manoel Theatre on main shopping street has a nice courtyard and reasonably-priced light snacks (eg pizza slice).
Eddie's Café - in square near the Cathedral - serves large portions at reasonable prices (1 salad, 1 biz-zejt (a tuna and vegetable baguette), I large and 1 small beer cost LM5.85 (£9.25)).
Café Cordina - on the main shopping street - has an open air part in the same square as Eddie's Café and an indoor part on the other side of the road. They sell interesting flavours of ice cream and also delicious-looking cakes. We stopped for afternoon 'tea' and decided to sit inside. The décor makes you feel like you have stepped back in time and the waiters are very formal. We ordered an iced coffee, and realised that Malta doesn't do iced coffee in the same way as the Greek 'frappe'. It was very strong, very black and quite bitter. However, the ice cream was delicious, but if you just want an ice cream (and not a sundae) you have to buy it from the kiosk on the street and bring it in! I loved the kiwi flavoured ice cream. It wasn't the cheapest, but apparently it's the oldest and most famous café in Valletta. (2 ice creams cost LM1.27 (£2.70) and 2 'iced coffees' cost LM1.90 (£3)).

Mdina - we had a drink at Bacchus, which is a restaurant in a stunning building. Drinks only are served in a 'waiting' area at the front of the restaurant.

Victoria, Gozo - we had an 'iced coffee' and an ice cream sundae at the Italian café near the top of the Citadel (near the cathedral), which was OK (by this time we had learned not to expect too much from an 'iced coffee'!). The menu claimed that the ice cream was homemade, but I wasn't convinced. They also did lunches. I couldn't see any toilets in the café, but there are some clean public toilets built into the wall on the way back down into Victoria.

Mellieha - Panorama Hotel - had great views over Melliha Bay and is nice for a quiet drink , but the food wasn't great. The 'pizza' was on a slice of toast and the bread in my sandwich was a bit stale.

Mdina - Palazzo Costanzo - a nice courtyard café in the palace grounds with a good choice of salads and sandwiches (including an untoasted ftira). Big portions, but the bread was a bit dry. They advertised 'iced coffee' on the menu, but according to the waiter, they have never served it. We also waited ages to be served and finally had to go inside to place our order.

Bars
Charley Noble Cocktail Bar (part of Riviera Hotel, Marfa Bay) - they had a long cocktail menu, but most of them were very sweet cocktails. The staff are very professional at creating a cocktail, but this means that there can be a long wait while they expertly arrange the fruit on a skewer! There wasn't waiter/waitress service. An average cocktail cost LM2.75 (£4.35), a pint of beer cost LM1.30 (£2) and a glass of mediocre wine cost 95c (£1.50). There was live music most nights (the bar was closed on Sundays when we were there in early June) - on cooler nights it was inside the bar, but on warmer nights it was on the outdoor terrace at the front of the bar. It comprised an endless procession of keyboard players and singers of varying degrees of talent singing songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. The bar wasn't too busy when the entertainment was inside and it was easy to find a seat, but when the entertainment was outside everyone sat on one side of the picnic-style tables, which meant that it was hard to find somewhere to sit if you wanted to sit outside. There was always a TV on inside the bar.

Sunset Bar (in Ramla Bay Resort) - no waiter/waitress service. The choice of wine was good - Marsovin - but the bar closes at 11 pm. This bar also had the keyboard entertainment, but inside the bar. There is a nice terrace outside the bar.

The poolside bar at the Ramla Bay Resort is open in the daytime (until 6ish pm). Drinks are served (understandably) in plastic cups. You have to order drinks at the bar - 2 pints of beer cost LM2.30 (£3.65).

Bar 120, Mellieha village - the first time we went here I was served a glass of vinegar and Neil was served a glass of John Smith's that was off and when he complained the barman argued that it wasn't. The second time we went we were a bit more knowledgeable about Maltese wine and discovered that they served Marsovin. The bar is big inside, but also has a small outside area facing onto the main road. It is full of British tourists (where do the Maltese go to drink?), but was the best bar we found in Mellieha, as there aren't many bars!

Cross Keys, Mellieha village - we went to this bar in the early evening and found it a bit personality-less. It is a little way out of the central area of Mellieha on the road to St Paul's, but was the cheapest bar we found (1 large and 1 small beer cost LM1.30 (£2)). They also serve food.

Wine
Local wine can be a bit vinegary, but we discovered the Marsovin range of wines, which were very good. Our favourites were the pinot grigio and the merlot. Average price for a bottle in a restaurant was LM5-LM6 (£8-£9.50).

Trips
Mellieha village - you can walk around it in less than a day. There is a nice walk around the cathedral with good views of Mellieha Bay. The war shelters are quite interesting and give you an idea of what life must have been like during World War 2. (It's also wonderfully cool down there.) Entrance is LM1 (£1.60). There are a few shops worth looking in, eg a couple of the jewellery shops, but there are also several touristy shops, too, selling the usual stuff. We caught the bus in and walked back to the Ramla Bay Resort, which gave us an excuse to have a 'fruit cup' (a plastic cup of fruit and icecream - that you can buy from the beach front snack bars) along the seafront.

Valletta - from Ramla Bay there are two ways you can get to Valletta. The 45 and 145 buses go directly to Valletta or you can take the 645 bus to Sliema, which drops you off at the harbour and there you can catch the ferry to Valletta. This runs every 30 minutes and costs 40c (65p). This is the best way to see the classic Valletta view.
Grand Masters Palace - this is a lot smaller than we were expecting. Only a few rooms were open to the public. We didn't go to the armoury. Entrance was LM2 (£3.20) to the palace - you had to pay more to get into the armoury.
Museum of Archaeology - the ground floor has a small but informative collection about ancient Malta, the first floor has (I suspect) temporary exhibitions. We were lucky enough to see part of the Chinese terracotta soldiers collection. Entrance fee was LM3 (£4.75) (this gets you into both exhibitions).
St John's Co-Cathedral - worth a visit, as it is ornately decorated. It's most famous for housing Caravaggio's 'Beheading of St John the Baptist' in the museum, but beware - on Saturdays it closes at 12pm. (Entrance to cathedral and museum (including an audio guide) LM2.50 (£4).

Mdina and Rabat - take the 48 bus to Bugibba bus station (30 mins, 50c (80p)) and then get 86 to Rabat (30 mins, 50c). You get off at the same bus stop for both places (the bus stops in Rabat just outside the city walls which separate the two places). Rabat is more like a living and working town, whereas Mdina seemed like a tourist attraction (albeit a nice one). Mdina was very quiet - there are no cars in the majority of the city and few people (apart from the occasional tour group). The most annoying thing was the number of touts trying to get you to visit 'attractions' like the Mdina Experience. We met a very pushy sales clerk on the cash desk of the Mdina Experience, who nearly got us to agree to seeing a couple of palaces in addition to the Mdina Experience (it was when she said 'I make you good price' that we were on our guard!).
The Mdina Experience - was basically a 30-minute film showing the history of Malta and in particular Mdina, with narration played through headphones. It was mildly interesting (and nicely air conditioned) but not worth LM2 (£3.20).
St Paul's Cathedral and Museum - worth a visit (the ticket gives entrance to both (LM1 (£1.60)).
St Paul's Catacombs, Rabat - LM2 with free audio guide - they've tried to make it interesting and informative, but it wasn't really that interesting. It was very cool underground, so a nice escape from the sun!

Gozo - the ferry terminal is very close to the hotel (about a 20-minute walk or you can catch the bus from outside the Riviera hotel, as all the buses go to the ferry terminal). The ferry takes approx 20 minutes and costs LM2 for a return ticket. From the ferry you get a good view of the Blue Lagoon on Comino. Catch bus 25 from the Mgarr ferry terminal on Gozo to Victoria - the fare is 20c and the journey takes approx 10 mins. The buses are timed to meet the ferry and leave from Victoria every hour on the hour. We visited Victoria on a Sunday and found some places closed (eg the cathedral, the Basilica, the old prison and most shops). It is pleasant to walk around the walls of the citadel (it's a steep climb out of the centre of Victoria, with lots of steps - this is where the clean public toilets were). We also walked around the old town of Victoria, which has narrow streets with lovely old buildings. There was a big market selling touristy items in the square (Pjazza Indipendenza) at the bottom of the hill coming down from the citadel and also some cafés in this square - but (on a Sunday) some of the stall holders were packing up at 2pm.

Travel guides we used: The Rough Guide to Malta and Gozo (full of lots of background information - good to read before you go) and Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Malta and Gozo (useful to have with you while visiting the places, as it gives you brief information about the main sights - although we didn't always agree with everyting that made it into the 'top 10'!).

This is a basic 2* hotel offering b/b accommodation. It is clean, quite large rooms, nice breakfast room and a swimming pool. In May we were the only guests for the first few days and the pool was filled up just for us. St Thomas Bay is quiet. Two small sandy bays. Bathing off rocks. Two places to eat lunch times, nothing on a weekday evening, and about 3 open week ends. It was a 10 minute stroll or 30 minutes along promenade to Marsascala where there is enough cafes/restaurants/indian/chineese etc places to eat. We found nice restaurant El Fanals and ate there each evening. Whilst this small 2* hotel and quiet resort is definitely for us, it will not suit everyone. If you want to be 'where it is all happening' this is not the place for you. Regular bus services to Valetta every 20 minutes.

Ramla Bay Hotel is fabulous, overlooking beautiful aqua water, Comino and Gozo.
However, in terms of the resort itself, there are a number of not so hospitable people in the service industry.

I recommend trying the The Step Inn at the bottom of the steps near the Pergola.