WorldMalta › Mellieħa › Mellieha bay

Mellieha bay 45.5

#4356 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇲🇹 Malta · Mellieħa · near Valletta

Wind is the enemy here, gentle enough to learn.

Beginner friendlyBeginner
Mellieha bay, Malta
Photo: Frank Vincentz · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score45.5 /100
Surfable days63% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.8 m 2.7 ft median
Water21°C a 2 mm shorty

Best time to surf Mellieha bay

It rarely works. The nearest airport is MLA (18 km) and the nearest town is Valletta (16 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan92%0%1.3 m17°C3/2
Feb81%0%1.3 m16°C4/3
Mar85%0%1.1 m16°C4/3
Apr74%0%1.0 m17°C3/2
May66%0%0.8 m20°C2mm
Jun31%0%0.4 m25°Cvest
Jul29%0%0.4 m27°Cboardies
Aug26%0%0.4 m28°Cboardies
Sep51%0%0.6 m27°Cboardies
Oct64%0%0.8 m24°Cvest
Nov70%0%1.0 m22°C2mm
Dec85%0%1.4 m19°C3/2

What is under Mellieha bay

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 16 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 28 m against 16 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out16 m
Depth 4 km out10 m
Channel beside it28 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 45.5

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
12.2
Best days 22.4%
9.2
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
7.3
Season spread 4.1%
3.0
Water comfort 6.1%
3.7
Access 4.1%
4.0

The detail

Faces 314° with 56% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 52% of days. Mean peak period 5.6 s. Days over 3 m: 2%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.0 m, with a peak period of 7 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 47%. Months that work: 9 of 12. Coordinates 35.969, 14.353 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,570/ month
typically €1,380 – €1,750
Rent, one bedroom€821
Groceries€329
Eating out€189
Getting around€108
Phone + internet€119
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,060/ month
typically €2,690 – €3,420
Somewhere to stay€1,800
Eating out€643
Car, transfers, fuel€416
Data + extras€194
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Airport and town on the doorstep, so the local estimate is 8% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Malta (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

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Spots nearby

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