Where to eat, stay, play in Valletta: the best city in the world, according to our readers

"Like the best cities, Valletta is an eccentric - a rambling, shabby-chic jumble of cultures and influences; a sun-blessed Mediterranean stepping stone that wears its history on its sleeve and has the uncanny ability to time-travel visitors back to earlier epochs. A Swiftian-style Eras Tour of Valletta would necessarily feature the trumpet-toting janissary troops of the Ottoman Empire, which besieged the city in the 16th century, along with the shiny armoured Knights of Malta who successfully defended it."

"V is for Valletta. Or there's the Romantic era of Coleridge and Byron, who found their way here in the early 19th century, the latter grumbling about its never-ending steps; and the epaulettes of its role in World War II, when it held out against the odds - and the British period, which left behind red phone boxes and post boxes, and the daily blast of the ceremonial gun salute from Upper Barrakka Gardens."

Valletta is an eccentric, rambling, shabby-chic jumble of cultures and influences, sun-blessed and steeped in visible history. Ottoman janissary troops besieged the city in the 16th century, and the armored Knights of Malta defended it. Romantic figures Coleridge and Byron visited in the early 19th century, while World War II and the British period left enduring marks such as red phone and post boxes and the daily ceremonial gun salute from Upper Barrakka Gardens. Caravaggio worked on the island, and Oliver Reed died in a pub that has become a shrine. Valletta serves as a backdrop for films and is gaining dynamism through stylish hotels, restaurants and a growing art scene.

Read at CN Traveller