Solana Hotel

Chose this hotel as a result of the reviews we read here, and we were not disappointed. Stayed on a B&B basis. The room was large with two single beds side by side which were very comfortable. Plenty of cupboard / wardrobe space, small kitchen which was in a locked cupboard (if you wished to use it at a small cost). Fridge available below this, did not work very well. Bathroom and shower pretty standard. Breakfast was buffet style hot and cold, with as much to eat as you wished and was off a good standard. Staff at the hotel were very efficient, organised and helpful and above all friendly. Pool and terrace bar (closed) on roof with loungers and shades is a nice touch. Bar service could have gone on a bit longer at weekends, but then you could have just gone across the road if you wanted another drink. Overall a very good and pleasant place to stay. I am sure you would enjoy it.

My boyfriend and i stayed at the Solana hotel for a couple of nights on a B&B basis. We booked through expedia.com and the price we were given was a real bargain. The room was quite big, very clean and quiet. Since i had read some reviews about noisy rooms facing the street, i called the solana and asked to be given a quiet room, and they did give me a good one. The staff was very kind we arrived from the Luqa airport by taxi, and i recommend that if you haven't rented a car. It's true that busses are really cheap, but our taxi driver behaved as a real tour guide and spend a few words about every little village we'd go through. after all you pay 13LM and in 30 mins tou're delievered to your room! It takes about 90 mins by bus. About the hotel, the roof top pool was very nice and clean, it's a shame the bar was closed, but after all it's still low season for malta and it was only us by the pool. The breakfast was very good, with a wide choice of cereals, jams, cakes,different kinds of bread, hams, bacon, cheese etc.. As i said, we were on a B&B basis so didn't check lunch or dinner. About restaurants, i'd highly recommend Arches,beautiful environment, very good creative cuisine, great service, an endless worldwide winelist and not expensive at all considered all this.Anywhere else around europe you'd pay at least 4-5 times more for a service like that! We also tried Giuseppi's but were a bit let down. The food was not bad but the waiter seemed to be very angry wiyh somebody and never smiled. We'd definately go back to malta and to this hotel and we recommend it. sabina & nicola

Agree with most things people say here. We said in a room at the back, so was not affected by road noise but I know the people we went with were woken up a few times. Hotel very clean, good size rooms and large bathroom - excellent shower. Breakfast was the only meal we had in the hotel and this was very good. A wide range of foods offered in a buffet style. Took us about 20 mins in a taxi from the hotel. We ate at the Windmill twice - up the road about 10 mins walk on your left. It was really nice food. Also ate at Ta Peter across the road where ththey were very welcoming and good value food. We dived at paradise diving which was about 15 mins away near the ferry to Gozo - they wil come and pick you up, [-] Excellent guides and excellent, relaxed diving. Got the bus to Mdina one day - worth a visit. My only moan would that reception was a bit disprganised, we asked them to book a table at the arches for us - they said they couldn't do it as their computer was down, when we asked the arches was open on sunday - they said yes. Sunday came and the Arches was closed! It also took us 3 times to ask them to print out our bills ready for us to cheque us prior to an early flight. If you do have an early flight they will prepare a breakfast box for you - which I thought was a nice touch. I would def stay here again - I loved Malta!!!

Just got back from a 3 night stay at The Solana, read reviews before I went and agree with most. We had a room at the front with a balcony overlooking the main road, didn't find this a problem as I always take my earplugs wherever I go as I find air-conditioning etc distburbs me so road didn't affect me or my husband who didn't wear earplugs! Enjoyed sitting on balcony, bit noisy I admit, but enjoyed people watching and seeing their old buses and vehicles trying to get up the hill! Room and hotel both very clean, cocktails not great but they try, breakfast - would have been good to have some cooked tomatoes and mushrooms as I don't eat eggs or meat but survived on good cheese rolls, fruit salad and turnovers which were all good. Didn't eat there in evening, 2 restaurants we would recommend were either the Arches at lower end of High Street in Mellieha and also Il Mithna (the windmill) at the top end, some say Arches pricey but definately not compared to UK restaurants of same quality and service. Also the Savini Restaurant which is just below the Bella Vista Hotel in Qawra. Caught the bus from Mellieha to Sliema for some good shopping, bus cost 50c each bargain! Rooftop pool too cold to go in and indoor pool also not as warm as we would have liked so only went in once, couldn't get internet to work at all. Would go to The Solana again but would also like to try the Maritim to see how it compares, Solana very good value for money.

Plenty of detail in other reviews, so not to repeat here. Important that you do not become saddled with the first floor front bedrooms which have no sound proofing and suffer immensely from road noise - we had 2days with NO sleep until eventually being moved to the top floor. The price you pay is irrelevant if you cannot get any sleep. Best bars are Reflections and (I think it was called Cross Keys-only 20 yards from Reflections). Billys Bar is welcoming. These bars are at the top of the hill walking away from Mellihia (5mins from hotel). Best restuarant is on the way to these bars at the top of the hill called Il Melitha (or something like this - it is Maltese for the Windmill and cannot be missed)-good food, ambience and value

My husband and I have just returned from 8days holiday at the Solana Hotel in Mellieha Bay (booked through Choice Holidays on a B&B basis). We had an excellent flight with Air Malta from Ldn Stansted – on time, efficient and with no baggage losses. The Solana Hotel is on a busy street and therefore I would recommend anyone staying there to request a room at the back (best rooms in my opinion being on top floor, near the rooftop pool – valley views are rooms 1510 and 1511). The room we had on that floor was a good size with two beds and its own private balcony where the sun fell during the afternoon. Bathroom was large and if you put out the ‘service required’ on your door handle you will get a full clean and change of towels every day. Only wish they had duvets and not blankets! Voltage and plugs are the same as in England. The aircon was quite loud – not sure if that is throughout the hotel or not, so maybe take some ear plugs! The pool and seating area are on two levels and I think there is a bar during high season. Being Spring, the pool was too cold to swim in (and it’s not all that big), however we found some spots out of the breeze and enjoyed a good few days sunbathing. I would imagine the breeze would be most welcome in the summer period! The breakfast was between 7-10am and consisted of three cereals, scrambled egg, bacon (which I liked), baked beans, omelette, frankfurter sausages, different types of bread and French sticks, different hams and cheese, tinned fruit and yogurt and finally, a toasting machine accompanied by three different jams. This did not vary, apart from the type of omelette (cheese/onion, or mushroom, or cheese). There was plenty all the time and the service was very good. The downstairs bar also offers reasonably priced snacks and beverages adjoining a very nice lounge area where you can watch people come and go both inside and outside. As you come out of the hotel, directly opposite, there is a bus stop going down the very steep hill to Mellieha Bay itself (the beach area). Further down on the same side as the hotel is the bus stop going the other way to Sliema (645) or Valletta (41 or 45). Cost for each journey is 25c or you can get a day pass for LM1.50, which enables you to get on any bus anywhere around Malta, so good value. You don’t need car hire, unless you really want to. Our favourite restaurant was the newly acquired (formerly known as) Ta’Randi restaurant which is cave like inside and offers good value for money and delicious pizzas (cash only). Meal of 1 large main course with drinks for two people was about LM9.00 There is an internet café just up from the hotel which is LM1.00 for 80 mins. connection. It’s slightly slower than the hotel’s own service, but you get three times more minutes. Favourite destinations in Malta for us were Valletta (a World Heritage Site), and also where we saw soldiers from the Terracotta Army at their Archaeological Museum and took the Luzzu cruise around the Harbour; Mdina for it’s beauty and location; Sliema/St. Julian’s for the shops and buzzing atmosphere. Mellieha Bay in comparison is very much a family place, or for the more mature, with not an awful lot going on in the evenings. We didn’t go to Gozo or Sicily on this occasion, but they are both worth going to. You have to remember that there are a lot of areas in Malta which are not attractive and this island well deserves more investment by being part of the EU. But what it lacks in charm in some places is more than made up by the (on the whole) lovely people. All-in-all, a really nice destination for a short break holiday - we were lucky with the weather, but for warmer (but not too warm) weather, I would say May/June/September/October would be perfect.

We were immediatly impressed with the outside appearance of the hotel and we were not disappointed with the rest of the hotel either. This year the German tourist industry has just found Malta and the Germans seem to be very keen to visit the Island, so much so that we were told 80 extra flights had been organised this year to supply demand. The hotel was very multi-cultural, including visitors from Sweden and Italy. The staff were courtious and helpful, the room was very clean and serviced every day, it was a decent size with plenty of storage space for our clothes. There were a few niggles that I didnt report as they didnt bother me but did report them at the end of the holiday, things like the radio alarm clock didn not work and the ariel plug on the tv was missing. It was too cold to swim in the outdoor pool but I did use the basement pool which was fine but couldnt get the spa pool to work. We were allocated a room on the first floor at the front of the building with a balcony, it was nice to sit out but the street noise from the heavy vehicles that run up and down the mainstreet was, at times, VERY noisy. It did fizzle out by about 11pm but started up again around about 6am. Not really a problem for us but I can imagine it would be too much for some. The TV stations available were very limited and I could only find one English speaking Chinese channel, the big TV in the public lounge area had BBC World available. The internet service was only available at the sister hotel, the Pagola unless you had your laptop with you, then you could tap into the Wireless service. Although a couple of internet cafes were across the road for LM1 for an hour. The hotel is 'plagued' by salespeople for the hotel and sister hotel on the doorstep and as long as you are not hooked by their very persuasive patter they will leave you alone once they know you are not going to buy. I would not like to put my neck on the line and say it was a con but I know from the hierachy of staff that we saw around that a lot of the money that you would be expected to pay out would go on commissions! We stayed on a B&B basis and the food was fine, a slightly strange idea on what a full English Breakfast is but the food was hot and nicely presented and a serve yourself buffet style, a large selection of continental style breakfasts were also available, Cheeses, Fruits, Yogurts, a variety of breads, cereals and cakes. They always watered down the orange juice into a pale orange water with a slight orange taste. There was also a small variety of snacks available from the bar area which were nice, if a little pricy. The drinks at this bar were expensive compared to the bars and restaurants further down the street. We tried most of the restaurants and would highly recommend a visit to L'Amigo, head waiter called Nicholas (if you go, remind him of the couple from Leeds who knew where he worked at Freeport Castleford) And try the rabbit! Master Wok was a nice chinese on the same street. Others worth a visit are Randi restaurant which is partly built into the rockface and for a basic bar with good beer and decent mixed grill visit the Stop Inn near the police station. AVOID the Mandarin where the staff fetched their small children to work so spent much of their time alternating between seeing to the children and attending to their customers. The starter arrived at 8pm and was very nice, the rest of the meal arrived either burned or cold at around 9.30pm. We paid and left, leaving most of the food untouched. Another resturant closeby is the Ta' Peter which was ok, but most of the food seemed to be of the mass produced variety and I did hear the microwave ping a couple of times. A must is a visit the the WW2 air-raid shelters which are dug into the rockface near the church, I was amazed by the workmanship and the hardship the Maltese went through during the war years. We enjoyed the round malta cruise with Captain Morgan cruises and also the malta in a day trip, I think they were both LM16 each per person, but a good day out with lunch included, although I would have expected to get to taste traditional Maltese food, instead we were presented with thin sliced roast beef in mushroom sauce with chips! I would love to go back to Malta and would go back to the same hotel as I was very impressed with the overall experience and the things that were wrong were very little things!

Having read the reviews of many of the hotels in Malta we opted for the Solana as it had very few bad comments about it and we were definitely not disappointed. It turned out to be one of the best bargains we have had over the past few years, for less than £16 a night we got a super room and breakfast (thats for 2 not each) .We stayed from the 11th to 16 March 2007. We arrived very late evening but were made very welcome and were given a very spacious room with a extremely large bathroom. Although we had only booked bed and beakfast we dined in the restaurant on 3 evenings and the food was great on each occasion ( buffet style but plenty of choice and different every night). We had wine every night with the meal which was excellent quality for less than £4 a bottle so we didn`t feel ripped off with the drinks prices as you do in most hotels, the local dark beer ( Blue Label) is also excellent. Staff were always very friendly and helpful and the hotel was very clean, it was too cold to use the outside pool but the indoor one was lovlely ( the jacuzzi could have been warmer though). Yes there are some timeshare reps hanging about the outside of the hotel but just say you are not interested and they wont bother you again. The only advice I would give if staying there is to ask for a rear room as the hotel is very close to the road and traffic noise is very loud in the street facing rooms from very early morning. Mellieha is a quiet but very hilly village and not all restaurants are open at this time of year. All in all a very enjoyable stay.

Very good value for out of season break. Large room with kitchenette - only used 1 night for novelty and had paid supplement for it - would'nt bother again as many good restaurants near. Especially The Arches which was super but pricey. We had room at front which was noisy and could be a problem in the summer if you were on the balcony. This was not a problem for us as we had lots of rain during our stay. Definitely hire a car if out of season when good weather cannot be guaranteed and remember you are quite a way from Valletta etc up here but its a much nicer area if you like it quiet. A good day trip by car is Gozo very near to ferry crossing which is cheap as well. Pool in basement was OK a bit dark down there and no pool towels so take your own or hire one. Breakfast was OK better than some cheap deals did'nt try the evening buffet. Staff very friendly.

Went last week and stayed for 3 nights (2 couples) Pleased wih room size as also included kitchenette and was very clean. Was a little noisy with traffic on road but not too bothered by this. Bed very soft and a bit to springy but ok for just 3 nights. Double beds are 2 singles pushed together with single sheets joined. Air-con in room with fridge etc. Staff were friendly and helpful. Supermarket is opposite hotel and many nice restaraunts around the area. Cash machines near. My tip is to get a hire car at the airport and see the island, go visit Gozo on the ferry too (Take the hire car) . Haggle for car hire prices, I think we paid £50 for 3.5 days hire with no excess charge and 2 named drivers on a Hyundai 4 door. Enjoy Si