Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Malta Golden Sands
The Radisson Blu Golden Sands is a large five-star resort on a clifftop at the northern end of Golden Bay, in Manikata on the quieter northwest coast of Malta. What sets it apart for families is the setting: the resort stands directly above a Blue Flag natural sandy beach, one of only a handful on the island, reached by a hotel lift with no road to cross. Golden Bay shelves in gently for small paddlers, there are outdoor pools and a 90 m lagoon pool across the site, and a kids club runs from age three.
On this page
Is it worth it?
The quick read before the detail: who the resort suits, what you\'re paying for and the facts to skim first.
The Radisson Blu Golden Sands is the Malta resort to pick if a proper sandy beach right below your hotel matters most. Golden Bay is one of very few natural sandy beaches on the island, and the resort reaches it by lift rather than a walk down to a road. It\'s a large five-star place across four towers, so a room on the far side can be a walk and up to three lifts from breakfast, and Golden Bay is one of Malta\'s quietest corners, with little in the way of shops or restaurants beyond the hotel. Guests rate the staff very highly, and the lowest mark they give is for value: it\'s priced as a five-star resort and some of the rooms feel their age, so you\'re paying for the location and the service more than for brand-new interiors.
Best for
You want a natural sandy beach right below the hotel, warm attentive staff and a quieter base away from the busier resort strips.
Maybe not for
You want everything close together on flat ground, shops and restaurants within a walk, or brand-new interiors for a five-star price.
Best ages
From age three up for the kids club. Babies and toddlers are well catered for on the beach and in the suites, but there\'s no crèche for under-threes.
What stands out
The clifftop setting directly above a Blue Flag sandy beach, reached by a hotel lift, and a 90 m lagoon pool.
What to check
Whether your room has a kitchenette, the kids club hours and cost, and that you\'ve requested the airport transfer.
Where is it?
On the clifftop at the north end of Golden Bay, in Manikata in the Mellieha region on the northwest coast of Malta.
Quick facts for families
What the resort is like
Where it sits, how the four towers are laid out and what getting around means with a pushchair.
The resort sits on a clifftop at the northern end of Golden Bay, in Manikata, part of the Mellieha region on Malta\'s northwest coast. It\'s owned by International Hotel Investments (IHI), part of the Corinthia Group, and run under the Radisson Blu brand. The main building stands about 40 m back from the cliff edge, with the beach directly below and reached by a hotel lift. This is one of the quieter, less built-up parts of the island, away from the busier strips of St Julian\'s and Sliema, which suits families who want a self-contained base, but it means there\'s very little beyond the hotel: a small grocery store and a gift shop on site are the nearest shops, and the nearest town is a bus or taxi ride away.
It\'s a large resort, 338 units across four towers. Three of the towers are residential, the Sunset, Twilight and Sands towers, and a lower fourth tower steps down towards the beach with restaurants and conference space. The main entrance, the pools and the spa are in the main building. You get around on foot with lifts, and it\'s big enough that a room on the far side can be a walk and up to three lifts from the breakfast restaurant. There are no golf buggies or electric carts to shuttle you about inside the resort, but lifts run throughout, so a pushchair is manageable, including down to the beach.
Which tower you\'re in makes a difference. Reviewers describe the Sunset Tower rooms as larger and quieter, with afternoon sun for longer, while rooms on the lower floors above the live-music areas can hear entertainment until about 11pm, worth knowing if you have an early bedtime. One thing to check when you book is the kitchen. Some units are timeshare apartments with full kitchens, while hotel-booked rooms have a kitchenette only in the Zenith and Sands categories. For wheelchair access, contact the resort directly. One last note: this is the Golden Sands resort at Golden Bay, not the separate Radisson Blu in St Julian\'s, which is a city-centre hotel in the same group and easy to book by mistake when you search online.
Every restaurant and bar
The buffet, the à la carte restaurants, the bars and how the board basis works.
How you eat depends on the board basis you book: bed and breakfast, half board or all-inclusive. The resort has seven dining venues in all, plus a seasonal summer ice-cream bar, so there\'s plenty of choice on site, which matters here because there\'s so little within walking distance.
Flavours is the main buffet and where all-inclusive and half-board meals are served. Breakfast runs daily and is the meal guests single out, and there are themed buffet dinners in summer and Sunday buffet lunches in winter. It takes walk-ins, so you can eat when a small child is hungry, and there\'s a children\'s selection within the buffet. Dress is smart-casual.
Agliolio is the Italian and Mediterranean à la carte restaurant, and the one the resort calls its family restaurant: pizza, pasta and grills, with a children\'s menu and highchairs. It\'s open for lunch from noon to 4pm and dinner from 6:30pm to 10pm daily, and dinner is worth booking. The same team also runs a beach-level restaurant at Golden Bay, handy if you\'d rather eat by the sand than head back up to the main building.
Essence of India is the resort\'s Indian à la carte restaurant. It has its own branding and website but is one of the seven official venues, with a full Indian menu and vegetarian and vegan choices. It\'s closed on Mondays and opens for dinner the rest of the week, 6:30pm to 10pm Tuesday to Thursday and to 10:30pm Friday to Sunday.
MedAsia Golden Sands is a Mediterranean and Asian bar-restaurant with beach and lagoon views. Food runs from about noon to 10:30pm and the bar from about 10am to 10:30pm, which makes it a good lunch stop from the pool. The Lagoon Bar is an al fresco bar and dining spot in the Twilight Tower garden, serving salads, pasta and grills, and it runs in summer only.
For drinks and lighter bites, the Mokka Lobby Bar & Terrace does coffees and snacks from about 9am to 11pm, the Essence Bar does cocktails and premium drinks, and in summer the Pebbles Bar & Ice Cream Parlour opens by the pool for cocktails, ice cream and poolside snacks, which children make a beeline for.
How the board and the à la carte restaurants work
All-inclusive covers breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Flavours buffet plus local drinks from 11am to 10pm; half board is breakfast and dinner in the buffet. The à la carte restaurants, Agliolio and Essence of India among them, are open to everyone, but whether they carry a supplement for half-board and all-inclusive guests isn\'t confirmed, so check it at the time of booking. Reviewers note that an à la carte dinner is a clear extra on top of a package. Opening times shift with the season, so confirm the current ones with the hotel.
Rooms and suites
Every room and suite category and which suit a baby or toddler, then the pools and the beach.
The resort has 338 units in all, from Serene Collection rooms up to penthouse and presidential suites. Room sizes vary a little between sources, so the figures below are approximate. For a family, most of the choice comes down to whether you want a separate bedroom and a kitchenette, which is what the suites add.
| Room or suite | Size | Sleeps | Layout and features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serene Collection Deluxe Room, inland view | About 35–40 m² | 2 adults + 1 child | Balcony, air conditioning, minibar, rain shower, safe; country or inland view. |
| Serene Collection Deluxe Room, sea view | About 35–40 m² | 2 adults + 1 child | As the inland room, with a sea-view balcony. |
| Zenith Collection Suite, inland view | Around 70 m² | Up to 4 | Separate living and sleeping areas, a kitchenette and a marble bathroom with robes and slippers; breakfast included. |
| Zenith Collection Suite, sea view | Around 70 m² | Up to 4 | As the inland suite, with sea views. |
| Sands Tower Suite, one bedroom sea view | Not confirmed | Up to 4 | One bedroom with a deep soaking tub and sea views. |
| Sands Tower Suite, two or three bedroom sea view | From about 110 m² | Up to 4–6 | Two or three bedrooms for larger families; sea views. |
| Penthouse Suite | 110–250 m² | Up to 6 | Four units at the top of the building; three bedrooms. |
| Presidential Suite | Over 250 m² | Largest | Two units; the highest tier. |
For a family with a baby or toddler, the Zenith Collection suites are the tier to look at. At around 70 m² they have a separate bedroom, so a baby can nap behind a closed door while you sit in the living area, and a kitchenette for warming bottles and baby food; breakfast is included with them. Reviewers travelling with toddlers single out that separate bedroom as what made the stay comfortable. The Serene Collection rooms are more like a standard hotel room, fine with one small child but open-plan. The Sands Tower suites and above step up to one, two or three bedrooms for larger families.
Some rooms are described as feeling dated, which fits the pattern in the reviews of a very high staff score, 9.5 out of 10 on Booking.com, against a lower one for value, 8.6. Every room has a furnished balcony, air conditioning and free Wi-Fi that reaches down to the beach. One quirk worth knowing: the air conditioning in some rooms defaults to heating, so check the setting if you arrive in warm weather. Cots are available on request, up to two per room, and children under two stay free in a cot; ask when you book, as rooms are set up in advance.
Pools and water features
The resort has four pools. The lagoon pool is the largest and the main family pool, 90 m long, outdoor and unheated, so it\'s for the warmer months. There\'s a large main outdoor pool as well, also outdoor and unheated. Among the outdoor pools there\'s a designated adults-only pool, most likely the main one, though several reviewers say the adults-only rule isn\'t always kept to in peak season. A separate children\'s pool is compact and, like the others, open seasonally; it\'s a children\'s pool rather than a splash pad.
The one heated pool is the indoor pool in the Myoka spa. It\'s the only option for swimming out of season or on a cool day, but children are admitted only from 9am to noon, and it gets very busy in that window, so in the shoulder season it\'s worth planning pool time around it. There\'s no baby changing in the indoor pool\'s changing area, so you\'d change a baby in the general toilets.
The beach
Golden Bay is a natural sandy beach of fine golden sand, one of only a handful of proper sandy beaches on the island, and it holds a Blue Flag, the eco-label for water quality, safety and facilities, most recently in 2025. It\'s about 136 m long and 82 m wide. The resort is built directly above the northern end, and you reach the sand by a dedicated hotel lift, with external stairs as the alternative, so there\'s no road to cross and it\'s manageable with a pushchair.
The seabed shelves in gently and stays about waist-deep 20 to 30 m out, which is what you want with toddlers and non-swimmers. Mostly it\'s sand underfoot near the shore, though one reviewer noted a patch of pebbles, and the hotel itself says sand and seaweed levels vary from year to year with the winter storms. There\'s a designated area for hotel guests, with sunbeds, umbrellas and food and drink brought to you by staff. Shade is the thing to plan for, as there\'s very little natural shade on the sand: umbrellas are available to hire, but with a baby it\'s worth taking your own shade or heading down in the morning before the sun is high.
Lifeguards from the Malta Red Cross patrol the beach from 15 June to 15 September, 9am to 6pm, and not outside those dates. As on any Maltese beach there can be rip currents in a storm, sea urchins on the rockier sections away from the main sand, and the odd jellyfish, flagged with a purple flag. Down at the beach the Aquamarine watersports centre runs jet skis, banana and speed boats, catamarans, water-skiing, parasailing, kayaks, windsurfing, boat trips and diving in season, all charged separately.
Babies and toddlers
The kids club and its age floor, the baby kit, and what fills a family day on site.
The kids club runs from age three. It\'s praised in reviews, with a long list of activities: crafts, face painting, treasure hunts, pizza-making on Thursdays, a mini disco several nights a week, science experiments, cinema afternoons and a mascot called Larry. It\'s aimed at younger children, so families with three to seven year olds tend to be the most positive, with no firm upper age given; if you have older children it\'s worth asking the resort what the current age bands are. The hours vary by season, roughly a morning and an afternoon drop-off session with an evening session on some nights, so confirm the current times at check-in.
There\'s no crèche or nursery, and under-threes aren\'t taken in the kids club, so with a baby the childcare option is babysitting, which the concierge arranges for a charge and needs booking in advance. For the youngest children the resort has cots (up to two per room, under-twos free in a cot, requested when you book), highchairs and children\'s menus in the restaurants, and baby changing in the general toilets, though not in the indoor pool changing area. Bottles can be warmed in a suite kitchenette or through room service. The small grocery store may carry the basics, but it\'s safest to bring baby food and formula or plan a taxi to a supermarket. There\'s an outdoor playground, and a games room with table tennis, billiards, darts, table hockey and electronic games for older children and a rainy afternoon.
Things to do
There\'s plenty on site beyond the beach and pools. For sport there\'s a multipurpose tennis and football court with a tennis school and equipment hire, a 24-hour gym, and fitness classes including yoga and aerobics. Extras the concierge can set up, off-site or charged, include horse riding, bicycle hire, hiking and fishing, and the Aquamarine centre down on the beach handles the watersports and diving. Evenings bring live music and shows, the animation team\'s mini disco several nights a week, the weekly pizza-making and Larry the mascot for younger children. If you\'re booking a lower-floor room and have an early bedtime, one guest above the live-music stage heard entertainment until about 11pm.
The spa is a big part of the resort. Myoka Sands Spa runs to over 1,000 m², with the indoor heated pool, an Ayurvedic centre, a hammam, a Japanese head-spa suite, a Jacuzzi, a sauna, a steam room and a fitness centre, open 9am to 7pm daily. The treatment list covers signature rituals, Ayurveda, massage and body treatments, facials and specialist treatments, with weekday offers; treatments are priced at a premium, so check the current rates when you book. Children can use the spa\'s indoor pool in the mornings only, and there are no children\'s treatments.
The area and days out
Golden Bay is one of the quietest parts of Malta, so days out mean a short drive or a bus. Mellieha, a hilltop town with a parish church and shrine and a good spread of local restaurants, is about 2 miles (3 km) away, not walkable but a quick bus or taxi. Mellieha Bay, or Ghadira, north of the town, is Malta\'s largest sandy beach, longer and shallower than Golden Bay. Popeye Village, the 1980 film set at Sweethaven now run as a family attraction with water activities, shows, mini-golf and boat trips, is about 2.5 miles (4 km) away, roughly a 10-minute drive, and popular with young children.
Further afield, Valletta, the UNESCO-listed capital, is about 30 minutes away and its compact centre is manageable with a pram, with the archaeology museum and the Upper Barrakka Gardens. Mdina, the walled Silent City, is about 30 to 40 minutes, though its rough stone streets are hard going with a buggy. The Three Cities across the Grand Harbour are quieter than Valletta. For a boat day, Comino\'s Blue Lagoon is a couple of hours\' crossing to bright turquoise water, but very crowded in peak season and a long stretch in the sun for a young baby, and Gozo is a short ferry from Cirkewwa, about 10 minutes from the resort, with the Ggantija Temples and a slower pace. The Blue Grotto sea caves on the south coast suit older children, and for water-park days Splash and Fun Water Park and the neighbouring Playmobil FunPark at Bahar ic-Caghaq are about 25 minutes off.
On site there\'s a small grocery, a gift shop and newsstand and a hair salon. The nearest pharmacy is in Mellieha, about 2 miles (3 km) off, and the nearest supermarket is about 5 miles (8 km) away near Bugibba, so a bus or taxi for a big shop. The nearest hospital is Mater Dei at Msida, about 12 miles (20 km) and 30 to 40 minutes away; a GHIC covers state treatment and travel insurance is worth having. There\'s 24-hour room service and reception, a concierge and free Wi-Fi throughout, including at the beach, and the concierge can arrange a doctor\'s visit. Malta\'s tap water is safe to drink but tastes strongly of minerals, so most people use bottled. For more on the island, its beaches and getting around, see our Malta guide.
Loves and gripes
What families come back praising and what frustrates them, how it compares in Malta, the journey and the weather.
What families love
- The staff, the single most-praised part of a stay here.
- The beach access, a Blue Flag sandy beach reached by lift.
- The Flavours breakfast buffet.
- The kids club staff and their activities.
- The size of the Zenith suites and the sea views.
- Good value off-peak against other five-star Mediterranean resorts.
Common gripes
- Dated décor in some rooms against a five-star price.
- The indoor pool\'s 9am to noon window for children.
- The adults-only pool not always kept child-free in peak season.
- Noise on lower floors from the evening entertainment.
- The cost of the à la carte restaurants on top of a package.
- The scale of the resort, with long walks and several lifts, and how little there is within walking distance.
- Sand and seaweed on the beach shifting from year to year with winter storms.
Across the review sites the resort scores consistently well: 4 out of 5 on TripAdvisor from around 9,600 reviews, ranked 13th of 208 hotels in Mellieha, 9.0 on Booking.com from over 3,300, 4.6 on Google from around 5,200 reviews, and 7 out of 10 from Tripexpert, the expert-review aggregator, putting it in the top 6% of hotels in Malta. The pattern in the scores is a very high mark for staff and cleanliness and a lower one for value, the trade-off at a resort priced as five-star where some rooms feel their age.
Against other Malta family resortsHow it compares
What sets the Radisson Blu Golden Sands apart from the other Malta family resorts is a combination the others can\'t quite match. It has five-star quality directly above a Blue Flag natural sandy beach, with lift access for a pushchair and a 90 m lagoon pool to fall back on. The table sets out how the main alternatives differ.
| Resort | How it differs from the Radisson Blu Golden Sands |
|---|---|
| Radisson Blu Golden Sands | Five-star, directly above a Blue Flag sandy beach reached by lift, with a 90 m lagoon pool; the quietest setting, and priced as a five-star. |
| db Seabank, Mellieha Bay | All-inclusive only, with a larger lagoon-pool complex and the beach about 30 m away; a kids club for 4 to 11s, more entertainment-led and busier. |
| AX ODYCY, Qawra | Has an aquapark, but a rocky coast with no natural sandy beach; under-fives need a parent with them in the kids club; four-star all-inclusive. |
| db San Antonio, Qawra | A pirate-ship children's pool and a rocky coast; all-inclusive at a lower price, with more animation. |
| Paradise Bay Resort, Cirkewwa | Its own Blue Flag beach, quieter and more self-contained, with a free kids club; smaller and further north. |
| Westin Dragonara, St Julian's | Five-star with several heated outdoor pools, but a small sandy cove rather than a beach; city-adjacent, and no 90 m lagoon pool. |
| Kempinski San Lawrenz, Gozo | Five-star on Gozo, reached by ferry; quieter, with a smaller beach, and pitched at the luxury market only. |
Getting there and when to go
The airport is Malta International at Luqa, the island\'s only one, about 13 miles (21 km) away and 30 to 40 minutes by private taxi or transfer depending on traffic; a shared coach that stops at several hotels takes longer. The transfer isn\'t laid on automatically, so you request it ahead: a private taxi, a pre-booked transfer or the hotel\'s own airport shuttle through the concierge, all charged, and it\'s worth asking for a vehicle with boot space for a pram. The public bus from the airport means route 222 to Valletta and a change onto a northern route, which isn\'t practical with luggage and a small child. Once you\'re at the resort there\'s a bus stop right in front, with routes to Mellieha, St Paul\'s Bay and Valletta, the cheapest way to get about, and a hotel minibus runs to Mellieha and Sliema on set days that you pre-book at reception; confirm the current times and cost with the hotel. The resort offers bed and breakfast, half board and all-inclusive, and sets no minimum stay.
With young children the easiest months are June, warm and dry before the peak heat, and September into early October, when the sea is still very warm and it\'s calmer than August. July and August are the hottest and busiest.
Month by monthWeather
Malta has a hot, dry Mediterranean summer and mild, wetter winters, and the resort is open year-round. The sea is warmest from July into October and coldest in late winter. Lifeguards patrol Golden Bay only from 15 June to 15 September, and out of the warm months the outdoor pools may be closed, which leaves the indoor spa pool as the swimming option.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 16° | 9.5° | 77 mm | 10 | 16° |
| February | 15.5° | 9° | 74 mm | 8 | 15° |
| March | 17.5° | 10° | 41 mm | 6 | 15° |
| April | 20° | 12.5° | 22 mm | 4 | 16° |
| May | 24.5° | 15.5° | 7 mm | 1 | 19° |
| June | 29° | 19.5° | 5 mm | 1 | 23° |
| July | 32° | 22° | 0 mm | 0 | 26° |
| August | 32° | 23° | 14 mm | 1 | 27° |
| September | 28.5° | 21° | 55 mm | 4 | 27° |
| October | 25° | 18° | 79 mm | 6 | 24° |
| November | 21° | 14.5° | 86 mm | 9 | 22° |
| December | 17.5° | 11° | 80 mm | 9 | 18° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer. The resort is open year-round; lifeguards patrol Golden Bay from 15 June to 15 September.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a look and when this guide was last updated.
How old does a child need to be for the kids club, and is it included?
It runs from age three, so under-threes aren't taken. Whether it's included in the rate or charged isn't published, and neither is the staff-to-child ratio or an upper age, so confirm all three with the resort when you book, especially if you have an older child or a child with additional needs.
Can we still swim if the weather turns cool?
Yes, in the heated indoor pool at the spa. It's the only heated pool and children can use it in the mornings only, so out of high season that's your swimming window with little ones.
Are the à la carte restaurants included on all-inclusive?
All-inclusive covers the three buffet meals a day in Flavours plus local drinks. Whether the à la carte restaurants carry a supplement for half-board and all-inclusive guests isn't confirmed, so check that when you book.
Is the airport transfer arranged for us?
No. You book it yourself before you travel, either a taxi, a pre-booked transfer or the hotel shuttle through the concierge, and it helps to ask for a car with boot space for a pram. Give the public bus a miss with luggage and a small child.
Will our room have a kitchen for bottles and baby food?
Only some do. The Zenith and Sands suites come with a kitchenette and the Serene rooms don't, and a few units are timeshare apartments with a full kitchen. If warming bottles or storing baby food matters, ask what your room has before you book.
Anything to sort before we fly?
Malta is in the Schengen Area and there's no travel advisory against it, so it's a standard European trip. Biometric registration under the EU Entry/Exit System applies once it's in place, no vaccinations are required, and a GHIC covers state treatment alongside your travel insurance.
See more Radisson Blu Golden Sands photos
Open the Radisson Blu Golden Sands photo gallery →Useful links
- Radisson Blu Golden Sands: the resort\'s own site for rooms, dining and what\'s included.
- GOV.UK Malta travel advice: entry rules and safety updates before you travel.
- Malta with little ones: our guide to the island, its beaches and when to go.
Last updated 28 June 2026.
