Portside Lodge

I stayed in a 1 bedroom apartment with a lovely big terrace. Location wise it is very good, only a 1 minute walk to the bay with many restaurants, takeaways and bars. Small convenience stores dotted around. Marsaskala is more of a locals resort which makes it a quieter more relaxing place to stay compared to the north of the island. There is a small sandy beach in St Thomas Bay about a 10-15 minute flat walk away where you can hire sun beds, umbrellas, jet ski’s paddle boats etc. There are also toilets, showers, and 2-3 restaurants in St Thomas Bay. The apartment complex itself has very friendly staff, a small gym, left luggage room, a small rooftop pool and a games room. You can hire beach towels for a €5 each deposit, and I also saw a poster to say you could hire a limited number of beach umbrellas. You can also book a parking space in the complex underground car park. The apartment itself was very clean and spacious. If I could ask for 1 improvement it would be to have a shelf in the bathroom for toiletries. Just a couple of negatives, the lift in the complex is small, and very slow. The rooftop pool is small and I didn’t get to use it as I found that certainly when I was visiting, the complex attracts groups of guests, (2-3 couples staying together, large family groups etc) every time I went to use the pool there was nowhere to sit due to these groups of people. You need to time your visit to the pool really well.