“This place has all you need for a good base to enjoy your holiday.”
This was our first time in Malta, we relied on other reviews to pick this place, so I will give an accurate account of our stay and hope it helps others.
Mellieha is approx. 40mins from airport,by transfer mini bus, due to other stops, just so you know. It is a pretty quiet area, but has a lovely natural beach, and the water is reasonably warm.
Luna is situated down a very steep incline (and i'm not exaggerating ) from Mellieha town approx half a mile, but it is only 5mins walk to beach.
Arrival........ Nice bright, clean and spacious reception area, just about four steps down, check - in , reasonably quick.
Staff were helpful and friendly, and spoke various languages.
The rooms are serviced by lifts and stairs.
We stayed here in late September, so after the holiday rush , and it was not fully booked so this may affect how I found this Hotel. However I will tell you I was very impressed with it, and I'll try to tell you briefly all you need to know.
We chose self catering... so can't comment on the food... but would do the same again as there are any amount of places to eat out nearby.
When we went to our allocated room, we were well impressed. toilet / shower room, bedroom,kitchen,dinette all combined in one room with french doors opening onto a very small balconony. then to our extra surprise we found there was a door to another double room.. we can only assume we were given a family room. But either way, all floors were tiled and all was spotlessly clean so even with a family this room would have been perfect.
The rooms had plenty of wardrobes / drawers for storage and had two fans . These were essential even in October.. I'd suggest you check out the cost of air con here as its not free, we would if we were going back.
The kitchen was fully equipped with: utensils, saucepans, cutlery, plates, cups, tea towels, glasses,kettle, teapot, a four ring gas hob and a small electric grill / oven. All the appliances worked fine and were fit for purpose. We used them all for cooking and had no problem. One reviewer complained about these items, but remember the price you are paying so don't expect what you would have in your own home.
Room service is about every 3rd day and they do a good job. With the patio door open the wind is inclined to blow in dust, but there is a floor brush , mop and bucket.. on a few occasions we cleaned the floor ourselves, its not that difficult as i'm used doing it at home... Some reviewers seem to think they're above cleaning they're own mess when on holiday.
The toilet has a fan but there is not great ventilation and the window does open into a 'shaft ' leading to the top of the hotel, so can't deny that,but its not unbearable. You can set the temperature of the water for your room as ther is a boiler in the bathroom with a temperature gauge, and after a day or two you can set it that you never run out.
The Luna has a supermarket on the bottom floor and this really does stock all you need ,fresh bread, milk, potatoes, fruit, veg. tinned food, alcohol , soft drinks. the list goes on.and the staff are very helpful and friendly. There are a few shops up in Mellieha for food, if you are up there,but not worthwhile going one errand.
The complex has a ground floor pool and a roof top pool... The down side to the ground floor pool is that the sun does not stay on it all day , the roof top one gets any sun there is, but can be breezy. Both pools have adjoining bars ans serve food, which is very convenient .
On arrival you have to pay a deposit for a key for the room safe. I can't be sure check it out maybe €50 with €25 refunded at the end (this figure may not be correct so please check) My thoughts on this one is that, the safe should be free, if hotel is not confident of room security they should not charge the guests for the pleasure.
Just pointing this out as it really is essential (however I must state we felt quite safe,so not saying anything would get stolen) as passports,spending money,cards, etc need to be kept safe.. I question why the hotel could not offer this service free...
You could arrive thinking all is paid for and have to pay for safe and air con on arrival ( probably standard at a lot of places,but just be sure you check and have the extra money with you)
My verdict of the area: Mellieha is a quiet area, not a pub / clubbing town.. Having said that, for a beach holiday with choice of convenient and friendly bars and restaurants it is excellent. you walk about feeling very safe, day or night, no big groups of intimidating drunk people or people or people in the street trying to sell you things you don't want or offer you tickets for their bar. So excellent for a couple or ideal for families.not so good for a group of young free and single party animals... Definately more of a resort to chill out and relax in.
Being an Island there are plenty of cruises to go on. We chose English Rose, it was an interesting tour lasting about six hours, with stop off's and a chance to swim in 'the blue lagoon'
Be sure to take a towel,sun cream and some money on these and swim wear..
Travel on the Island:.....Malta Bus has a very large fleet of almost new buses most have air con. and once you find out what number you need an all day ticket to 'step on and off' all day is cheap and very useful.. We used it a few days to go to Valletta, Sliema and Bugibba. They run frequently, though not always on time, this is largly due to towns and roads in places, they are very narrow so they can loose a few minutes, also they can be very crowded at peak times like around 5pm.. We found them very good, and its a cheap way to get around, after you take one long trip on the bus with a map you can then decide where you want to visit the next day.
While Mellieha is lovely for relaxing try and take a couple of trips to other parts of the island, Valletta is a must even if you're not big into history.. We only got to see some of it and didn't even have time to visit Gozo though our boat trip did bring us into Gozo harbour.
For me Malta was excellent in every way, it has lots to offer yet its somehow nice and peaceful, friendly and usually gets lots of good weather, we were just fortunate to get a good deal to enable us to go. It is a slightly more expensive place to visit, but in my opinion its very worthwhile should a chance arise to go, take it!!!
On check out day they will hold your luggage in a locked room, ask at reception.
The Luna Complex is a very suitable base, it probably has its minor faults, but it only helped make our holiday better, so well done to them, we'd have no problem returning if ever back in Mellieha.
Room Tip: Sea view rooms,nice view but don't get sun during the day, inland views get all the sun, better...
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Stayed September 2011, traveled as a couple (Trip Advisor comment)
23/04/2012
Tyrone Traveller1; Trip Advisor comment