Pastizzi, coffee and Valletta's midday lull

Sphinx Pastizzeria (Triq ir-Repubblika) has its shutters up at 05:30, the street outside still empty, trays of pastizzi already golden behind glass under warm lamps. It closes at 14:30. Up at Tal-Ħwawar u Tal-Kafe' (160-162 St Christopher Street) the coffee is kafè tal-ħwawar in the 18th-century style, black and heavy with chicory, cloves and aniseed.

Pastizzi counters before 14:30

Sphinx is a pared-back takeaway front with nowhere to sit. Everyone eats standing, on the move, which suits a group as long as nobody expects a chair. Those hours are what a working Maltese pastizzi counter keeps, and the street outside fills long before most cafés in the city have unlocked. The Republic Street shop is the one trading; the earlier branch carrying the same name has shut, so check the address before you walk. Prices are €.

Jeff's Pastizzeria (147 Merchants Street) works the same way, from a plain steel-and-glass heated counter stacked with blistered diamond-shaped pastizzi, qassatat and ftira. A piece costs €0.60, with ricotta, pea and chicken fillings, and the owner will talk you through the recipe if you ask. Everything comes over the counter in a paper bag. There are no seats and no Sunday trade, and the best batches go before midday, so come in the morning. Buy a bag and walk on to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. Prices are €.

Coffee made the Maltese way

Tal-Ħwawar u Tal-Kafe' is a warm Maltese limestone room attached to a spice shop that has traded for 135 years. Through the doorway you can see the shop's wall of old-fashioned glass jars, cinnamon and cloves and aniseed, and the coffee is made next door to the stock that flavours it. The shop nearly closed for good and reopened with this café attached. From the tables you look across at the honey-coloured façade of Casa Rocca Piccola. Hours are 08:00 to 15:00 on weekdays, from 10:00 on Saturday, closed on Sunday. The room is small and prices are €. Drink this cup before any other coffee in the city.

Chocolate District (13 Melita Street) is a subterranean vaulted cellar reached down steep stone stairs, with mirrored walls, vintage fittings and shelves of chocolate bars, hampers and loose-leaf tea jars. The chocolate is Maltese bean-to-bar. The coffee is single-origin, poured through a V60 or a French press, and there is a Maltese spiced coffee made with chocolate and rum. The drinking chocolate is melted chocolate served in small espresso-sized cups, nothing like a hotel version. The stairs are steep and the cellar is not wheelchair accessible. Prices are €€.

The roasters on Old Theatre Street and Triq San Gwann

Lot Sixty One (30 Old Theatre Street) brought third-wave coffee to Malta and roasts twice a week on the island. Come here first if you care about the espresso. The room is a tiny minimalist counter in white and pale wood, with the machine and the brew bar taking up all of it, so customers perch on stools on the steeply sloping pavement outside, pink cold-brew cans in hand. It seats almost nobody: two or three people are fine, a larger group stands on the street, and there are no reservations. Prices are €€.

Coffee Circus (Triq San Gwann) is a limestone barrel-vaulted cellar below street level, reached down stone steps, furnished with mismatched old wooden tables, books, art and fairy lights. V60 and Chemex glassware stands on the counter and pastéis de nata sit in the cabinet. The staff are Portuguese, the roasting is done here, and there are weekly coffee tours. Pair a pour-over with a nata; that is the combination the place does best. The same operator runs the Coffee Circus Hub showroom on Nicholas Street, where the machines and a small museum are. Bookings are not taken and street tables outside carry the overflow. Prices are €€.

De Bono Coffee Shop (33A Old Theatre Street) is a family kiosk barely wider than its fridge, beside the Grandmaster's Palace, with every seat on the pavement across the street. The pistachio drinks are the reason to stop, vivid green lattes poured to order, next to a glass case of daily-changing cheesecakes. The cake list runs long on vegan and gluten-free. It opens at 09:30, late for Valletta, so come in the afternoon. Prices are €€.

Tables on St John's Square

Manouche Craft Bakery & Bistro (7 St John's Square) laminates classical French pastry with organic grain, and the open-air tables face the cathedral with the bakery counter behind them. Flour sacks and trays of viennoiserie are visible from the street, including the outsized 1kg croissant the branch is known for. Gluten-free options sit on the counter. Make this the croissant-and-coffee breakfast if you only want one on the walk. Book for weekend brunch. Prices are €€.

Kantina Café & Wine (St John's Square) puts shaded tables under mature trees with the carved stone façade of St John's Co-Cathedral rising directly opposite, wicker chairs, wine glasses and ciabatte on the tables, live music in summer. It runs 08:00 to 22:00, seven days a week, takes online reservations, is wheelchair accessible and has free wifi. The food is competent Mediterranean. Come for the position and the cold local wine. Prices are €€.

Cafe Society (13 Triq San Gwann) scatters cushions and low tables straight down the worn stone steps, with the baroque flank of the cathedral filling the view and string lights overhead. Dogs lie under the tables. Some evenings bring live music and nobody takes a booking. It opens at 12:00 and closes on Sundays, so it belongs in the second half of the day. The cocktails are better value than the coffee. Prices are €€€.

Piadina Caffe (24 St Lucia Street) is a minute from the cathedral and keeps a flatbread griddle behind the counter for hand-made piadine and focaccia. Salami and burrata sit in the cold display, Maltese ftira shares the menu with Vergnano espresso, and crates of craft beer are stacked in the small warm room. A handful of tables go out on the narrow street. It opens 10:00 to 01:00 and takes walk-ins, so it covers the whole afternoon. Prices are €€.

Caffè Cordina on Republic Square

Caffè Cordina (Republic Square) has been open since 1837 and is hard to walk past. Indoors, the ornate 19th-century palazzo rooms carry painted vaulted ceiling murals and gilt mirrors. Outside, wicker-and-marble tables spill across Republic Square under parasols, with Queen Victoria's marble statue beside them. The pastry counter holds kannoli, imqaret and ricotta tarts. Prices are €€€, which is what square frontage costs; order at the counter if you want it cheaper. Walk in for a coffee, and call ahead if you want eight or more seated together.

Quieter rooms above the main streets

Kir Royal Café (337 St Paul Street) occupies an eroded old limestone townhouse at the quieter upper end of Valletta, the interior split across two levels, bare stone walls and exposed timber beams picked out in bright yellow paint. The drinks list is inventive: a tiramisu iced latte, and CBD coffee for anyone who wants the oddity. The doors stay permanently open and the room runs warm in high summer. A couple of benches and bar stools take the overflow on the narrow pavement. Prices are €€.

Sunday in Scotland (173 Triq Santa Lucija) is a softly lit boutique café where the chocolate is conceived in Scotland and made in Malta, with viennoiserie and whole cakes to match and handmade chocolate boxes stacked behind the till. Glass counter cases, racks of magazines and local newspapers and pale classic cabinetry give it the feel of a drawing room. A cappuccino and an almond croissant come to €6. It is well air-conditioned, which makes it the easiest sit-down on the walk once the midday heat sets in. Laptops are tolerated on weekdays. Prices are €€.

Where the snacking becomes lunch

PRECA @ King's Own Band Club Bar and Restaurant (274 Republic Street) is a working brass-band club in 1874 premises, in business since royal consent in 1901 and now run by Roberta Preca, cooking traditional Maltese food. The club rooms are high-ceilinged and hung with brass-band photographs, framed royal-consent certificates and instrument cases. Members still drink at the bar beside the plain white-clothed tables. It is not a coffee specialist. Treat it as the end of the walk, where the snacking turns into lunch, and reserve a table for a party. Prices are €€€.

Café Jubilee (125 St Lucia Street) is a dim narrow room crammed floor to ceiling with vintage enamel advertising signs, old framed posters and curiosities hanging from the ceiling, with tiny marble bistro tables, bentwood chairs and jazz playing. Maltese ftira, soups and lentil stews come alongside the coffee, and the vegan list is solid. It opens 08:00 to 01:00 daily. You can sit here for two hours without anyone minding, and a group of six to eight works if you book. It sits a block off Strait Street. Finish here.

Days, hours and booking

Sunday thins the walk, with Jeff's Pastizzeria, Tal-Ħwawar u Tal-Kafe' and Cafe Society all closed, and the pastizzi counters shut by early afternoon every day. Book ahead for weekend brunch at Manouche, for a seated group at Caffè Cordina or Café Jubilee, and for a table at PRECA. See the Valletta guide and the Valletta hotel search.