Salina Salt Pans
Rock-cut salt pans in a sheltered inlet, worked since Roman times and still producing salt by hand.
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Salina Bay takes its name from the pans cut into the rock along its shore, where seawater is let into shallow beds and left to evaporate in the summer sun, the salt then raked off by hand. The system is very old, with Roman origins and substantial development under the Knights, and part of it is still worked. A heritage park around the bay includes a restored tower, a chapel and a stretch of planted saltmarsh.
What you actually see
- The rock-cut pans - shallow beds cut into the shore for evaporating seawater.
- The hand harvest - salt raked off the pans through the summer.
- The heritage park - the restored tower, chapel and planted areas around the bay.
- The saltmarsh - the wetland at the head of the inlet, used by waders.
When to go
May to September is the working season when the pans are in use. Winter fills them with rainwater and nothing is produced. Mornings are best for photographs.
Honest expectations
Outside the summer season the pans are simply flooded and there is nothing happening. Only part of the historic system is still worked. The bay is beside a busy road and modern development.
Nearby
St Paul's Bay is northwest, and Naxxar is south.
What to pack for Salina Salt Pans
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.