Did you know that Malta spent just over 10,000 euros on promoting its entry into this year’s Eurovision song contest?

Me neither, but then again before I boarded the plane at Manchester Airport I knew very little about this small, sunny island in the middle of the Mediterranean.

It’s a three hour flight, and as Air Malta thoughtfully provide copies of the Maltese newspaper, The Times, I used the opportunity to gain a little local knowledge.

I can now tell you the following useless facts: in the first quarter of this year the island’s population of 400,000 was increased by 1003 births, 283 of which were out of wedlock; there are 42 Maltese serving prison sentences abroad; and between October last year and March 2010 the island’s Mater Dei hospital performed 2,090 heart operations.

Holidaymakers, however, would probably be more interested to learn that after years of investment all of the island’s beaches now meet European Union standards. “We think Malta can now boast some of the cleanest coastal bathing waters in Europe,” said an EU official quoted in The Times report.

This is good news, because if you visit Malta in the baking summer weather you’ll want to be spending some time on its beaches. Unless, that is, you have the good fortune to be staying at The Hilton Malta, in which case you might just decide to make do with one of its swimming pools – it has four, one of which is a seawater pool complete with sand.

The Hilton Malta, in the north-eastern seaside town of St Julian’s, has just about everything you could need if you fancy a few days of relaxation in the sun. It’s also the perfect destination if you want to combine work and pleasure: the hotel has a conference centre that can accommodate 1330 delegates, making it an in-demand venue for all manner of companies.

The lap of luxury - the Hilton Malta

As a five-star hotel it’s not the cheapest place to stay on the island, but there were families occupying its 410 rooms, and plenty of children could be seen enjoying the paddling pools while their parents relaxed in the sun.

In 2009 the Hilton was, for the third year running, named Best Luxury Hotel by the website TripAdvisor in its Travellers’ Choice Awards, which are based on guests’ reviews. Visitors have included Sir Roger Moore and Madonna, although I don’t know if Rog and Madge shared their thoughts online.

Accommodation at the Hilton Malta

That said, it’s not hard to see why people have given the Hilton such high marks. My room was luxurious, clean, and very tastefully decorated. It was spacious too, with a bathroom bigger than my kitchen at home. A balcony overlooking the rocky shoreline and the Med proved to be the icing on the cake.

You could easily spend an enjoyable week without leaving the hotel. But that would be a shame because Malta really does have something to offer everyone, including year-round sun, shopping, museums and history. Lots and lots of history.

Malta has been an important port on the developing Mediterranean shipping routes for thousands of years, and during that time it has been dominated by various maritime powers, including the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, French and the British, all of whom left behind their imprint.

Britain was in charge from 1800 until independence in 1964, and the most visible reminders of British rule are the red telephone boxes and old Leyland buses, painted bright yellow, that still take tourists and locals around City Gate in the old fortified city of Valetta.

Our first morning, after breakfast in the hotel’s large Oceana Restaurant, where every type of food is on offer, we boarded a bus for the short journey to the harbour and the ferry to the island of Gozo.

Where Malta is built up and hectic, Gozo is the opposite. It’s greener and less crowded, and offers a real feeling of space, which we experienced through a guided cycling tour. We travelled along dusty country lanes, through small villages, past massive quarries where stone blocks are carved out of rock for construction projects all over the Malta and beyond, and past breathtaking views of the sea.

Our destination was Xlendi Bay, a sleepy fishing village with a small strip of sand where, with the help of Moby Dives, we saw for ourselves how that EU money has cleaned up the Maltese waters.

Moby Dives offers everything from beginners’ dive classes to dive instructor courses in some of the best dive sites in the Meditteranean.

We got into wetsuits, grabbed flippers and snorkels and walked through the small shopping centre to the sea.

It’s a short walk, but the constrictive suits, combined with the heat of the mid-afternoon sun, meant we were soaking before we got in the water. And when we did get in it was much colder than expected. However, we soon acclimatised and in no time at all we were swimming out and admiring the world beneath. The Times was right: the water really is crystal clear.

Gozo, a great place to spend time relaxing, diving or cycling

Afterwards, we visited The Citadel, the Gran Castello, one of the island’s big tourist attractions. It was Gozo’s capital for many years, and its heavy defensive walls, which have survived numerous invasions and a devastating earthquake in 1693, offer 360 degree views.

For lunch we visited the Ristorante Il-Kartell, in the quiet (a word which appears to apply to every part of Gozo) harbour of Marsalforn.

It’s an outdoor restaurant, right on the seafront, and offers the best of the island’s diverse seafood.

Ristorante Il-Kartell

According to my guidebook Marsalforn’s hotels, bars and discos are ‘lively’ in the summer, although not in the same way that the word applies to Malta’s resorts. It appears to be more of a family place, and ‘lively’ probably just means ‘not quite as quiet’.

Afterwards we visited the island’s other big tourist attraction, the Ggantija Temples, which date back 7,000 years.

Apparently these were built for rituals of life and fertility, although a key part of those rituals appears to have involved human sacrifice; we were even shown grooves in the rock where the unfortunate victims’ blood would have drained away.

Back at the hotel the staff were preparing to host a wedding reception. It looked to be a huge affair, and had taken over the area around the main pool. There was thunder in the air, but it was not an omen for the couple; instead two speedboats were competing in time trials, and all along the coastline thousands of people were watching the action.

There was plenty of time for a look around St Julian’s, with its shops, bars, boutiques and restaurants, before we visited another of the Hilton’s restaurants, the Blue Elephant. Even in a hotel where no expense appears to have been spared to create something special, the Blue Elephant stood out. It has waterfalls, lush greenery and even a bridge across an indoor lake of exotic fish. It goes without saying that the Thai food is more than equal to the surroundings.

The next morning, still somewhat stuffed from the night before, I visited the hotel’s health and fitness centre. Even at breakfast time on a Sunday morning there were die-hards taking spin classes on exercise bikes, or pounding away on running machines. I found this rather odd considering there’s a seafront around the corner. Wouldn’t it be nicer to run out in the open?

The Hilton Malta's swimming pools

I had plenty of time to ponder this as I was booked for a complimentary massage – my first, and I didn’t have the faintest idea of the procedure. I soon learned, however, that it involves listening to panpipe music while having sticky oil rubbed into my back. It is relaxing but after about ten minutes I think I’d had enough. When the massage ended I was left to ‘relax’, but I found myself lying there, waiting to be told I could leave.

After about half an hour a masseuse came in to check if I was all right. ‘You could have gone ages ago,’ she told me, politely, when I asked if I could go. ‘We were waiting for you.’

The rest of our short stay on Malta was taken up exploring the historic sites. A person could spend weeks doing this, but we had just a day and a half, so taking it all in proved difficult.

Malta's Grand Harbour

However, the highlights included a visit to Vittoriosa, the maritime city, where the waterfront’s ancient harbour walls, built for defence, now welcome visitors to dine in outdoor restaurants whilst admiring fabulously expensive private yachts, and Mdina, Malta’s first capital city, offering medieval architecture and stunning views across the island.

Back at the hotel food was again on the agenda, and we were treated to a meal at chef’s table, in the kitchens run by Joseph Vella.

Mr Vella is something of a celebrity in Malta, with numerous books and television credits to his name. He’s a Gordon Ramsay without the shouting or swearing; his kitchen runs like a well-oiled machine, and the food he produces is amazing.

Valletta, from the Upper Barrakka Gardens

Our final morning was spent in the Upper Barrakka Gardens, built hundreds of years ago as peaceful retreat for the island’s knights, before moving on to St John’s Co-Catherdral, a plain-looking building from the outside, but inside decorated with all manner of gold and finery. There was a long queue of tourists outside, drawn to see the fabulous interior and, the other attraction, Caravaggio’s famous painting The Beheading of St John, in all its gory glory.

And that’s Malta. Of course, it’s quite impossible to see it all in a weekend, but with the Hilton waiting, I hope it won’t be long before I go back and see more.

By Andrew Owen

Air Malta and Hilton Malta Fact-box

• Air Malta, just voted in the top three short-haul airlines by Which? members, offers double daily flights from London Heathrow and Gatwick, a daily service from Manchester and two-flights a week from Birmingham to Malta from as little as £99 return including taxes and charges. Fare includes 20kg baggage allowance, hot meal and soft drink and in-flight entertainment. Book flights, hotels and car hire online at www.airmalta.com or call 0906 103 0012 for flight reservations.

• Book your escape now at the Hilton Malta. Book online on www.hilton.co.uk/malta; or directly with the hotel at reservations.malta@hilton.com or call 00356 21 383 383. Rates quoted subject to availability