Sliema Webcam – Watch St Julian’s Bay from Tower Road

The Sliema Webcam looks out from above Tower Road, the seafront road of Sliema on Malta’s northeast coast, across St Julian’s Bay to the skyline of St Julian’s. Clear turquoise water fills the foreground, with a small concrete jetty right below the camera and strings of marker buoys crossing the bay. On the right, the rock shelves and lidos around Exiles run along the shore beside the promenade. Straight ahead, the glass Portomaso Business Tower and its spire rise over the hotels of St Julian’s, and the low headland of Dragonara Point runs out toward open sea. It is a good way to judge the sea before a swim: flat and clear on calm days, with waves breaking over the rocks at Exiles when a northeasterly pushes swell into the bay.

About Sliema

Sliema is a town of about 22,200 people on a headland of just 1.3 square kilometers (0.5 square miles), facing Valletta across Marsamxett Harbour. It began to grow in the second half of the 19th century, when it became popular as a summer resort. The Stella Maris church opened in 1855, and by 1878 the population had grown enough for it to be declared a parish in its own right. The promenade that lines the shore, known as the Sliema Front, was upgraded in the late 1990s.

Most of what the camera shows belongs to St Julian’s, the neighboring town of about 14,700 people. The Portomaso Business Tower is 97.54 meters (320 feet) tall with 23 floors. It became Malta’s tallest building on its completion in 2001 and held the title until 2020, when the Mercury Tower, designed by Zaha Hadid, overtook it at 122 meters (400 feet). To the left, small boats sit on their moorings in Spinola Bay, where Spinola Palace was built by Fra Paolo Raffaele Spinola in 1688 and enlarged in 1733.

The headland on the right is Dragonara Point. Dragonara Palace was built there in 1870 for Emmanuele Scicluna, a banker who became a marquis in 1875, and it opened as a casino on 15 July 1964. The point was originally called Ghemmuna Point, and its present name refers to a legendary dragon.

Weather and Climate in Sliema

Averages from Malta’s Luqa weather station for 1991 to 2020 give January a high of 15.7 C (60 F) and a low of 10.1 C (50 F), while August peaks at 32.0 C (90 F) with nights around 23 C (73 F). Spring and autumn are the gentle seasons: April averages 20 C (68 F) by day and October 25 C (77 F), with lows of 12.8 C (55 F) and 18.4 C (65 F). The station records about 3,054 hours of sunshine a year, and snow is a very rare event.

Rain comes mostly in autumn and winter. The yearly total averages 580.7 millimeters (22.9 inches) over about 61 wet days, and December, November and October are the wettest months. The sea warms from about 15.4 C (60 F) in January to 25.8 C (78 F) in August. The wind to watch is the gregale, a strong, cool northeasterly that blows when a low-pressure system passes south of Malta. St Julian’s Bay opens to the northeast, so a gregale can drive swell straight in toward the rocks at Exiles, the rough seas the camera’s operator invites you to watch.

Things to Do Near Sliema

Walk east along Tower Road past the rocky lidos to Saint Julian’s Tower, completed in 1658 under Grand Master de Redin and now a restaurant, and on to Il-Fortizza, a battery the British built between 1872 and 1876 that is also a restaurant today. Keep going and the coast turns toward Tigne Point, where the Order of Saint John built Fort Tigne between 1793 and 1795, next to the Tigne Point shopping mall. From the Sliema waterfront, Valletta Ferry Services runs a short crossing over Marsamxett Harbour to the capital. Manoel Island sits in the same harbour, home to Fort Manoel, whose first stone Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena laid on 14 September 1723. The first phase of its restoration was finished in 2009.

Heading west instead, Balluta Bay is fronted by the Balluta Buildings, an Art Nouveau block designed by Giuseppe Psaila and completed in 1928. Round the bay to Spinola Bay for the LOVE monument by architect Richard England, unveiled in 2003, whose letters are set upside down so the word reads correctly in its reflection on the water. Beyond lie Paceville, the nightlife district of St Julian’s, and St George’s Bay, the nearest sandy beach, about 1.7 kilometers (1.1 miles) north of the camera as the crow flies.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Sliema Webcam located?

The camera sits above Tower Road on the Sliema seafront, on Malta’s northeast coast, beside the Exiles swimming area. It faces across St Julian’s Bay toward St Julian’s and Dragonara Point. Valletta lies across Marsamxett Harbour on the other side of Sliema.

What can you see on the Sliema Webcam?

The bay fills the lower half of the frame, with the rocks and lidos of Exiles and the Tower Road promenade on the right. Across the water are the hotels and apartment blocks of St Julian’s, the moored boats of Spinola Bay, the Portomaso Business Tower and the low headland of Dragonara Point, with the open Mediterranean beyond.

What is the weather like in Sliema?

Winters are mild and summers hot and dry. Average highs run from 15.7 C (60 F) in January to 32.0 C (90 F) in August, and October to December are the wettest months of a year that brings about 580.7 millimeters (22.9 inches) of rain.

Is there a sandy beach in Sliema?

Not along the Tower Road front. The shore is rock, with lidos and concrete bathing platforms like the ones in the camera’s view. The nearest sand is St George’s Bay in Paceville, about 1.7 kilometers (1.1 miles) north across St Julian’s.

What is the tall tower across the bay from Sliema?

The glass tower with the spire is the Portomaso Business Tower in St Julian’s, 97.54 meters (320 feet) tall with 23 floors. It was Malta’s tallest building from 2001 until 2020, when the 122 meter (400 foot) Mercury Tower overtook it.

How warm is the sea in Sliema?

The sea around Malta averages about 15.4 C (60 F) in January, its coolest month, and about 25.8 C (78 F) in August, its warmest.

Why is the sea so rough in Sliema?

Mostly because of the gregale, a strong, cool northeasterly wind. St Julian’s Bay opens to the northeast, so when it blows, swell rolls into the bay and breaks over the rocks along Tower Road.

How do you get from Sliema to Valletta?

Valletta sits directly across Marsamxett Harbour, and Valletta Ferry Services runs a short passenger ferry between the Sliema waterfront and the capital.

Source: Malta Weather