Infinity
by Hugo’s

The first thing worth being clear about, and the thing the word beach in our directory can obscure, is that Infinity by Hugo’s sits on a roof. It is the pool deck on top of H Hotel in the middle of St Julian’s, and the sea it looks out over is scenery rather than somewhere you go for a swim. Understanding that reframes the whole visit. You are not renting a sunbed on the Mediterranean, you are buying a place on a smart urban terrace with a 65 foot infinity edge that appears to spill toward the water far below.

Taken on those honest terms, it is one of the more polished ways to spend a hot afternoon in the busiest quarter of Malta. The group behind it knows how to run a room, the cocktail list and the kitchen are given proper attention, and the design leans into the view with VIP sofa areas, a pair of quieter hot tubs and a private champagne corner for those who want to spend on seclusion. It belongs on our Malta beach club list not because it touches sand, but because so much of Malta’s club scene is built on rooftops and lidos rather than beaches, and this is one of the best of that kind.

The value at Infinity is the elevation and the polish, not the water. A rooftop puts you above the noise of Paceville and hands you a horizon, a breeze and a pool that looks like it ends at the sea, and the club dresses that setting well with attentive service and a bar that takes its cocktails seriously. For a certain kind of Malta day, a long lazy afternoon that slides into early evening without ever leaving your lounger, that is exactly the right trade.

Privacy here is a thing you buy in tiers, which suits the concierge way of thinking. The open deck is sociable and, on the right day, busy, but the VIP sofa areas, the secluded hot tubs and the private champagne setup exist precisely so that guests who want a quieter, more screened corner can have one for a price. It is worth asking what those areas include and cost when you book, because the difference between the general deck and a reserved corner is the difference between two quite separate visits.

Where it falls short is anything to do with the sea and with quiet. You cannot swim in the Mediterranean from here, the setting is urban and overlooked rather than natural, and on a Sunday session the calm evaporates entirely as the party takes over. Anyone whose idea of Malta is a swim off the rocks or a sandy bay should treat this as an add on to a beach day, not a replacement for one, and look to the island’s bays for the water itself.

St Julian’s is Malta’s nightlife and hotel heart, a headland of bars, restaurants and towers wrapped around a working marina, with Paceville’s clubs a few streets away. It is not a beach town in the sandy sense, its shoreline is mostly rock, low platforms and small inlets, and the one patch of sand within an easy walk of the hotel is the compact, and often crowded, St George’s Bay. That is the honest picture from the parapet, a lively urban coast that suits a rooftop pool and a late dinner far better than a quiet swim. For the sand and water proper, our Malta beach club directory points to the bays and the one club genuinely set on sand.

Reaching Infinity is simple, because it sits inside H Hotel in the centre of St Julian’s, well served by buses along the coast road and an easy taxi or short walk from almost anywhere in the St Julian’s and Paceville strip. There is no beach approach to worry about, you arrive at the hotel and take the lift to the roof. Booking is where the planning goes, the venue takes reservations through its own online widget and by phone and email, and it asks for at least 72 hours of notice, which on a summer Sunday is not a formality but the difference between a lounger and a turned away afternoon.

Would you rather have the pool day settled before you fly? Send your date and numbers via the enquiry form here and we will approach Infinity on your behalf, reporting back on what is bookable, what a daybed or a VIP corner includes that week, and any minimum that applies, at no cost to you.