Upper & Lower Barrakka Gardens, Saluting Battery Noon Gun & Lift Guide

No visit to Malta is complete without standing on the golden limestone ramparts of the Upper Barrakka Gardens (Il-Barrakka ta' Fuq). From the parapet, you gaze fifty-eight metres straight down into the deep blue waters of the Grand Harbour as the midday cannon echoes off the walls of Fort St Angelo. Together with its quieter sister park, the Lower Barrakka Gardens and the Siege Bell War Memorial half a kilometre further east, these elevated bastion terraces offer the finest maritime panoramas in the Mediterranean. Pair this guide with our Three Cities and dgħajsa water taxi guide and our Lascaris War Rooms guide.

01Upper Barrakka Gardens: From Italian Knights' Loggia to Public Park

Located at the highest point of the 16th-century St Peter and Paul Bastion right next to the Auberge de Castille (today the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta), the Upper Barrakka Gardens began in 1661 as a roofed exercise gallery for the Knights of the Langue of Italy, funded by Fra Flaminio Balbiani. After the Knights rose in a brief priests' rebellion in 1775, Grand Master Ximenes ordered the wooden roof removed so guards could monitor the terrace. Later in 1824, the British administration opened the gardens to the public.

Today, walking beneath the twin-tiered limestone arches of the loggia reveals a garden of Aleppo pines, hibiscus, and historic monuments. Look for the poignant bronze sculpture Les Gavroches (1903, cast by Maltese sculptor Antonio Sciortino inspired by Victor Hugo's Les Misérables), the statue of Lord Strickland, and a memorial to Albert Einstein. From the viewing balustrade, the entire theatre of the Grand Harbour unfolds before you: from left to right you see the Ricasoli Breakwater and Kalkara Creek. Centre-stage rises the imposing prow of Fort St Angelo at the tip of Vittoriosa (Birgu). Beside it stretch Dockyard Creek, the fortified spur of Senglea (L-Isla), and the historic drydocks of Cospicua (Bormla).

02How to Watch the 12:00 and 16:00 Cannon Salute at the Saluting Battery

One terrace directly below the Upper Barrakka balustrade sits the Saluting Battery, constructed by the Knights in 1566 to defend the harbour mouth. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was used by the British Royal Artillery to fire ceremonial salutes to visiting warships. Gunners also fired a precise 12:00 Noon Day Gun so naval navigators in the Grand Harbour could synchronize their marine chronometers. Restored by the heritage trust Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna with eight working replicas of Victorian SBBL 32-pounder (smoothbore breech-loading) cannons, the battery fires live black-powder charges twice daily at 12:00 noon and 16:00 sharp.

You have two ways to experience the firing:

• Watch for free from the Upper Barrakka balustrade overhead. You look straight down onto the gun crews from a distance of ten metres. For the 12:00 firing, claim a spot along the stone railing by 11:30 to 11:35. For the 16:00 afternoon firing, crowds are much smaller and you can arrive at 15:45.
• Pay €3.00 to step onto the Saluting Battery gun deck itself. Enter via the side staircase from the gardens by 11:30 (or 15:30) to hear the 15-minute live historical commentary in English, and stand beside the uniformed gunners as they fire the cannon. Afterwards, you can walk right up to the smoking gun carriages afterwards.

03Using the 58-Metre Upper Barrakka Lift to the Waterfront

Rising at the western corner of the gardens is the freestanding concrete-and-steel tower of the Upper Barrakka Lift (rebuilt in 2012 on the site of the original 1905 steam lift). Carrying up to 21 passengers at a time, the twin panoramic cabins whisk you 58 vertical metres down the sheer cliff face of the ditch to Lascaris Wharf in 25 seconds. Riding down is always €0.00 (free); buying a return/upward ticket at the bottom costs €1.50 per adult (free for children under 10 and Karta Anzjan holders as of November 2026). Better still, if you take the Valletta Ferry from the Three Cities or the Gozo Highspeed catamaran into Lascaris Wharf, keep your ferry ticket. Scanning its barcode at the lift turnstile gives you a free ride up into the Upper Barrakka Gardens!

04Lower Barrakka Gardens and the Siege Bell War Memorial

Ten minutes' walk northeast along the harbour rim (down St Christopher Street or East Street) lies the tranquil Lower Barrakka Gardens (Il-Barrakka t'Isfel). Far less crowded than its upper neighbour, this shaded park is centred on a gleaming white limestone neoclassical Doric temple built in 1810 to honour Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander Ball. Ball was the British naval commander who aided the Maltese uprising against Napoleon's garrison in 1798 to 1800. Directly across the road on St Christophers Bastion stands the domed Siege Bell War Memorial (unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992), housing a ten-tonne bronze bell above a recumbent bronze cenotaph looking out to the open Mediterranean.