The sunny side
Xemxija comes from xemx, the Maltese word for sun, and carries the sense of a sunny or sunlit place. The name is particularly fitting for the exposed side of St Paul's Bay below the ridge.
Malta · Hiking · Heritage
The Heritage Trail:
The Heritage Trail:
Xemxija’s Roman Road
A compact archaeological walk above Xemxija where a Roman road threads past rock-cut tombs, ancient apiaries, cave dwellings, rural structures and centuries of pilgrimage.
Six thousand years underfoot
This is less a walk through one historical period than a walk through the accumulated use of one ridge.
Xemxija's Heritage Trail climbs from the waterfront onto Bajda Ridge, where archaeological remains sit unusually close together. The old stone road, traditionally identified as Roman, branches towards caves, apiaries, tombs, rural structures and cart ruts.
The trail is defined by overlap rather than one monumental ruin: prehistoric and Punic remains, Roman-period infrastructure later used by pilgrims, reused caves, and a limestone landscape reshaped by farmers.
The original St Paul's Bay Heritage Group project brought together twenty archaeological and historical sites, giving this short walk unusual density.
Etymology
The names tell you how the landscape was used
Sun, pilgrimage and beekeeping all survive in the language surrounding the trail.
A Roman road with a later purpose
The old road became known as the Pilgrims' Way because pilgrims used it towards the Sanctuary of Our Lady in Mellieħa; rock-cut crosses are traditionally linked to that later use.
The Maltese word for an apiary
A miġbħa is a place where bees are kept. The word feels especially appropriate here because the rock-cut apiaries are among the trail's most distinctive surviving structures.
The marks left by wheels
The trail also reaches the parallel grooves called cart ruts. Their date and function remain debated, but they show movement across the ridge long before the modern road network.
Hike profile
- Distance
- Approx. 3.4 km
- Time
- 1.5-2 hours with stops
- Difficulty
- Easy · uneven ground
- Terrain
- Old paving · limestone · rural tracks
- Elevation
- Approx. 70 m cumulative gain
- Best season
- Autumn to spring
The route
Twenty sites, one ridge
The Roman Road is easy to recognise, but many heritage stops sit on short side branches. Use the map and numbered plaques rather than expecting one continuous marked path.
Recorded trail map
Xemxija’s Roman Road loop
This loop follows the heritage area above Xemxija. Small variations are normal because several sites require short out-and-back detours.
Recorded GPS track
START Xemxija
FINISH Xemxija
Roman Road → Apiaries → Tombs → Cave Dwellings → Cart Ruts → Xemxija
A schematic sequence rather than turn-by-turn navigation.
Bajda Ridge · loop
01
StartRoman Road
02
Rock-cut sitesCave & Apiaries
03
Burial landscapePunic & Neolithic sites
04
Rural lifeHuts & Cave Dwellings
05
ReturnCart Ruts & Xemxija
Heritage note: many structures were reused, and traditional labels can simplify uncertain archaeology. Treat signs as orientation rather than proof of one date or function.
Start with the road itself
The climb begins on the old stone road, where surviving kerbs and drainage channels remain clear. Nearby are rubble walls, the standing stone usually described as a menhir, and the Cave of the Galley, apparently reused for habitation after an earlier funerary role. Pilgrim crosses higher up belong to a later chapter.
The most distinctive cluster
The Punic-Roman apiary is the visual centrepiece: rows of openings in a worked rock facade once connected with beehive chambers behind. Nearby, an old carob tree shades a burial cave and later rural apiary. Its traditional age of around a thousand years is difficult to verify.
Go further back than Rome
Side paths lead to Punic tombs, prehistoric burial chambers, remains traditionally identified with a Neolithic temple, and a rock-cut granary or silo later adapted as a well. Here the chronology becomes obvious: the Roman road is only one layer in a much older landscape.
From archaeology back into countryside
Continue through cave dwellings, the reconstructed farmer's hut and dry-stone structures towards the eastern ridge. Near Mistra are cart ruts and rock-cut features historically labelled Roman baths; their interpretation and dating remain uncertain, so a debated rock-cut complex is safer. Loop back towards Xemxija.
Why the loop works
The outward leg contains the densest heritage cluster; the return opens towards Mistra. Bajda Ridge also connects with longer walks towards Miżieb and Mellieħa.
How to read the landscape
The archaeology is built into the ground
Xemxija is not a fenced ruin. Roads, caves, walls and tombs share the same worked limestone landscape, so details are easy to miss.
Look down, not just ahead
Kerbs, cut channels and surviving paving show how the old road managed water and traffic. Local interpretation identifies it as part of a Roman network moving people, produce and salt.
One cave, several lives
A chamber could begin as a burial space and later become a dwelling, store, shelter or apiary. Reuse makes simple labels misleading - how a cave changed can matter more than what it first was.
Heritage did not stop with antiquity
Rubble walls, a girna, farmer's structures and field boundaries belong to the working countryside that followed. They retain soil, divide land and protect cultivation from wind without mortar, extending the trail's story well beyond archaeology alone.
A 6,000-year palimpsest
Xemxija works best as a palimpsest: prehistoric burial, Punic and Roman use, Christian pilgrimage and later farming are successive layers written onto the same ridge.
A trail through time
Four layers to keep in mind as you walk
Tombs, standing stones and storage
Rock-cut burials, the standing stone and prehistoric remains show the ridge mattered long before Roman Malta.
Roads, burial and honey
The road and apiary are the clearest ancient remains, while nearby funerary and agricultural features show movement and production.
The road outlived the empire
Long after Roman rule, travellers still used the route towards Mellieħa's Marian sanctuary; crosses beside the road preserve that continuity.
Caves become homes and farms
Cave dwellings, apiaries, rubble walls, huts and field structures show small-scale rural life continuing into much more recent centuries.
Practical guide
Slow down enough to notice what is there
The walk is physically easy; the challenge is finding the smaller sites and knowing what you are looking at.
Choose a topic
Getting there
The trail starts just above Xemxija Bay.
Loop route
- Search for “Xemxija’s Roman Road” rather than simply Xemxija.
- The start is above the waterfront near the old Roman Road / Pilgrims' Way entrance.
- The loop makes driving straightforward.
When to go
Cool weather suits both the walking and the archaeology.
Autumn → spring
- Allow around two hours if you stop to read the sites.
- Winter and spring are greener and more comfortable.
- There is little reliable shade once you leave the caves and carob tree.
- In summer, avoid crossing the exposed ridge at midday.
What to bring
You do not need serious hiking kit.
Light day walk
- Closed shoes with grip for uneven limestone and old paving.
- Water and sun protection.
- Offline navigation or screenshots of the heritage map.
- A small torch can help you look into permitted rock-cut spaces without needing to climb inside.
Photos
The details that make the trail
From rural structures and ancient apiaries to tombs, cave dwellings, cart ruts and the old pilgrim route carved into the ridge.
Final take
A short walk with an absurd amount of history
Xemxija’s Roman Road works because the archaeology remains embedded in an ordinary limestone ridge: a road becomes a pilgrimage route, tombs become caves, caves become farms and ancient field systems merge into modern countryside. In a few kilometres, Malta's history feels layered rather than chronological.
Route context & further reading
The Northern Region heritage site and St Paul's Bay Local Council provide local context for the Roman Road and archaeology. Outdooractive and Wikiloc help with route length and GPS orientation; council material describes the twenty-stop sequence.