Travel · Lifestyle · Villa Barumbara
A Maltese Villa With Mdina on the Horizon
Twelve adults, six children, one house in the Maltese countryside with Mdina on the horizon.
As the Mediterranean settles into its long, sun-drenched season, Villa Barumbara Tal-Laring makes an unusually complete case for the family summer. Part of The Xara Collection, whose Xara Palace in Mdina is a Relais & Châteaux member, it is a countryside villa built around space, comfort and privacy rather than a resort’s programme of activities.
It sleeps twelve adults and six children. That single number is the whole proposition: a Gulf family, in its full three-generation form, under one roof and nobody in a separate hotel.
Between Rabat and Siggiewi
The villa sits in open country between Rabat and Siggiewi, with the timeless skyline of Mdina on the horizon. Malta’s honey-coloured limestone is everywhere here, in the walls, the terraces and the boundary of the garden, and the surrounding fields do the rest. It is a quiet, agricultural stretch of the island, which is precisely why it works as a retreat.
A House, Not a Hotel
Six bedrooms are spread across the main villa, two poolside bungalows and a duplex cottage at the garden’s end, joined by a modern living space at the centre. The arrangement matters: everyone is together when it suits, and genuinely apart when it does not, which is the hardest thing to get right in multi-generational travel.
Gardens That Run Into the Countryside
The gardens are expansive and deliberately unmanicured at the edges, blending into the Maltese countryside rather than fencing it out. Olive and citrus trees, gravel paths, lawns for children to run off a long lunch, and a pétanque court for the after-dinner hours.
The Pool, and the Hours Around It
The private pool, fitted with jacuzzi jets, is the gravitational centre of the day. Loungers under parasols, a shaded pergola a few steps away, and the sort of afternoon where nobody quite decides to do anything else. For a family with children of different ages, a pool this size does more work than any itinerary.
Al Fresco, From Breakfast to Sunset
Meals move outdoors and stay there. A long table under a timber pergola for breakfasts that run late and dinners that run later, with a barbecue area alongside. A daily breakfast basket arrives as part of the stay, which quietly removes the first decision of the day.
Wellbeing
A Barrel Sauna in the Garden
Set on a path among the trees, the outdoor sauna is the villa’s quietest luxury, and a private gym sits indoors for anyone keeping a routine.
Looking Out at the Trees
From inside, the sauna frames the garden through a round window, which turns a ten-minute ritual into something closer to a view. It is a small, well-judged piece of design, and a reminder that this is a house built for staying in rather than passing through.
The Open-Plan Middle
Indoors, the living space is generous and light, marble underfoot, doors thrown open to the terrace, sofas arranged for conversation rather than for a television. It is the room where the family collects between the pool and dinner, and it is sized for all of them at once.
A Table for Everyone
The dining room seats the household in one sitting, and behind it is a state-of-the-art kitchen fitted with Miele appliances, which makes self-catering a genuine option rather than a compromise. Stocking services can fill the fridge before you arrive.
Cinema, Snooker, and the Long Evening
This is where the villa earns its keep with teenagers. A snooker room with a full-size table and a fireplace, a private cinema room for the night everyone gives up on going out, and a gym and games room beyond. Rain or heat, there is somewhere to go.
Six Bedrooms, No Two Alike
The bedrooms are deliberately varied. Room 1 runs to 23 square metres with adjoining twins and a full ensuite, and opens onto a 78 square metre terrace above the garden and pool, which is larger than most London flats and considerably better positioned.
The Terrace Above the Pool
That terrace is the one guests fight over. Breakfast in the shade, the pool below, and the countryside beyond it, close enough to keep an eye on the children and far enough to feel off duty.
The Old Tower
Two of the rooms sit in the villa’s old tower. Room 2, at 36.2 square metres, has a separate sitting area and desk and takes a family of four. Above it, Room 3 is the tower’s penthouse suite, with original tower windows and an ensuite with both shower and bathtub.
Fifty-One Square Metres, and Mdina on the Horizon
Room 3’s terrace runs to 51 square metres and looks across the villa grounds and countryside to Mdina itself. Malta’s silent city, lit up at night on the ridge, is the sort of view that ends an evening without anyone suggesting it.
The Bungalows and the Cottage
Two bungalows sit beside the pool. The first is a straightforward 24 square metre room with ensuite; the second, at 42 square metres, adds a separate living room overlooking the pool and its own small terrace onto the gardens. At the far end of the garden, a duplex cottage tucked among pine trees holds a living room downstairs and a bedroom with ensuite above. Together they give older children, grandparents or a second family somewhere that feels like their own front door.
The Essentials
How to Go
Villa Barumbara Tal-Laring sleeps twelve adults and six children and is booked by the week, from 63,816 AED. The stay includes a personal experience curator, champagne on arrival, a daily breakfast basket, daily cleaning and daily gardening. Malta is a short flight from the Gulf, which makes a full week here easier to justify than it looks.
The Case for One Roof
For Boujeez, the hardest thing about travelling as an extended family is not cost or distance. It is the compromise: adjoining rooms that are never quite adjoining, a restaurant that suits nobody, and the quiet arithmetic of who gets the good view. A villa like this dissolves the problem. Everyone has a door to close and a table to come back to, and the summer organises itself around the pool. That is not a small thing, and it is why the villa, not the hotel, is increasingly how the Gulf travels in August.
Plan a stay at Villa Barumbara Tal-Laring, part of The Xara Collection.