Almost every strip club on Malta sits inside one square kilometre. Paceville, the nightlife quarter of St Julian’s, packs bars, casinos, hotels and gentlemen’s clubs into a few connected streets — St George’s Road, Triq il-Wilġa and the stepped lanes running between them. Eight of the ten venues in our Malta directory are there; the other two are a short drive away in St Julian’s proper and up north in St Paul’s Bay. Paceville has its own detailed page on this site, so this guide covers the island as a whole: what the rules actually are, and where every listed club is.
How Malta licenses these clubs — and the political fight over them
There is no dedicated “gentlemen’s club” licence in Malta. The Malta Tourism Authority issues licences under Chapter 409 of the Laws of Malta, and its published catalogue of application types lists thirteen categories covering accommodation, diving, travel, guiding and food and beverage. The only relevant one is the Catering Establishment licence, which the MTA defines as covering restaurant, snack bar, bar, kiosk, disco and nightclub. Strip clubs are not a separate class — they are licensed as nightlife venues, with a separate MTA permit required for amplified music. If you have read elsewhere about a special “Class 4” gentlemen’s club licence, it does not appear anywhere in the MTA’s own licensing list.
That gap is not an accident of drafting; it has been argued over for more than a decade. After a 2013 court ruling acquitted a topless lap dancer, successive Maltese governments repeatedly announced a legal framework for the sector — public consultation was promised in 2015, licensing as “late night establishments” was floated in 2016, and in August 2017 the government again said lap-dancing clubs would shortly be regularised. A later government consultation on human trafficking and prostitution reform proposed setting clear rules for so-called gentlemen’s clubs. Women’s organisations, including the Women’s Rights Foundation and the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations, have pushed back, arguing the clubs should be closed rather than regulated. The net result today: the clubs operate, and no bespoke licensing regime has replaced the generic catering licence.
The trafficking context is documented. The US State Department’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report upgraded Malta to Tier 2, and states that women from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Ukraine working in nightclubs are vulnerable to trafficking. The same report notes that NGOs continued to report a lack of oversight and regulation on the licensing of massage parlours.
Paceville, St Julian’s
The core cluster, all within walking distance of each other:
- Private — central Paceville; no street address on file
- White Palace Malta — St George’s Road, Paceville
- Stiletto Malta — St George’s Road, Paceville
- Deja Vu Malta — St George’s Road, Paceville
- GC Club Malta — St George’s Road, Paceville
- Diamond Dolls — St Rita Steps, Paceville (the website on file is no longer active)
- Burlesque Gentlemens Club — Triq il-Wilġa, San Ġiljan
- AO Club Paceville — Elja Zammit Street, Paceville
Dragonara Road, St Julian’s
- Darlings Club Malta — Dragonara Road, St Julian’s
St Paul’s Bay
The one venue outside the St Julian’s area, serving the northern resort strip:
- AO Club Bugibba — Kavetta Street, St Paul’s Bay
What to check before you go
- Watch your drink and your bill. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office states in its Malta travel advice that criminals have drugged people in some bars and gentlemen’s clubs in the Paceville district, and have forced them to spend large amounts of money or assaulted them. Its advice is to be careful who you buy drinks from, keep drinks in sight, and check your bill so you are not overcharged.
- Agree prices before you order. None of the ten listings publishes a price range. Drinks bought for dancers, table service and private rooms are where bills escalate, so confirm the cost of each before accepting.
- Phone ahead rather than trusting old websites. Several of these listings date back to 2016 and at least one linked site is dead. Every venue above has a phone number on its directory page; a call confirms whether it is still trading and what hours it keeps.