Steven Spielberg needed a Tel Aviv seafront, a Roman piazza, an Athens hotel, a Cypriot resort and a Beirut dockside, and he found almost all of them on one small island. Munich (2005) began its shoot in Malta in the summer of 2005, and the Maltese locations are still easy to find, often barely changed. With a little planning you can stand where Eric Bana and Daniel Craig stood in a single long day.
The film and the history behind it
On 5 and 6 September 1972, members of the Black September group attacked the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics, and eleven Israeli team members were killed. Spielberg's film, based on George Jonas's book Vengeance, follows the fictionalised aftermath: a Mossad agent called Avner, played by Eric Bana, leads a small team sent across Europe and the Middle East to track down men linked to the attack. Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler, Ayelet Zurer and Geoffrey Rush complete the cast.
The story jumps from city to city, which made it a logistical puzzle. The production solved it by basing itself in Malta first, then moving on to Hungary, with further work in Paris and New York. Budapest handled the Olympic stadium, the airfield and a rain soaked London, while Malta took the sunnier Mediterranean cities. Malta's own press later counted seven cities played by the island, including Tel Aviv, Beirut, Athens and Rome.
Valletta: Rome and Athens in the capital
Start in Valletta, where two very different cities were conjured within a few streets of each other. Republic Square, the open space in front of the National Library, became a terrace café in "Rome" where Avner meets his contacts. It is still lined with café tables today, so ordering a coffee here is the simplest bit of film tourism in Malta.
Nearby, Caffe Cordina was also used by the crew. The café later shared a handwritten note from Spielberg thanking the family for opening its doors to the team at seven in the morning and praising its nougat, a small piece of Hollywood history that has become part of the café's own story.
Down towards the bastions, the British Hotel on Battery Street played the "Aristides Hotel" in "Athens", one of the stops on the team's journey. Location sites and local accounts also mention St Paul's Street and an old Valletta house among the film's backdrops, though they do not pin down every interior.
Sliema and Buġibba: Tel Aviv and Cyprus
Across Marsamxett Harbour, Sliema's Tower Road seafront became the "Tel Aviv" promenade where Avner walks with his handler Ephraim, played by Geoffrey Rush. The low, broad seafront still reads as a 1970s Mediterranean boulevard if you squint past the modern apartment blocks, and it remains the town's favourite place for an evening stroll.
Further north in Buġibba, the Primera Hotel on Pioneer Road was dressed as a hotel in "Cyprus", the setting for the film's hotel explosion. The Buġibba seafront also supplied the "Israeli" café where people gather around a television to watch the news unfold. Buġibba today is a busy resort, and the hotel is a working hotel, so treat it as a place to look at from the street rather than a sight to tour.
Marsaxlokk, Cospicua and Rabat: Athens, Beirut and Rome again
In the south, the fishing village of Marsaxlokk stood in for part of "Athens", according to visitors who have matched the scenes. Its sheltered harbour is lined with luzzu, the traditional painted Maltese fishing boats, and on Sundays the quay turns into a fish market where fishermen sell their catch directly.
Cospicua, known in Maltese as Bormla, gave the film its "Beirut" dockside. The old dock area here grew out of a dockyard begun by the Knights in the 18th century and later used heavily by the Royal Navy, and its stone warehouses and quays have exactly the weathered look a 1970s port scene needs. Accounts differ on whether Dock No. 1 or Dock No. 5 was used, so wander the waterfront and judge for yourself.
Inland, Rabat played "Rome" for a second time. The square in front of St Paul's Church is where the team celebrates after its first mission. The baroque church, completed by Lorenzo Gafà in 1683, sits beside the entrance to St Paul's Grotto, so it is worth combining with a visit to neighbouring Mdina, the town that also served as King's Landing in our Game of Thrones locations guide.
A self guided Munich route
All of these places are on public bus routes, but they are spread around the island, so think of the route as a loop rather than a walk. One practical order:
- Morning in Valletta: coffee on Republic Square, a look at Caffe Cordina, then a stroll to Battery Street and the British Hotel.
- Late morning in Cospicua: walk the Bormla waterfront and the old docks.
- Lunch in Marsaxlokk: fish by the harbour, ideally on a Sunday when the market is on.
- Afternoon in Rabat: the square in front of St Paul's Church, then a short walk into Mdina.
- Evening on the coast: finish in Buġibba or on the Sliema seafront, where the "Tel Aviv" promenade is at its best at sunset.
If you only have half a day, Valletta and Sliema alone give you Rome, Athens and Tel Aviv. Our map of films shot in Malta shows how these spots sit alongside dozens of other productions, and the Kalkara and Fort Ricasoli guide covers the harbour fort that has played Rome, Troy and Toulon.
Why Malta worked for Spielberg
Malta's appeal for a film like Munich is variety packed into a small space. Within a short drive the production could move from baroque squares to resort seafronts, working docks and fishing harbours, all under reliable Mediterranean light. That range is why the island keeps returning to screens, from Gladiator and Gladiator II to Ridley Scott's Napoleon.
Visiting: how to see it
None of the Munich locations charges admission: they are public squares, streets, seafronts and quays, plus two working hotels you can admire from outside. Malta Public Transport runs buses linking Valletta with Sliema, Buġibba, Rabat, Cospicua and Marsaxlokk; use its journey planner for current routes and times, and check before you go, as timetables change. Wear comfortable shoes for Valletta's steep streets, and be respectful at St Paul's Church, which is an active place of worship. Rewatching the film the night before helps enormously: once you have seen the "Tel Aviv" promenade on screen, Tower Road will never look quite the same.
