Balluta Bay is a small sandy beach just north of Spinola Bay, backed by the Art Nouveau facade of the Carmelite Church and the distinctive curved terracotta-and-white Balluta Buildings. The beach itself is narrow and gets crowded on summer weekends, but it is one of the few sandy spots accessible from St Julian's without a boat.
The Carmelite Church (1859) stands directly above the bay with a neo-Gothic profile and a blue-domed interior. The Balluta Buildings alongside it are a 1920s development in a style that would be called Art Deco in Paris; here it is Maltese vernacular with eclectic European influence. Together they form a backdrop that is more architecturally interesting than most beach settings.