5 Tips For Visiting Malta

My trip to Malta was booked with absolutely no research whatsoever. It was booked solely on the cheap price at the time of booking.

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Everything was learnt and discovered whilst there. This meant I didn’t benefit from some of them as it was too late during the trip. Although, my trip was incredible! These tips would have further improved the quality of my trip.

So, hopefully these tips enhance your trip.

1: Use Public Transport

In my opinion, public transport is the best way to move around Malta. It’s the cheapest way to travel and the best way if you want to explore in your own time. I also believe it’s possibly the safest way to travel around. My experience of the driving in Malta was, it was kinda crazy! Bus drivers are familiar with these driving conditions. Your best bet is, let them do it whilst you enjoy the scenery

Single journey tickets cost €1.50 in the winter, €2 in Summer and €3 if you’re travelling at night. These tickets can take you to anywhere you want and have a 2-hour expiry time. E.g if you travel somewhere local and spend half an hour there, you can reuse your ticket. All these bus tickets can be purchased from the bus driver.

In addition to this, they have Tallinja Cards available

Explore 7 day Adult card €21

Explore 7 day children card €15

12 single day journeys €15

For more information on Tallinja Cards click here

Using the ferries are also a convenient and cheap way to travel. For example, my trip to Gozo by ferry cost €4.65 return.

For children aged 3yrs to 12yrs this would cost €1.15

children under 3 are free

2: Be Prepared When Taking Journeys

Although, I recommend using public transport, bear in mind public transport here is not always efficient. Buses are often late, especially on the popular tourist destination routes. On these routes the buses are often overcrowded. People will hustle their way on to secure a seat or avoid having to wait for the next one.

Avoid travelling through rush hour. Travelling through rush hour in Malta is absolutely horrendous! Many locals avoid using public transport so, there are too many cars on the island. With Malta being such a small place, the roads are heavily congested during this time.

3: Avoid Summer

My trip was booked at the end of February so it was not too hectic. However, when visiting tourist attractions such as Valletta and Gozo travelling back was rather hectic. The buses and ferry were crowded and quite stressful at times, having knowledge of this would have prepared me better for the journeys and made it less stressful. Whilst thinking about this at the time, I did wonder how frantic this could get during peak season.

“When’, speaking with locals they suggested it’s best enjoyed visiting October to April. So, presumably I visited in one of the best months to visit.

They also mention how in Summer temperatures soar, the nights are humid, the beaches are too full, restaurants are full and public transport is a nightmare and with it being such a small place it gets too overcrowded.

4: Spend more than one day in Gozo

Don’t be like me and make the mistake of going for half a day. Gozo is only a third of the size of Malta but it has so much to offer. You will only get to see the main sites and miss many other things. For instance, I arrived in the afternoon so, didn’t get round to many things including the Gozo Coastline. If you can’t spend more than a day here, I highly recommend you leave super early and arrive in the morning to benefit more.

5: Book in Advance

For some of the most popular sites you will need to book in advance to avoid disappointment. Example, I wanted to visit the Hypogeum however, it was fully booked for a good few months down the line.

Malta is such a unique place packed with gems, It’s definitely a shame to miss some of the main attractions. Next time I plan to travel here I’m definitely going to be more organised and plan an itinerary.

Here is website Get Your Guide where you can book excursions or get ideas to create your own itinerary.