10 Rules That Will Save Your Malta Holiday

Malta is beautiful and easy to visit — but only if you know what to avoid. Here are 10 rules that separate a tourist from an informed traveller.

1. Wake Up Early — Seriously

At noon Valletta is hell: crowds, heat, queues. At 8am you have the city to yourself. Iconic photos without crowds? Morning. Coffee in peace? Morning. Co-Cathedral without a queue? Morning.

2. Buses Are Cheap But Unpredictable

The weekly Tallinja pass (€21) is excellent value. But treat the timetable as "indicative." A bus can arrive 20 minutes late or drive through your stop without stopping. Always have a Plan B (Bolt).

3. Avoid Restaurants with Touts

If someone is standing in front of a restaurant waving a menu at you — keep walking. Always. This signals average quality and inflated prices. The best places never need to hustle for customers.

4. Escape the Centre During the Hot Hours

Between noon and 3pm, hide in a museum, cafe, or take the ferry. Maltese July sun is not a joke. SPF50 is non-negotiable.

5. Gozo Is a Different World — Stay Overnight

A day trip to Gozo is a mistake. Stay one night. The atmosphere after the last ferries carry the day-trippers back to Malta is impossible to describe.

6. Don't Eat Next to the Main Attractions

Restaurants near the Co-Cathedral, Upper Barrakka, on Republic Street — touristy, expensive, average. Five minutes off the main routes and you will find the same food for half the price.

7. Pack an Adapter and Water Shoes

British sockets (type G). Without an adapter — nothing charges. Water shoes — rocky shores and sea urchins are unforgiving.

8. Order Water "Local"

In restaurants always ask for "still local water" — Maltese filtered tap water served in a carafe. Free or a few cents. You avoid an imported bottle at €3.

9. Check the Gozo Ferry Schedule Ahead of Time

The last regular ferry returns around 11pm (winter) or later (summer). But in peak season the car queue can take 1–2 hours. As a foot passenger you always board without waiting.

10. Learn a Few Words of Maltese

"Grazzi" (thank you), "Bongu" (good morning), "Mela" (well then / so / the universal filler word). This produces a smile from every local. Maltese people are proud of their language — the only Semitic-Arabic language written in the Latin alphabet in the EU.