Malta is small, flat in parts and warm, which sounds ideal for two wheels. The reality is mixed: the distances suit it and the traffic does not.
Transfers and hire cars are both cheaper booked ahead than taken on the day.
Getting about under your own power
Mopeds and scooters
A moped solves the parking problem that makes a car painful in Sliema and Valletta. You need a licence appropriate to the engine size and a helmet is compulsory.
Hire is straightforward and widely available in the resort towns, and this is the one form of two-wheeled hire the islands still allow.
Scooter hire
E-scooters
Malta banned rental e-scooters in March 2024 and was the first country in Europe to do so. The ban followed years of complaints about scooters left across pavements and doorways. There is no shared scheme left to unlock, and none is expected back.
Riding your own is a different matter and remains legal. The machine has to be registered with Transport Malta and insured, and the rider needs at least an AM licence. The limit is 20km per hour on the road and 10km per hour anywhere pedestrians are.
Walking
Valletta, the Three Cities, Mdina and the seafront promenades are all best on foot. In Valletta a car is more trouble than it is worth.
Everywhere else the pavements are narrow, interrupted or absent, and the gradient into every historic town is steeper than it looks on a map.
The options
Getting about under your own power
- E-scooters
- Rental schemes were banned across Malta in March 2024 and none of them operate. A privately owned e-kickscooter may still be ridden by someone holding at least an AM licence, provided it is registered with Transport Malta and insured.
- Bicycles and e-bikes
- Hire is widely available. Malta has few dedicated cycle lanes and drivers are not used to cyclists. This suits confident riders on quieter routes rather than beginners in Sliema.
- Scooters and mopeds
- Popular, cheap and much easier to park than a car. These are unaffected by the e-scooter ban and can still be hired. A licence appropriate to the engine size is required, and helmets are compulsory.
- Walking
- The best way around Valletta, the Three Cities, Mdina and the seafront promenades. Less so elsewhere, where pavements are narrow or absent.
Malta has one of the highest vehicle densities in Europe on roads built long before cars. Add summer heat with no shade and gradients into every historic town, and two wheels is a considered choice rather than an obvious one. Gozo, with far less traffic, is a much better place to cycle than Malta.
Registration, insurance, licence class and the minimum age have all been revised more than once. Check the current position with Transport Malta before you buy or hire anything.