Malta is mid-priced for Europe and wildly variable within itself. The same lunch can cost three times as much depending on whether you can see the sea from your table. Your daily spend depends more on your habits than on Malta itself.
Most of Malta is free to walk into. A few sites need booking and they fill up.
The four things that move the price
When you come
Nothing else moves your total this much. The same room in August can cost two or three times what it costs in November, and flights follow the same curve.
Shoulder season is where the maths gets interesting. Late September still has the warmest sea of the year at a much lower price than August.
Month by month
Where you eat
Seafront tables in Sliema, St Julian’s and on the Valletta waterfront are priced for the view, not the plate. Walk three streets inland and you’re on a different price list.
Fresh fish is the one pricey thing, because it’s sold by weight rather than by portion. Ask the price per kilo before you agree to a fish, not after.
What to eat here
Whether you hire a car
Hire, fuel, the insurance excess and parking add up fast, and in the central areas a car earns you nothing. You pay to park it while the bus goes past. Fares are low and the network reaches most places people go.
A car pays for itself on longer trips built around the north, the west coast and the inland villages. On a four-day city-and-Gozo trip you usually do not need one.
Compare the optionsCompare car hire
Tickets and boat trips
Comino trips, dive packages and site entries are the main optional costs. Heritage Malta sells a multi-site pass that pays for itself after a few visits, so work that out before you buy singles.
These are the easiest costs to control. Every one of them is optional and most have a free alternative nearby.
What is worth paying forBook a boat trip
What costs nothing at all
Swimming is free everywhere and every bay is public. Village festas (village feasts) cost nothing. Churches are free. Walking the bastions, the Barrakka gardens and the coastal paths costs nothing. A pastizz (a savoury pastry) and a ftira (Maltese flatbread) from a bakery will feed you for a fraction of a restaurant lunch. You can have an excellent day here for the price of a bus fare, and plenty of people do.
Prices move, and a number typed into a page a year ago is worse than no number at all. Each page carries the figures it can keep up to date. This page explains how the spending breaks down, because that does not go out of date.
Getting in from the airport
This is the first spend of most trips, and the one people budget worst. The bus is cheapest, a pre-booked transfer is the most predictable, and an unbooked taxi at midnight is the most expensive. For doing the whole trip cheaply on purpose, see Malta on a budget.
Find flights and hotels
Compares fares and rooms across the airlines and booking sites, and shows what each one is charging.
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