A newcomer's guide to Malta

EU and Schengen nationals travel on an ID card. Everyone else needs a passport valid for the length of the stay. Check the current entry requirements for your nationality before you book flights; it takes five minutes and saves a bad surprise at the gate.

The best weather runs April to June and September to October: warm, dry, and short of the peak-summer heat. July and August regularly hit 32°C with little relief after dark. Winter is mild, rarely below 10°C, but buildings here are built to stay cool rather than warm, so evenings can feel colder indoors than the forecast suggests.

Pack light layers, one warm layer for winter evenings, and shoes that can handle limestone cobbles. They are beautiful and they are not flat. A modest cover-up earns you entry to the churches, which are worth the visit.

Malta International Airport is small and straightforward: one terminal, clear signage, rarely a long wait at passport control. There is no rail network on the island, so onward travel is by taxi, ride-hailing app, or bus.

A licensed airport taxi is a fixed fare, paid at a kiosk in arrivals before you get in the car, so there is no meter and no surprise at the other end. Bolt operates island-wide and is usually cheaper if you would rather book from your phone. Either way, expect 25 to 35 minutes to the northern coastal towns.

Send us your flight details ahead of time and the access details will be waiting before you land. Check-in here is by lockbox, so there is nobody to wait for.

Driving is on the left, as in the UK. The road network is dense and occasionally opinionated, so a five-kilometre trip can take longer than the map suggests. If you are not planning to drive, you will not miss it.

Public buses are the backbone of the system and go almost everywhere, radiating out from the central terminus beside Valletta's city gate. A Tallinja card, or a contactless tap, makes it painless. Ferries link Sliema and Valletta across the harbour in a few minutes, and a separate ferry runs to Gozo from Ċirkewwa in the north.

Ride-hailing apps are widely used and reliable for anything a bus route doesn't cover conveniently.

The currency is the euro. Cards are accepted almost everywhere, including small cafés and kiosks, though a few village stalls and market vendors remain cash-only, so it is worth keeping a little on you.

Tipping is not obligatory but is appreciated. Rounding up, or adding 5 to 10% at a restaurant for good service, is normal. It is not expected for a coffee at the counter.

The three local networks, Vodafone, GO and Melita, all sell tourist SIMs and eSIMs at the airport and in town. They are usually cheaper than a roaming add-on if you are staying more than a few days. If your home SIM is from another EU country, standard roaming rules mean it likely works here at no extra cost anyway.

The home has its own WiFi. The network name and password are in the welcome information you'll receive before arrival.

Malta's bins run on a colour-coded bag system and the collection day depends on the exact street, so the schedule is written into the welcome folder rather than left for you to work out.

Power cuts are rare and almost always brief. If everything goes dark, check the trip switch in the fuse cupboard first, because it is usually that rather than the street. If it isn't, message or call us and we'll sort it. We are on the island, not in a call centre somewhere else.

Anything else about the home that the welcome information doesn't cover, whether that's the aircon remote, the washer, or where the spare towels live, reach us at [email protected] and you'll get a direct answer rather than a ticket number.

The swimming season runs from late May to early November. August is the warmest, at around 26°C in the water, and October still holds about 23°C. From November the gregale wind picks up from the northeast, the sea gets rough, and the water falls to roughly 15°C by February, so winter is better spent walking the coast than swimming off it.

The midday sun between June and August is stronger than the temperature alone suggests. Reef-safe sunscreen and a hat are worth packing rather than buying in a panic on day two.

Tap water is safe to drink. Most residents keep a filter jug or buy bottled for the taste rather than out of any real concern. Entry to the sea at many spots is over rock rather than sand, so a pair of water shoes earns its space in the case.

For any genuine emergency, 112 reaches police, ambulance and fire anywhere in Malta, free, at any hour.

For everything else, whether that's a restaurant booking, a boat to Comino, or simply not knowing where to start, [email protected] reaches us directly. Answering that is most of the job.