Quick, short last minute trip to Malta

Food - A combination of many other ethnic groups, nothing I can recommend. They do serve rabbit and horse meat. They did tell us their cows are mainly for milk since they do not have much grass for grazing. Pork is their main meat. They export tomatoes and potatoes, their main crops.

summary - The Maltese people are extremely nice and open. Their official language is English but all children also learn Maltese. It is a combination of Arabic, Italian, and French, but sounds Arabic. We can’t quite describe the culture because it is such a combination of all the peoples who settled there. Even though the Arabic influence is very visible, they are a Catholic island and the majority of people still attend Sunday Mass. The island is very clean.

Money - cards were accepted most places. But always have some cash on you. The €3 gondola was cash only for example. It was not expensive by US standards. Very affordable, museums and food.

I have been wanting to visit Malta for a long time and happy we got to go. I didn’t do too much research since we were limited with our non-English speakers. And no, we couldn’t separate for various reasons. Would it have been a different trip if it was just my husband and I, most definitely. Did we have fun, most definitely.
Coincidentally, we are booked on a Celebrity cruise next September which stops in Valletta. I am already thinking about what we missed and need to see.

Commending you for turning over the planning to someone else! Not sure I can do that…..
Glad you enjoyed your brief trip to Malta!

Well the timing of your post could not have been more perfect. Just this weekend, my friends and I decided we wanted to see Sicily and Malta after our RS Turkey tour next year. Thanks for your insight!

it works much better if you do the accent while reading the report :-P

Yes Tammy, it was difficult but I survived, barely, lol.
Claudette, Definitely stay in Valletta, this is where all the action is and the bus station.
Avi, you crack me up with your subtle whit.

Barbara, this is a wonderful report of your short last minute trip to Malta. I loved how you organized the report with appropriate headings and you write like you speak - really bringing us readers in with your vivid picture of the area.

Oh, one important piece of advice I forgot -
Malta uses the same electricity as England, so bring a 3 prong adapter.

Thanks for the insights. We will be in Malta for almost 2 weeks next June (I am into slow travel). We plan on staying in Valetta 5 nights, Mdina/Rabat 5 nights. One operator suggested that we spend the other 3 nights in Gozo, without a car at the Kempenski. I was skeptical; I dislike being trapped at a resort with nothing/not much within walking. Do you know if the Gozo HOHO goes to/near this resort? From your description, we might try a beach resort within walking to a town on the main island instead and just do the day trip to Gozo. Community, let me know if you have suggestions!

I have my HOHO map and these are the stops - FYI, we took the green bus (Gozohighspeed.com) which was a combo ticket with the ferry from Valletta. The red bus, (city-sightseeing.com) might have better stops.

Mgarr Harbour
Mixta Cave
Ramla
Ġggantija Temples & Ta’ Kola Windmill
Sabina Creativity Centre
Marsalforn Bay (Salt Pans)
Victoria Bus Station
Ta’Pinu Sanctuary
Ta’Dbieġi Crafts Village
Azure Window (Dwejra)
Fontana
Xiendi Bay
Victoria Bus Station
Xewkija Square
Mġarr Harbour

We only stopped at Victoria to see the cathedral and grab a sandwich and Ta’Pinu Sanctuary. Here the bus driver waits for about 15 minutes to see the church. There isn’t anything else there. Most of the stops are for swimming and diving. The craft villages were just very expensive stores and not too many.
Personally, I was not thrilled with Gozo, very spread out and very beige.
I don’t know if your hotel is on this route or the red bus.

Sounds like a great getaway! What a treat to be able to "pop over" on short notice from Croatia.

Glad you enjoyed the trip, if not the accommodation ;-)

I've got to respectfully disagree with some (perhaps a lot) of what's posted above. Tastes vary, as will individual experiences. That said...

We absolutely LOVED Gozo. We were in Malta/Gozo for about 2 weeks, spent out last four nights on Gozo, could have easily stayed longer, and Gozo was one of the highlights of our trip (we loved Malta, too). So for us, any characterizations of Gozo as "meh" and bland did not align with our experience, at all. Far from it - we thought Gozo was absolutely spectacular. Here are a few photos.

Now, we had a car, and made good use of it, to get around to all of both Malta and Gozo. If you're limited to just what's in walking distance of HOHO buses, you'll be among the cruise ship day-trippers, and you're not going to get out to a lot of the good stuff -- same as at any other popular destination. We found having a car on both Malta and Gozo to be extremely useful (having a car in Valetta itself was worse than useless, but to get outta town, where so much of the good stuff is, it was critical).

I'll add that the SCUBA diving from Gozo was just OK, not awesome (we are spoiled) but it was interesting enough to keep us happy for an afternoon (between the weird giant jellyfish which were plentiful and everywhere, to the impressive underwater topography, with gigantic collapsed granite arches and blocks, all fun to swim through). One day of diving was enough, since there was LOTS of jaw-dropping, eye-candy terrain topside, though admittedly some of it required a bit of walking across rocky terrain to reach (also true of a lot of amazing places on Malta). All well worth some time on any trip to Malta IMHO, don't skip Gozo! YMMV.

I’m happy you loved Gozo David, but Tina states she won’t have a car, and didn’t want to be trapped at a resort. From what we saw, most resorts were kinda out there on their own. Also, no mention of scuba diving or swimming. We also did not have a car and did not want to go swimming. Having a car anywhere gives you a much different experience.

Also, since she has an option to stay at a resort within walking and on the main island, I believe it would be a better choice. It would be for us.

I thought I had already replied, but apparently only on my head. So, thanks for writing this up, with all your details! Malta appeals to me but it keeps getting shoved down the list. This reminds me to move it back up.

Both on Malta and on Gozo it does help if you are willing to use Public Transport- https://www.publictransport.com.mt/visiting-malta/

It's a shame that it is all now modern buses, not the deeply characterful older buses with their prayer cards and rosary beads, but the EU required the system to modernise, for accessibility and climate reasons.

That is how very many locals get about, and also (for instance) the Brits (and probably other nationalities) who go out to Malta in the winter for many weeks at a time. They neither rent cars or stay on resort all the time. The Hop on Hop Off Bus is not the only way to get around without a car. In fact it wasn't even an option for me when I docked at Malta Freeport at Marsaxlokk as opposed to in Valetta.

Personally I doubt whether many Cruise ship passengers would get as far as Gozo to use the HoHo bus there- there is just far too much else on Malta (indeed just in Valletta) to explore in a day's cruise call.