Malta

[Uriah Heep]

Is Malta a cheap or an expensive place to visit?  Are there any bargains to be had?  Anything to avoid/watch out for?  Any local dishes one must avoid/eat?  Any tips?

[scubadiver]

Malta is as expensive as you want it to be. There are a wide range of hotels, of all standards and a wide range of prices.

The same with food - if you stick to "tourist" restaurants in resort areas, eg St Paul's Bay/Buggibba/Qwara, or St Jullians/Sliema areas, a meal will cost a few pounds. Equally, there are some upmarket places to eat and you will obviously pay much more in these places.

Local dishes - there are a lot of Italian influences, so pasta/pizza is widespread. Local dishes are Braggioli (sort of a ham olives type dish) rabbit stew or pie, lampuki (a deep sea fish pie) octopus and most seafood dishes are all worth trying. In terms of drink, most of the local wines are good (La Vallette, Marsovin etc, although they never taste as good when brought back home!). One local beer to try is Cisk, a lager which I find an acquired taste, but gets better after the first one!

Bargains - most of the tourist stuff is tat, but go to the craft market at the old air base near Mdina and you can pick up some lovely hand blown glass items.

One thing I have noticed is that people seem to either love or hate Malta - there is no ambivalence. Happily, we both love it, as it is a great diving destination!

Sorry I can't be more specific about prices etc, but if you can give me more to go on, I can certainly recommend a few places

We always find bargains for flights & accomodation through www.maltadirect.com

HTH

[fibifooz]

Look after your wallet. We went to one of the local markets, in a place called Marsaxlokk and I had mine stolen from my bag.  Put me off ever going back there.

On a positive note though, the trip around Valetta harbour was really good, and the local buses are very cheap.

[chazza]

My advice would be to avoid the whole country!  It is the worst holiday i've ever had and the locals were the rudest I've ever met!

[Uriah Heep]

Just when I though things were going my way along comes Chazza.  I am flying out tomorrow for a week staying in the North of the island, all booked through Malta Direct, I hope to let you all know how it goes on my return.  Meanwhile thanks to all.

[scubadiver]

A perfect example of "love it - hate it but no ambivalence"!!

I happen to find the majority of the Maltese people to be the friendliest I have come across.