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Getting Out and About In Malta

BIKE HIRE

You will see bike hire stations now in Malta. The roads in Malta are very dangerous as the Maltese do not really adhere to the usual road safety measures. I strongly recommend that you do not hire a bike. When you cross the roads, take extra care and only cross the road when the approaching car has stopped to let you cross.

BUS CARD OPTIONS

EXPLORE CARD

Costs E21 – unlimited travel for 7 days.

12 SINGLE DAY JOURNEYS CARD

This card gives you 12 single journeys to use whenever you want and can be shared with your family and friends.

EXPLORE PLUS travel card

This currently costs E39

You get 7 days of unlimited travel on the buses.

and

1 full day on the CitySightseeing bus or 1 trip to Comino

and

2 ferry trips between Sliema and Valletta

HOWEVER IF YOU DO DO IT – PLEASE ONLY USE THE BOAT TRIP RATHER THAN THAT BUS COMPANY AS THAT BUS COMPANY DOES NOT HAVE GOOD REVIEWS ON TRIPADVISOR. THERE IS ANOTHER HOP ON HOP OFF BUS THAT YOU CAN GET FROM CAPTAIN MORGAN OFFICE WHICH IS NEXT DOOR TO THE APARTMENT – THAT ONE WOULD BE A GOOD WAY TO VISIT THE RUINS AND THE ISLAND.

A REGULAR BUS JOURNEY WITH NO SPECIAL CARD

You can ride anywhere on the busses for E2 and children under 5 years of age ride for free.

Whenever you have to take a journey which might involve taking a second or third bus…or if you intend to return home….your first bus ticket is actually valid for 2 hours on other busses so any additional bus journeys during this time are free with this first ticket. This applies to the SINGLE DAY JOURNEY CARD as well.

WHERE TO BUY THE BUS CARDS?

A few minutes walk from the apartment and you will find Tigne Point Shopping Center. When you are there, ask for the Agenda Bookshop and they will give you the bus card of your choice.

HOW GOOD ARE THE BUSSES?

Really, really good, they come regularly and they are easy, clean and cool inside.

HOW TO PLAN YOUR ROUTE

Click on this link

and then put in where you want to go and put in the address of your apartment

Tigne Sea Front

and it will give you the times of the busses

IMPORTANT – PLEASE NOTE

1) Crossing the road in Malta is safe when you only cross when the driver has stopped his car for you. Please do not try to cross the road on a zebra crossing / cross walk UNLESS the driver has actually STOPPED. Only then is it safe to cross the road.

2)
When you are at your bus stop, always check with EVERY bus driver whether it is the bus you want because the busses often come with one number and leave with another…..so if you have not seen them change their numbers….you may miss your bus! So just ask the bus driver to ensure you get on the right bus!

WHERE CAN YOU GO ON THE BUSSES, FROM A BUS STOP NEAR YOUR APARTMENT?

MDINA

Bus number 202 to get to mdina from the sliema ferries.

GOLDEN BAY and GHAN TUFFIEHA

Take a walk along the promenade towards Sliema. Ask for the Marks & Spenser shop and you will see the bus stop just outside it. You need to take the 225 bus and aim to be at the bus stop 10 minutes before the top of the hour. The journey is a nice coastal road ride that takes an hour. So you will see some nice things on the way. The busses are clean and easy and inexpensive.

There are two nice beaches, Golden Bay is a little easier to access so it is usually a lot busier. I love both beaches. These are probably the nicest beaches on the island. Golden Bay has golden colour sand whilst Tuffieha Bay seems a little more orange in appearance. You get off the bus one stop earlier for Tuffieha Bay and you walk to the ice cream shed…which is always there. Then you go left and immediately right down a lot of steps. To see the photos of this bay please click here.

VALLETTA

Bus number 13 and 14 and lots of other busses take you there, or you can take the ferry across. Just walk down towards the cruise ships and ask someone for the ferry, it is easy. The ferry ride is nice and inexpensive…..about E2 return for an adult.

MELLIEHA

The 222 bus route again go to Sliema Ferries.

ST JULIANS AND PACEVILLE AND ST GEORGE’S BAY

The bus number 212
St George’s is close to us and a nice ride on the busses.

PACEVILLE

You will find the cinema, bowling alley, shopping mall, lots of cafes.

http://www.edensuperbowl.com

There are fun places to eat there like this one for kids…..you can have a lot of fun downstairs and then eat upstairs

http://www.funlandmalta.com/

St George’s Bay – nice sandy beach….a 4 minute walk to the bottom of Paceville, so you can dip you feet in there

TA QALI

Craft center and stadium.

SPLASH AND FUN / SWIMMING WITH THE DOLPHINS

https://www.splashandfunmalta.com/

Buss 225

HAGAR QIM AND MNAJDRA TEMPLES

Every hour the 74 bus from Valetta can take you to the Hagar qim and Mnajdra temples, they are older than the pyramids and I think more impressive than Stonehenge

GREAT DAYS OUT (WITHOUT NEEDING TO HIRE A CAR)

I strongly suggest that you take a look at the really good daily deals on this website www.dealtoday.com.mt You will get reductions on cruises and lots of tourist attractions.

I went on the Fernandez Cruise and I give it a 10/10. Why? It was a lovely big, old, wooden boat that took us to Comino and Gozo. We went in September and there were 70 people on board but in the summer there are probably twice that…..so that might impact how good it is then. The stop in Comino was at an area of shallow aqua blue water. It was quite breathtaking. There were a lot of people in the water and on the tiny beach but the colour of the water was just so amazing. To get to the beach the path was uneven rock path so you may want to bring sensible shoes

Then we went back on the boat and had lunch which was fine, then we went on to Gozo to swim off the boat and that was really special.

We had a really great day…..do take a look at the photos to get a feel for the day….please click here.

FABULOUS DAY IN VALETTA

A trip to Valetta on the ferry. Simply walk down towards Sliema, along the promenade and when you see a gazebo type tent on the promenade, that is the ticket booth for the ferry. It is very inexpensive at approx E2 for the ride, for a nice day out in Valetta to see the sights. The ferry ride takes about 20 minutes and goes every 30 mins. When you arrive in Valetta you will see a red bus that will take you up the hill and into the heart of Valetta for E1. However, if you feel like walking it will take you about 6 minutes to walk it.
Within 5 minutes from the ferry you could arrive at the Malta 5D experience. www.malta5d.com This is a movie type experience that includes all your sense. It takes about 20 minutes and runs hourly. I thought it was FANTASTIC and very well worth the money.
You can then spend a really nice day in Valletta, admiring the architecture, going to other museums or shopping or enjoying the cafes and watching the World go by. In particular I can recommend the strawberry, cream and chocolate crepe that is served at the San Giovanni cafe which is situated opposite the St John’s Cathedral. It was so good I had to have two!!!!
Another great restaurant is just by the ferry on the Valletta side. It is the Cockneys restaurant. If I have any discount vouchers for this restaurant or for the Malta 5D show they will be left out by the microwave for you.

There are a lot of other museums in Valletta to go to as well, click here to see them.

IF YOU HAVE A FABULOUS DAY OUT THAT YOU THINK OTHERS MAY ENJOY AND YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE…..PLEASE SEND TO THE NAME OF THE PLACE, HOW TO GET THERE AND PHOTOS IF YOU LIKE TO PAM@YOUR-HOME-FROM-HOME.COM AND I WILL ADD IT HERE ON THIS WEB PAGE FOR OTHER GUESTS TO ENJOY. THANKS! LOVE PAM