Use public transportation or rent a car? That’s probably the main question when planning a trip to Malta. Malta is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, the most densely populated in Europe, and has the highest rate of car ownership in Europe as well. The island isn’t big, but traveling distances between towns (by car or by bus) will take a while due to the high density and the huge amount of cars on the road. Traffic is generally quite bad, and regardless of whether you drive or go by public transport you’ll probably end up sitting in it.

For lots of reasons (car crash injuries and unsure about whether we’d have to cancel etc.), we decided not to rent a car and chose to get around Malta using public transportation. In hindsight, renting a car would have allowed us to see SO much more in the time we had. But I also would have felt rushed to “see everything” and visit a lot of different places. And that wasn’t the kind of trip I wanted for this one! So many people rent cars here, and normally we would have been one of them. But we relied on public transportation (mainly buses and ferries) to get around, and I still had a great time! It also meant I didn’t have to drive on the left (like in the UK), deal with the chaotic Maltese driving, have to drive down super narrow side streets and park up hills, or worry about parking everywhere I went.

So I wanted to write some kind of guide for getting around Malta by public transportation. There are a lot of things I wish I had known beforehand, and a lot of tips I picked up during my 4 days in Malta. The official bus website in Malta is a fantastic resource—they have stops and timetables for all the routes online. You can find it here.

Standard bus tickets cost €1.50/€2 per person and have a 2-hour transfer time.

Ticket costs are €1.50 in winter, and €2 in summer. These routes cover the entire island and you can get basically everywhere (with a little patience). I love that the ticket includes unlimited transfers within those 2 hours—it made going from Popeye Bay to Marsaxlokk so doable and also affordable. Make sure to think in advance and be strategic with your transfers! The only exception to these tickets are the special buses—mainly the airport buses. The fast airport buses cost €3 per person and do not include any transfers.

There’s free wifi on all the buses!

I was really surprised and pleased to find out that there is free wifi basically everywhere in Malta—including the buses. I actually got a lot of social media stuff done sitting on buses around the island, which was great. It was also nice being able to check bus times on other bus routes using the wifi.

The buses don’t exactly run according to the timetable.

I noticed this a lot, particularly leaving Sliema and going further afield to Cirkewwa and Mdina. The bus was at least 20 minutes late, according to the published timetable. But not every bus was late, so it’s not like you could depend on them running late! I did spend a fair amount of time waiting at bus stops, and it’s important to be patient.

Distances take a lot longer due to traffic and congestion.

Malta isn’t a big island. You can walk from north to south in 3 hours, and it’s less than 22 miles from Cirkewwa in the west to Marsaxlokk in the east. But it takes a really long time to get around, whether you rent a car or use public transportation. Everyone has cars in Malta—the population is 450,000 people, and there are 350,000 cars!! So traffic is generally really bad and even short distances can take an eternity. Going through towns will be slow as there is usually bad congestion. Again, you just need to be patient.

Try to get on the bus at the first stop (beginning of the route) if you want to sit down.

I took a lot of buses that were packed with people. As in, that many people wouldn’t be legally allowed on a bus in the US or the UK. So that meant standing for nearly an hour on the popular routes (like Sliema to Mdina). For example, we stayed in Sliema and picked up the bus from Antik, which was about a 6-minute walk away. But we should have gotten on at the Ferry stop, a 10-minute walk away, since that’s where the bus started. By the time it got to us, there were maybe a few seats left and the rest was standing room only. So if it’s close by and not too inconvenient, try to get on the bus at the first stop. I know they run a different summer timetable during peak tourist season (May-September), but visiting the first week of April all the buses were SO busy. Which means…

Buses will fill up and go straight past you.

For routes to Cirkewwa and Mdina, the bus will fill up with people and they won’t be able to let anyone else on. For example, all the bus stops in St. Julian’s Bay for the morning (daytrip) buses to Cirkewwa and Mdina didn’t get picked up at all. There wasn’t any room for anyone else and so the bus just flew past stops of 10-20 people. And that really sucks when the bus only runs once an hour, and is already 25 minutes late… so be strategic and think about this far in advance!

I had two buses break down while I was on board.

The first was the airport bus, on the way from the airport to the city. The second was leaving Marsaxlokk going back to Valletta. I’m not trying to say the buses aren’t reliable or that they’re not good quality. It totally could have been a fluke and I just happened to be on both of those buses. But it meant getting off a bus on the side of the highway, and transferring to another bus that you’re hoping goes to the right place. I had literally never been in a vehicle that’s gotten a flat tire (I got one about 6 weeks later going to Scotland!), but it definitely happened in Malta! So maybe just take the public transportation system with a grain of salt—and make sure you know the name of the city/bus stop where you want to get off.

The ferry between Sliema and Valletta is super easy and really convenient.

Tickets cost €1.50 per person for a one-way, or €2.80 for a round-trip ticket. The journey only takes about 15 minutes, and on a nice day you can sit on top of the boat and soak up the sunshine! The ferries run in a summer/off-peak timetable. When I visited in April, it was still on the off-peak timetable. Ferries ran from 7:00am to 7:15pm in the evening, and went about every 15 minutes. In peak season, they have a slightly more expensive night service until midnight. Even though there were long lines, you can fit a lot of people on the ferry and the lines move really fast.

Try to have small change for public transportation.

Unless you’re paying for multiple people, try to avoid using bills when using the buses or ferry. Generally they will be able to make change for you (much easier on the ferry than on the bus), but it’s easiest to use coins to pay. Exact change is even better and your drivers will appreciate it!

Depending on the length of your visit, look into getting a multi-day public transportation pass.

For example, you can get a Tallinja card for 10 bus rides for €12 in winter—which would save you €3 in the long run. Or, you can get an Explore card, valid for unlimited use on buses for 7 days. This costs more (€39), but could save you money in the long run. Since I got the express bus from the airport (bus TD2) that wouldn’t have been free with either, I didn’t end up getting either pass.

Overall, I spent €3 on the airport bus and €2.80 on the ferry on the first day, €1.50 on a bus on day 2, €3 on my round-trip visit to Mdina on day 3 along with €1.50 for the ferry, and €4.50 (3 tickets) visiting Popeye Village, Valletta, and Marsaxlokk on day 4. My last day was again the fast airport bus that was €3. All of this was only €16.30, which to say how much I used public transportation is still really affordable! Only €9 was on the public buses, so I’m glad I didn’t get the Tallinja card for 10 bus rides—it worked out cheaper for just a few days to pay for individual tickets. But I’d look into either option if you’re going to be there for longer.

Bus drivers are really knowledgeable.

English is the official language of Malta (along with Maltese). So it’s really easy to ask the bus drivers questions if you’re not sure about something. The island isn’t big, and so the bus drivers know basically all of the routes and stops (or at least it seemed like they did!). When I had a question about which bus I needed, they knew which route I needed to transfer to and what stop I needed. It was much appreciated!

Public transportation will vary based on where you stay.

I stayed in Sliema for my four nights in Malta, which I loved. Thankfully I still had access to transport links to get me where I wanted to go, and I got to wander around all the gorgeous quiet streets. I was a 10-minute walk to basically anywhere I needed to go, including the first stop for buses leaving Sliema and going further afield. But if you’re staying anywhere that isn’t Sliema, St. Julian’s Bay, or Valletta, public transport will probably be a lot more limited.

Valletta is the big hub for the bus network.

Quite a lot of routes will start and end in Valletta, so if you’re staying in Valletta you’ll have lots of options for buses. Routes to/from Valletta also tended to be more frequent and have slightly better services. For example, from Sliema to Mdina there was just one bus, once an hour: number 202. But for Valletta to Mdina, there were three buses: 51, 52, and 53—two of which went every half hour, the third went every hour. There were a lot more options for buses staying in Valletta. Valletta also has a large bus station with bays for different bus routes, which was easy to make sure you get on the right bus.

If you’re planning on visiting Malta and using public transportation, I hope these tips have given you something to think about and will prove useful in the future! Again, if I were to go back to Malta I’d definitely rent a car—but with (a lot of) patience, it was easier to use buses on this specific trip. Make sure to check timetables online beforehand, and use these tips to make the most of the public transportation in Malta!

Public transportation might take longer in Malta, but will most likely save you money. As Malta is an island, you’ll almost definitely need to fly in. I always use Skyscanner to book flights! I loved my stay at Granny’s Inn Hostel in Sliema, which you can book through Hostelworld here! Otherwise, you can book hotels through Booking.com. You can also sign up to and search accommodation on Airbnb here! Considering travel insurance for your trip? World Nomads offers coverage for more than 150 adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and more. Enjoy your trip to Malta!

Have you ever visited Malta? Did you use public transportation or rent a car?

You might like my other Malta posts:

How Much Does It Cost To Travel Malta For 5 Days?

All The Doors Of Malta

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