Do I need a visa to visit Malta?
British passport holders do not require a visa to enter Malta. However, they need at least three months validity on their passports from date of arrival.
What language do they speak in Malta?
The official language is Maltese, but everyone speaks English.
What is the currency?
The Maltese Lira (LM) is still often referred to as pounds. It is divided into liri and cents. Current rate of exchange is £1 = Lm0.67.
How expensive is it?
Coffee 80p
Glass of beer £1
Three course meal £11
10-minute taxi ride £5
Postcard and stamp 80p
All costs are approximate – Source: Cresta Holidays
How long does it take to fly there from the UK?
Three hours direct.
How do I get there?
With so many regional airports serving Malta, it’s an easy destination to travel to.
Air Malta flies from Dublin, Glasgow, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead, Manchester, Birmingham during its winter schedule, with the addition of Cork for its summer schedule.
GB Airways flies from Gatwick year, round, while charter services operate from several regional airports including Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh, Humberside, Inverness, Isle of Man, Teesside, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands, Cardiff, Newcastle, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Norwich.
What is the time difference?
Malta is one hour ahead of UK time.
What vaccinations do you need before travelling?
None.
What are the shopping hours?
Shops are open between 9am and 1pm and from 4pm to 7pm, Mondays to Saturdays. Shops do not open on Sundays and public holidays. In commercial areas frequented by tourists, most shops remain open until 10pm.
What is the food like?
There is a large variety of restaurants, ranging from fast-food franchises to international cuisine including Maltese, Italian, French, Chinese, Indian and even Japanese.
The place to meet
For conferences or incentive breaks, Malta is proving increasingly popular. This is partly thanks to its proximity to the UK, the good weather and the group incentive opportunities, but also because of its modern meeting facilities.
The Mediterranean Conference Centre overlooking the Grand Harbour, once served as a hospital for the Knights of St John when it was built in 1574. Today it offers state-of-the-art facilities with an auditorium accommodating up to 1,400 people and an exhibition hall, formerly the Great Ward of the hospital, that is one of the largest in Europe.
This year Malta’s dedicated conference space is being boosted with the opening of the Hilton Malta Conference Centre. The centre, adjacent to the five-star Hilton Hotel in St Julian’s, is scheduled to open in March 2003. The main convention hall will accommodate up to 1,400 people theatre-style, the largest in the Maltese islands. There is extensive ancillary space for break-out exhibitions and catering, which in association with the hotel facilities, will ensure that the centre can provide a one-stop solution for events.
In addition to this there are more than 18 four and five-star hotels on Malta and Gozo that provide conference facilities – but this number is growing all the time.
The opening of the five-star Inter-Continental Malta Hotel last November provided 17 meeting rooms and an additional 1,700 sqm of meeting/banqueting space at the adjacent Eden Ice Arena.
Did you know?
St Paul was shipwrecked on Malta in AD64 while on his way to Rome. He stayed for three months and introduced Christianity to the islands. An arm bone of the saint and a piece of the column on which he was beheaded are housed in St Paul’s Shipwreck Church in Valletta.