Malta by public transportation, bys & ferry (Including Gozo & Comino, regular & fast ferry)
Malta. A small Mediterranean island nation, known
for its rich history stunning coastlines and ancient architecture. We arrived here by ferry, and also departed here by ferry, and of course we travel around by public transportation as well. The bus and the ferry are the only ways of public transportation because no trains at Malta, anymore at least. We’ll show you all in this video and also why the public transportation is the best way to get around. So, join us on this video, as we discover the country of Malta including the islands of Gozo and Comino by bus and ferry. For now, let’s get this video on the road, because no trains here in Malta and let’s roll the intro. [Music] We arrived in Malta by train, we took from the Netherlands where we are from to the south of Italy to Pozallo, in the southern part of Sicily to be exactly. From there on we took a ferry to Malta You would think, that it’s most obvious to start this trip report at the international ferry terminal of Malta, however to be honest the public transportation connections from and to there are quite disappointing. There will be another trip report, where I tell you more. So, what we do for this video; we take a bus from the airport of
Malta to the main bus station of Valletta, what is the capital. From there on, we take another bus to the other side of the main island, what’s also called Malta, where you find the ferries to Gozo and to Comino. We take a ferry to Comino, discover that island quickly and then we go back to the main island, Malta and take a ferry to Gozo. From there on we take a fast ferry back to Malta to Valletta to be exactly. The bus system within the country of Malta is really good to be honest. There are lots of buses and quite a lot of the bus lines do operates all day long. Apart from that, you have special night buses as well. Malta is just very dense populated and the government is doing everything to get people out of their cars, because if everybody would drive a car there would even
be more congestion on the already busy roads of Malta. So, therefore for example the fast ferry between Gozo and Malta is also a good way to travel. We stayed during our trip here in Malta at the town of Sliema, this is close to the capital of Valletta and between Sliema and Valletta you will also find a ferry. And even though this ferry might seem the best way to travel between these two, well from Malta’s perspective “cities”, this ferry was also really busy, so taking the bus wasn’t that strange either between these two places. Malta is the ninth most dense populated country in the world, and I have to add up to this of the top 10 most dense populated countries in the world there’s only one real country and that is Bangladesh. All the other countries are just island states or city states
like for example Monaco, Singapore, Hong Kong and Gibraltar. But one thing i really noticed here, and I haven’t had this experience in any other country, I felt it was too dense populated. And I have to add up to this I am from the Netherlands that’s on number 26 of most dense populated countries. And my wife, she is from Taiwan that’s on number 17 and most people in Taiwan do live on a small portion of the country. I might hear some wise Dutch people saying “yeah we have this
too” but that’s nothing compared to Taiwan.” And both in the Netherlands and Taiwan, I never had the experience that i felt like a country is too busy or too dense populated. And a fact is if you want to move a lot of people in one go, trains are just the best way but you won’t find trains in Malta, anymore at least. Even though, you do find some really pretty parts of nature over
here. Most of that is located at the coastline. Malta used to be very well known for these old
classical buses you could find all over the island, but you will only find them for some touristic
purposes here every now and then. I have to say, these buses are very smelly and not so good for
the environment. Anyway, even though we arrived in Malta by ferry, statistically if you arrive here you will take a plane and you will arrive at the airport. If you’re curious about how it is to travel without flying, what is obviously much more sustainable you can check out lots of videos on this YouTube channel. But I have to add up to this…, for Malta, especially if this is your first time going on a non-fly holiday, it’s not the cheapest and best way to travel to here without flying. The ferry between Malta and Sicily was actually quite expensive, however it is a very fast service and also a really reliable ferry connection. However, for this video we will start at the airport of Malta, from where on you find many flights to lots of places and especially within Europe. From and to the airport you find lots of Airport Direct Buses. These buses go to all destinations on the main island of Malta. In total there are four Airport Direct bus lines and these buses are a bit bigger than the regular buses. Most buses on the island of malta and Gozo are just kind of city
buses. We quickly sneaked into the airport and the airport itself it’s not very big, and the same thing for the bus station, right in front of the airport. If you walk out of the airport you are straight at the bus station. If you’re planning to get around by taxi, what I can imagine as your first leg from the airport or the ferry terminal to the hotel or the other way around, I really recommend you to use the bolt app. Don’t use the “official” white taxis, those taxi drivers at least
as we experienced it and also what we heard from other tourists are very pushy and charged way too high prices. Even when we negotiated a good price, Bolt was still cheaper. Actually I really like Bolt in general, not only here in Malta but many other European countries. Anyway, over here we are at the bus station at the airport. There are some vending machines for tickets as well but you can also use a contactless payment card. And you can also buy multiple day tickets, this is actually what we did I’m wondering if it’s really worth it but well you can do that as well. Apart from the Airport Express buses, some more regional buses do call here as well. Both the Airport Express buses and line X300, that we’ll be taking as the second bus along video do have some dedicated look at storage below the bus. It’s not that much to be honest. The buses do operate pretty frequent. Even though there’s not much to show about the interior of the buses, I will show you the interior in a bit. But first let’s take this bus to the main bus station of Valletta, and while we do this I’ll show you some views from the bus along this route. [Music] Here, the bus is arriving at Valletta, at the main bus station close to where used to be the main railway station of Valletta. Well, before i show you around and obviously show you more of the public transportation in Malta.., I hope you like this video so far. If you do so or if it’s a helpful video to you please give me a thumbs up i really appreciate that. If you like to see more trip reports, about more sustainable ways of transportation, the main focus for this channel is long distance and or international traveling, Well this is an exception when it comes to because long distance is not possible here in Malta, But if you like to see more, for example how we got here by ferry, then hit that subscribe button if you haven’t done this already. For now let’s continue with this video. Valletta, what is the capital of Malta doesn’t have a lot of big streets. For the same reason, when it comes to public transportation within the capital of Malta, you will find some buses on the smaller streets everywhere but the main bus station is located just outside of the historical city center. Close to a spot, where used to be the main railway station of Valletta. Well, I have to add up to this; the railway line that used to be in Malta, is not very long and it only served a small section of the main island. But this here, used to be the bridge for the railway line and the railway station was right here on the left, underground. As you can see as this picture shows as a train is leaving the station. This small railway line only served for 48 years in Malta between 1883 and 1931. And despite the fact that Malta has a good bus system now, I think it would make sense to have at least a kind of a tramway, at some busy parts. Simply because a railway system can take much more passengers in one single go, and is on the long term also more efficient. It’s more sustainable you need less staff, etc. Even a light rail can already make a difference. Anyway, let’s focus on the bus station of Valletta, what is basically just outside of the old city center of Valletta. And this place is busy… They even have special traffic controllers at this spot itself, to at least control the traffic here a little bit, because there are so many buses over here, it’s crazy. And one thing is for sure, in Malta they definitely don’t have enough people living here for all the jobs that are needed in for example tourism. So lots of people that work in Malta or not even from Malta itself, so the real population is much higher than it is on paper. If you walk out of the city center, close to the point where used to be the railway station towards the bus station there is a big square where you find a fountain as well and this is basically the beginning of the central bus station. Apart from buses, I also noticed a bike sharing program over here. I didn’t only noticed this here but at some other spots in Malta as well, so you can get around by bike as well. Although, in the hot summer days I wouldn’t prefer that. At the central bus station of Valletta, there are obviously some vending machines where you can buy bus tickets but you find them at many bus stops in general. And here on the right, there is also a ticket and information point, what you might also find at other bigger bus stations. For the rest, things basically speaks for themself. The bus station has been divided into three different zones; A, B and C. For specific bus lines, you obviously find different bus stops also mentioned as bays, for example A10, A11, A12, A13, A14 and A15 here on the right. It has been generally marked what area to go to for what bus lines, and also at the beginning of the bays or the platforms this has been clearly marked. Most buses that do serve this bus station are
very regional buses. It’s very difficult to have not regional buses in a country that is such small country as Malta, but the kind of longer distance buses to depart from section B. And this is basically the Airport Express and line X300, that will go to the ferry terminal where you’ll find the ferries to Gozo and Comino. Right here, we are at section B and opposite from the street
over here you will find section C. Most buses do depart from section A at the Valletta bus
station. Right next to all bus stops or bays you do find digital screens and also some offline information about the timet the routes, etc. This counts basically for all buses, and within pretty much all buses i noticed also digital screens that will host route information. Although, I have to say in some buses it’s definitely better than in other buses. There is a rather good app for planning your public transportation in Malta and most public transportation is also listed in Google Maps. What I noticed is quite a lot of buses, here have been produced in China, what’s not that strange but normally if you have Chinese buses these are electric buses but here in Malta most buses are not even electric. Anyway, the kind of longer distance buses from Valletta bus station do depart, at least at the moment of recording from bus stop B1. And from here on, we will take our next bus, that will take us to the point where you find the ferries to Gozo and to Comino. You also find a direct ferry from Valletta though but we’ll take that on the way back. Within the small luggage racks above the seats you’ll find a reading light, an air conditioning and USB sockets. USB A sockets to be exactly, it’s one USB A socket per seat basically. And yes, the reading lights are working. Although I wouldn’t use it that often myself actually. First of all I don’t like to read when I’m on a bus and second of all when we made these journeys it was really sunny. Once again, for the airport direct buses and also line X300 that we’ll be taking right now, you do find some dedicated luggage space below the bus and you find smaller luggage racks above the seat. There are some priority seats, and in the middle of the bus you’ll find this space for strollers or people traveling in a wheelchair for example. Although these buses don’t have level boarding. You can pay on board of these buses using a contactless payment card, but what we did for our trip in Malta, we bought a explore card, what is a 7day unlimited travel by bus ticket. To be honest, I think if we would just have bought separate individual tickets that would have been more or less the same price. Even though with an unlimited ticket you might have some more freedom, I mean it’s totally up to you what you prefer. The buses in Malta can be very busy in the high season from what I’ve heard, but I think it’s rather busy here in general if you go here in the high season. When we were in Malta it was in May. Anyway, for now i’ll just show you the fuse from the bus between Valletta and Cirkewwa, at the other end of the island where you find the fairies to Gozo and also to Comino, the smallest island that belongs to the country of Malta. After that we’ll take the high-speed ferry from Gozo back to Valletta again. [Music] Here, the bus is arriving at Cirkewwa ferry terminal.
You also find a bus stop obviously. From here, you will find the big ferries that will go to Gozo, what is the other island that belongs to the the country of Malta. However, there is a very small third island; Comino and you do find some kind of ferries from here to there as well. Mainly heading to the so-called “blue lagoon”, no not the one in Iceland. Well, these are not really serious ferries. These are just boats that bring you from A to B and it’s not a long journey anyway. Also, these ferries to Comino are relatively pricey. The island of Comino is inhabited as well, with a population of about three. At least this is what I found on Wikipedia, maybe it;s wrong but not many people do live here. Let it be no surprise, that for the same reason you can’t find hotels over here. Actually I looked for this when I booked this Malta trip but well I haven’t done my research well enough I found out afterwards. The ferry makes some more stops along the way, to some
scenic parts before we arrive at the Blue Lagoon. What is just very busy, and we were not even here
on the high season. I guess even if you’re here in the high season just try to be here early and otherwise just skip it. Malta doesn’t have a lot of beaches though and well some kind of beaches can be found over here. But this place was just super busy, it felt like you find lots
of monkeys sitting on a rock…, or taking selfies for Instagram. In terms of food options, there’s not a shortage of that over here. If you want to visit the Blue Lagoon you can also do this if you stay for example in Sliema or Valletta where we stayed, take an excursion from that part of the island and have a whole day trip. We saw several boats making this excursion. On the way back, we had a different boat…, a speed boat where everybody basically got soaking wet. Well thank goodness the weather was pretty good for this so we didn’t get a cold. For now let’s focus on the real ferries from here to Gozo, along the Gozo Channel Line that’s the ferry company that we’ll be taking next. The ferries between Cirkewwa and Gozo are way bigger, and one thing that’s quite funny actually; You only pay if you’re traveling from Gozo to Malta, so basically they will charge the return price if you travel back to the main island of Malta again. So we didn’t need to pay for this ferry ride. From Gozo we took the fast ferry back to Valletta at the main island of Malta again. Anyway a couple of minutes before departure everybody can go on board and these ferries also do take cars. And even though this crossing only takes about 20 to 25 minutes, these are proper ferries. Where you find quite a lot of facilities and a real true ferry terminal, both at the island of Malta and at the island of Gozo. I don’t know if there are many differences between the ferries, but the ferry we had had a cafeteria, what was not that special to be honest but can be very useful, especially if you commute on these ferries. There is also a rather big seating area. At the other side of the entrance where I just entered the ferry from, there is this area over here; another rather big seating area. And a convenience store, free Wi-Fi is also available at least if I may believe the signs, although I did not test it out. The convenience store has quite a lot of things to choose from, not too healthy though. And even then there are even some vending machines where you can buy snacks and drinks. These ferries do operate 24/7, so I can imagine that the cafeteria and the convenience store are not always open. Apart from that, you also find quite a big area outside:
the sun deck. And even though malta is a sunny place, when we made this crossing it was becoming a little bit cloudy as you can see, but it was still pretty warm. These are no fast ferries, but still the ferry crossing only takes 25 minutes. As you can see the vessels are a little bit different, so they’re not all the same. So expect different kinds of fairies but if you take the great picture it won’t be that much different from what I showed you in this video. The ferry will pass the island of Comini, where we just came from and from this bigger ferry we can also see the very tiny fairies that went to the island of Comino to Cirkewwa where, we just took this ferry from. The ferry arrives in Gozo at the town of… and I’m sorry for my pronunciation; Mġarr. Over here you will also find the fast ferry between Gozo and Valletta, and we’ll be taking that one back…, yes this one over here. Unfortunately we didn’t discover Gozo itself. Anyway, the ferry terminal for the Gozo
Channel Line is rather big as well. The highest capacity on board of the fairies between the main
island, so Malta and Gozo can be found on these ferries. This counts for both foot passengers and obviously also passengers traveling by car, they can’t take the fast ferry that we’ll be taking from here. Right next to the ferry terminal, there are some bus stops as well but we won’t be taking a bus from here on. From here on we’ll be traveling straight back to Valletta again, with the fast ferry. The terminal for the fast ferry is opposite from the ferry terminal building where you find the Gozo Channel Line ferries, that’s right over here. I have to say, the ferry terminal for the fast ferry is really small. Thank goodness Malta is a good weather country, because in terms of inside waiting areas there’s not that much. You do find a ticket counter here though, and this here is the
waiting area. That’s basically it. And here is the ferry that will take us to Valleta, in about 45 minutes from here so it’s a really fast connection. These fairies do operate in general every hour, and are also for commuters a very common way to travel between Gozo and Malta. And these fairies themselves…, they’re rather simple. They just bring you from A to B, don’t expect too much. The ticket check took already place at the mini ferry terminal, so basically after everybody went off the ferry we could move on to the ferry itself. And over here you will basically only find seats, the front section was closed when I boarded the ferry however later on they opened this as well. If you get seasick easily, I recommend you to take a seat at the back of the vessel. These are fast ferries, if the sea is a little bit choppy you’re kindly asked to not walk around and there’s not much to go to anyway. However, you do find some fending machines for some snacks and drinks and obviously you also find the toilets i mean no train tour is complete without showing you the toilets and I think the same thing counts for a ferry tour. I skipped that at the previous ferry to be honest. Anyway, this is one of the toilets. You will also find a bigger accessible toilet, I mean pretty fine nothing special. For oversized luggage, at the middle of the vessel you will also find luggage racks at the moment you come on board of the ferry. Screens at the ferry do some basic information some route information as well, the seats do come in an airline style composition. I wouldn’t travel on the middle seats to be honest but in general these seats are pretty fine. The amount of leg room is reasonable and I have to add up to this I’m quite a tall boy. You find a magazine rack with a seasickness back and a safety cart as well in the seat in front of you. For some of the front seats you do find seat belts as well, but this is only for a couple of seats. To be honest when we made this journey the sea was a little bit choppy, it wasn’t that rough to be honest but filming the views from the ferry was a bit challenging. Apart from that, I took a seat at the wrong side, so I was
not having the views on the island of Malta. But I did have some views on the island of Comino though. I honestly think that this ferry is the most convenient way to travel between Gozo and Valletta. If you travel by bus, it’s a very doable connection as well. However, you need to keep in mind that the traffic in Malta is quite hectic and there is a lot of congestion on the roads. Therefore, this ferry is just the best way to move around. The location where the ferry will drop off passengers
in Valletta , the main island so Malta is pretty central located. However, if you want to continue your journey by bus it’s not the most convenient spot to be honest. Just like at the island of Gozo the ferry terminal for the fast ferry in Valletta, is not that big. It’s a little bit better located than the ferry terminal for the international ferries from and to Malta so basically to Italy. If you’re interested in that, once again you do find a trip report on that as well on this YouTube channel, and if it’s not there yet just stay tuned. That’s it for this video, I hope you liked it, or this has been helpful to you. Once again if you have some questions, feedback, comments let me know in the comment section. If you like to see more trip reports on more sustainable ways of
transportation, once again this channel is mainly focusing on long distance and or international
traveling so this is a little bit an exception when it comes to this on this channel. But if you like to see more then hit that subscribe button if you haven’t done this already. Before we really end up this video one last thing. Once again thank you for watching, if you are interested in other
videos, in the description of this video on YouTube you find a link to a map and on this map you can find all videos as well but then on a map. If you like to see passenger POV videos, I do have a
separate channel as well. See you on the next video.
In this video we’ll take the bus in Malta, on the main island with the same name, after that we’ll take a ferry to Comino, back to Malta again and then we take the regular ferry to Gozo, from where on we’ll take the fast ferry to Valletta, the capital of Malta.
▬▬▬▬▬▬ SOCIALS ▬▬▬▬▬▬
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trainviking/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/trainviking.bsky.social
▬▬▬▬▬▬ TRAINVIKING PASSENGER POV CHANNEL▬▬▬▬▬▬
Check out:https://www.youtube.com/@Trainviking_PassengerPOV
▬▬▬▬▬▬ RELATED VIDEO’S ▬▬▬▬▬▬
Sleeper train Milano – Sicily:
Ferry Palermo – Napels:
▬▬▬▬▬▬ MAP OF ALL TRIP REPORTS ▬▬▬▬▬▬
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?entry=yt&mid=1YUlovRQV_H-oCVxruZgVSSLh8qxSCSX5&ll=44.75840918931691%2C60.01715485&z=4
▬▬▬▬▬▬ BOOK TRAIN TICKETS & RAIL PASSES ▬▬▬▬▬▬
Trainline (affiliate link) https://prf.hn/click/camref:1101lS7w3
Trainline is great within serval European countries, you can also purchase several railpasses on the Trainline website. Please do note that especially local regional offers can be better deals, however for easy point to point tickets I personally really prefer Trainline. This link will only be published at the moment Trainline can be used for the video that you see and in most video’s I also mention booking websites / tips.
This is an affiliate link, this is to support the channel, however the main goal for this channel is to give you an honest advise.
▬▬▬▬▬▬ VIDEO CONTENT ▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Our way to Malta and summary of the route (including Sliema – Valletta ferry)
04:42 Malta international airport bus station
07:34 Views from the bus between Malta international airport & Valletta bus station
08:29 Valletta bus station (former Valletta railway station)
14:28 Long(er) distance busses in Malta interior
15:52 Views from the bus between Valletta & Cirkewwa ferry terminal
18:12 Ferry Cirkewwa (Malta) – Comino
20:30 Malta – Gozo ferry (Gozo Channel Line)
24:11 Gozo ferry terminal & main bus station
24:56 Fast ferry Gozo – Valletta (Malta)
28:39 End of this trip report
Trip report 257
SUBSCRIBE for more: https://www.youtube.com/trainviking?sub_confirmation=1
AloJapan.com