Transportation in Malta: Buses, Ferries, Taxis and Cars

Malta has no railway and no metro, so getting around means buses, harbour ferries, taxis or a hire car across an island 27 km (16.8 mi) long. Buses reach almost every village and cost €2.50 ($2.70, £2.10) for a two-hour single in summer, the Gozo car ferry charges the whole round trip when you leave Gozo rather than when you arrive, and a hire car buys freedom at the price of Malta’s traffic. This guide gives the 2026 fares from the operators themselves, which matters here because almost every Malta transport article still online quotes bus routes and ferry prices that changed.

What is the best way to get around Malta?

Buses are the way to get around Malta for most visitors, because the network reaches every town on both main islands and a single fare is cheaper than parking in Valletta. Buses fall down in two situations: late evening in rural areas, and any day built around several separate beaches or archaeological sites, where waiting turns a five-stop plan into a three-stop one. A hire car solves those days and creates a parking problem in every town centre. The harbour ferries are the exception to both, because they cross in minutes what a bus or car takes half an hour to drive around.

How much do buses cost in Malta?

A single journey on Malta’s day bus services costs €2.50 ($2.70, £2.10) in summer and €2.00 ($2.20, £1.70) in winter, and either ticket stays valid for two hours. Malta Public Transport sets the summer rate from mid-June to mid-October and the winter rate for the rest of the year, and both can be paid in cash or with a contactless card on board. Night services and the tallinja Direct express routes cost €3.00 ($3.30, £2.60), with route TD1 at €3.50 ($3.80, £3.00).

The Explore Adult card is the option that pays for itself fastest. It gives 7 days of unlimited travel on all day services across Malta and Gozo for €25.00 ($27, £21), so it breaks even at ten single summer journeys, which a normal sightseeing week passes easily. Explore cards are sold at Malta Public Transport sales offices, including the one inside the airport. Maltese residents holding a personalised tallinja card travel free on every day, night and special service, which is why locals never seem to pay: that scheme is for residents and is not something a visitor can buy into.

Which buses run from Malta Airport?

Four Airport Direct routes serve Malta International Airport, and they are numbered TD1 to TD4, not X4 and X5. Malta International Airport lists them as TD1 to Rabat, Buġibba and Ċirkewwa, TD2 to St Julian’s and Pembroke, TD3 to Gżira, Sliema and St Julian’s, and TD4 to Valletta and the Gozo fast ferry. Any guide still routing you onto an X4 is working from a network that has been renumbered, so check the timetable rather than the route number you read somewhere.

Ordinary routes also serve the terminal. Buses 117, 135 and 218 run to Mater Dei Hospital and the University of Malta, 214 goes to Marsa, Rabat and Buġibba, 119 covers Birżebbuġa, Marsaxlokk and Marsaskala, and 201 heads for Dingli and Rabat. Routes 71, 72 and 73 pass the airport on their way to Żurrieq, Safi and Qrendi but stop at the Ċintra bus stop rather than at the terminal itself. Buy tickets at the Malta Public Transport sales office in the Welcomers’ Hall, open daily 08:00 to 19:30, at either of the two 24-hour dispensing machines, at WHSmith in the same hall from 10:00 to 19:00, or from the driver on board.

How does the Gozo ferry work?

The Gozo Channel ferry crosses between Ċirkewwa on Malta and Mġarr on Gozo in about 25 minutes, and the fare is charged as a round trip collected on the Gozo side. Foot passengers board at Ċirkewwa without paying and buy the ticket at Mġarr for the start of the return leg, and drivers with vehicles buy their round trip online or only at the Mġarr ticket booths. That arrangement catches out almost every first-time visitor, who queues at Ċirkewwa looking for a ticket window that is not there.

Standard fares are €4.65 ($5, £4) for a foot passenger round trip and €15.70 ($17, £13) for a car and driver up to 5.3 m (17.4 ft), with a vehicle between 5.3 m and 5.5 m at €20.70 ($22, £18). Children aged 3 to 12 pay €1.15 ($1.25, £1.00) and infants under 3 travel free, though a free ticket still has to be collected so the head count is right. Night fares apply on sailings leaving Mġarr after 8pm between November and March, at €4.05 ($4.40, £3.50) for a foot passenger and €12.80 ($14, £11) for a car and driver.

Two rules matter more than the price. Gozo Channel runs no reservation system, so boarding is first come, first served, and a ticket bought in advance buys no priority whatsoever. Standard tickets stay valid for six months from purchase, so an unused one is not wasted. A fast passenger ferry also runs between Valletta and Mġarr, and the TD4 bus from the airport connects to it, which is the quicker option for anyone crossing without a car.

What are the Valletta harbour ferries?

Two short harbour ferries connect Valletta to Sliema and to the Three Cities, and both save a long drive around the water. Valletta Ferry Services runs the Sliema crossing every 30 minutes from 06:45, and the trip takes about five minutes against roughly half an hour by road. Adult fares are €3.00 ($3.30, £2.60) single and €5.00 ($5.40, £4.30) return, children pay €1.00 ($1.10, £0.85) single and €1.50 ($1.60, £1.30) return, and the night service from 19:30 charges €3.50 ($3.80, £3.00) single and €5.20 ($5.70, £4.50) return.

Older timetables and PDF schedules still circulating online quote €1.50 for an adult single, which is well out of date. The Three Cities ferry crosses the Grand Harbour from Valletta to Birgu on a similar pattern and is the sensible way to reach Fort St Angelo, given how far the road route runs around the head of the harbour.

Are taxis in Malta expensive?

Taxis in Malta cost more than the bus and less than most people expect for short hops, and the airport works on a different system from the rest of the island. Fares from Malta International Airport are fixed by destination zone and prepaid at the taxi booth in the arrivals hall, so there is no meter to watch and no negotiation. Malta’s official white taxis operate on a regulated meter elsewhere, with a fixed starting charge and a per-kilometre rate that falls as the journey lengthens.

Ride-hailing apps have changed the market. Bolt and eCabs both work across Malta and are usually cheaper than a white taxi for the same trip, though surge pricing on a Friday night or during a village festa closes the gap. Carry a card and some cash, because not every driver takes cards on short rides. For two or more people with luggage after a late arrival, a taxi to Sliema or Valletta is a reasonable trade against waiting for a bus.

Should you hire a car in Malta?

Hire a car in Malta if your plan includes the west coast, the southern cliffs or several beaches in one day, and skip it if you are staying in Valletta, Sliema or St Julian’s. Malta drives on the left, hire cars are right-hand drive, and lanes on rural roads are narrower than the map suggests. Parking is the real constraint rather than the driving: Valletta and Mdina are effectively closed to cars, and street parking in Sliema and St Julian’s disappears by mid-morning.

Rates drop sharply outside July and August, and small automatics are the first category to sell out, so it is worth booking early and comparing Malta car hire on DiscoverCars rather than taking the airport desk rate on arrival. Read the insurance line carefully, because the mandatory cover is third-party only and the deductible on the car itself is where a cheap headline rate turns expensive. Our fuller guide to renting a car in Malta covers the paperwork, and the guide to driving in Malta covers the roundabouts and the local driving style.

How do you get to Malta?

Flying is how almost everyone arrives in Malta, and Malta International Airport at Luqa is the country’s only airport. It handled a record 10 million passengers in 2025 and took 5.2 million in the first half of 2026 alone, a rise of 15.6 percent, which is a useful measure of how busy arrivals gets at peak. Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air and the national carrier KM Malta Airlines all fly there, and most European cities are 2 to 3 hours away.

Note the airline name if you are reading older advice: Air Malta ceased operations on 30 March 2024 and KM Malta Airlines took over the next day, so a booking reference or an article naming Air Malta belongs to a company that no longer flies. By sea, Virtu Ferries runs fast catamarans between Malta and Pozzallo in Sicily in about 1 hour 45 minutes, with Catania services in season, and that is the route to combine with Italian rail if you are coming overland. Compare trains, buses and ferries across Europe on Omio for the legs down through Italy to the Sicilian ports.

Does Malta have trains?

Malta has no railway today, and the only line it ever had ran between Valletta and Mdina and closed in 1931. There is no metro, no tram and no light rail, so any itinerary built around rail inside Malta does not work. Buses and the harbour ferries cover what a railway would, and the island is small enough that no bus journey between two towns takes more than about an hour.

What does a week of transport cost in Malta?

A week of transport in Malta comes to roughly €25.00 ($27, £21) on buses, around €50.00 ($54, £43) if you add ferries and a couple of taxis, or upwards of €200.00 ($217, £171) with a hire car, fuel and parking. The Explore card covers all bus travel on both islands for the week at a fixed price, so the only extras are the Gozo Channel round trip at €4.65 ($5, £4) and any harbour ferry crossings at €5.00 ($5.40, £4.30) return. A hire car replaces all of that with a daily rate, a fuel bill and the cost of every parking decision.

Where you stay changes the arithmetic more than any of it. A base in Sliema, Valletta or the Three Cities puts the harbour ferries and the airport express routes on your doorstep and makes a car unnecessary, while a base in the north or on Gozo tips the balance the other way, so it pays to compare Malta hotels on Booking.com against the transport you plan to use. For the wider picture of the three islands, start at the country guide to Malta.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 4 tips below come from checking this page against Malta Public Transport, Gozo Channel, Valletta Ferry Services and Malta International Airport in 2026, and each one fixes a mistake visitors make on arrival.

1. Do not look for a ticket window at Ċirkewwa. Gozo Channel sells the crossing as a round trip and collects it at Mġarr on Gozo, so foot passengers board on the Malta side without paying and buy the ticket before the return leg. Drivers buy online or only at the Mġarr booths.
2. Take the airport express by its new number. The four Airport Direct routes are TD1 to Rabat, Buġibba and Ċirkewwa, TD2 to St Julian’s and Pembroke, TD3 to Gżira, Sliema and St Julian’s, and TD4 to Valletta and the Gozo fast ferry. The old X4 and X5 numbering no longer applies.
3. Buy the Explore card before you leave the terminal. Seven days of unlimited bus travel on both islands costs €25.00, which beats ten summer singles at €2.50 each. Buy it at the Malta Public Transport office in the Welcomers’ Hall, open 08:00 to 19:30, or from either of the two 24-hour machines outside.
4. Queue early for the Gozo ferry in summer, because there are no reservations. Boarding is first come, first served for cars and foot passengers alike, and a pre-purchased ticket carries no priority. Arriving at Ċirkewwa with a printed ticket and an hour’s grace is worth more than any booking.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the team covers Malta for independent travellers, including the buses, ferries, car hire and hotels worth booking across Malta, Gozo and Comino, updating this page when fares, routes and timetables change.