Maltese etiquette: Cheek-to-cheek, handshake...?

???
Of course ! it depends on the people you met, and the difference is not only between Maltese and expats.
Maltese who has been living long time abroad are different than their compatriots lived all their life in Malta.
Expats are differnt depending from where they came, even my Austrian fellows show very differnt behaviours.

In generally you always have to adjust to the more "conservative" person - even if the person is you !

I, for example, do not like intimacies with "strangers" and therefore, when I was living in Moscow, I didn't hug and cheek-kissing the other people - esp. other men - which is said to be quite normal there. When they started to do so I made a stap back and the other knew what's going on.
A handshake is mostly OK, but I also liked the japanese greeting culture very much