Best area for an expat family to live???

Thank you it helps a lot. Hopeully we can meet when we et there. Liz

Hi Liz

I moved to Malta in December 2014.  I stayed in a hotel in St Pauls Bay and went to see several flats with various agents.  If you rent through an agent they will charge you half of one months rent plus 18% VAT..I was fortunate to find a 3 bedroom flat privately and pay equivalent to £300.  You  have to pay for water, electricity phone/tv line and bottled gas.

To find an apartment privately you could goggle Malta Park and go on line for Sunday edition of Malta Times. It was my intention to buy but most expats I have met said simply rent.  Rent is low and most come fully furnished.  You may care to go on British Residents Association Malta web site.

A lot of people go to live in Gozo. Some have moved back here because they found it to quiet. Here in St Pauls Bay is a very active group who also have a library.  Look at their page.

Best wishes

Good Morning Howard
Thank you for your valuable info. I also like a bit of life around me and would like to carry on training ice skating. I believe the Ice rink is in Valletta. I also like opera, ballet.  I don't mind to drive. I would buy a small car to get around.
I would like to be close to the centre but not too close. Any info is greatly appreciated.
Thanks again and best regards
Liz

i think you will be a bit shocked when you see ice ring - forget about ice skating, that is just for kids, not firm ice and veryyyyyy small

Thank you it's very disappointing, never mind, I'm sure there are lots o other things to do.
Have a wonderful weekend
Liz

Hi,

I'm moving to Malta in late August with my girlfriend and our daughter (5 months old) and are therefore looking for a suitable place for us to settle down. My workplace will be in Ta' Xbiex and I would prefer an area not so far from work.
I've tried to find some info about Gzira, Msida, Pieta and Ta' Xbiex without too much luck.
I'm therefore hoping someone who have knowledge about these areas could provide me some info regarding noise, safety for children, playgrounds, gardens, promenades (for walking with stroller), etc.

All information will be much appreciated!

We're not (yet) living in Malta, but have been there several times and are currently planning to move.

As for the area, I'd say it always depends on what your preferences are... If you have kids (as we do), schools are an important point to consider, too! (There are many useful threads on this blog about schools...). A friend of mine who moved to Malta 3 years ago advised me to avoid the Greater Valletta area (esp. Gzira, Sliema, St. Julians) for noise and high rent. He lives in Mosta and has rented a large apartment in a quiet street for a good price. So Mosta and Naxxar are cities with cheaper rents, if you like to be in a city. However, you might need to drive to work, and rush hour traffic to and from greater Valletta can be a nightmare. (Last time we had to catch our flight to Austria we needed to get from Gzira to Luqa at around 8 am. It took us more than an hour (for about 10 kilometres' drive)!
The bus service is relatively cheap, but often too slow and unreliable.

Generally, I'd check out the website of a property agent, just google Frank Salt Malta, they have many pictures of homes, too, so you can get an idea of prices and what to expect...

As for playgrounds etc. for children, I find that most communities have nice playgrounds for children and generally seem to do a lot for the young. Traffic and noise, I'd say, is a problem in most of Malta.
As for gardens, St. Anton in Balzan is really nice. The promenades along St. Julians - Sliema - Gzira , and in St. Paul's Bay are also ok with a stroller.

Hi Tim nice to know there's a fellow Hammer living in Malta.Moving over there in June and been offered a place to live in Cospicua.However,I've read a lot of negative stories about this place,high crime rate and many deprived areas etc...is this true?
Regards John

It really all depends what you are looking for when you move here, where you are coming from and if you have children or not.

Personally, I decided to settle in Sliema for the first year of my arrival as I found a nice apartment right beside my office, which means no need for a car or daily commute. Also, coming from Barcelona I don't find it noisy here at all like some people do. Plus, while the street I live on is quite relaxed, I am just a 5 minute walk to the seaside area for a beer or 15 minutes to St. Julian's for a night out, which is great since I am 30 and single.

Life here is pretty relaxed and the people in general are friendly. Lots of international people due to the gaming industry, so I am always able to grab a beer at a local bar and meet people easily. Rent is quite inexpensive if you are making a Northern European salary, which allows you to live a nice life and save money. Going out to eat or for a beer is quite cheap in comparison to most places in Europe as well.

I can't really speak on anything children/school related as it doesn't affect me, so I can't say I know much other than what I hear from friends.

please guys be warned dont pay over any cash for places prior to arriving in malta - dont pay over anything until you have physically seen whats on offer the photos on web pages are generally not  accurate nor are the prices upto date. There are agood few scams at the moment with places being offered with photos etc and theyre not what they purport to be .... some not even in malta. PROTECT YOURSELF ALWAYS

Hi, I am from Manchester in the UK, my husband has been offered a wonderful job for a company in Sliema, so we are planning on moving our family (2 children aged 3 and 9) and our 2 dogs over in approximately May. Now when he was originally offered this job it was for the Isle of Man, which is considerably different, but now it has changed and our destination is Malta. Now I haven't ever visited Malta (I know this sounds crazy when I want to move my whole family) so I feel extremely nervous, although equally excited as I know it will be an adventure. We have discussed it for many hours and we know that if we don't like it was can always come home after a year. So I have 3 months to visit, find a place I want to live, find out what schools are best, find out how to get my car over, and ultimately make the move! I have several Q's that I hope someone can answer.

1) Does anyone know in which village/towns there are international schools? Can anyone recommend any. (I think my daughter 9 will have to go international school,whereas my son is only young so I hope he will pick up the language and can go to state school - is this realistic?)

2) What utilities (bills) do you have to pay in Malta aside from rent? And does anyone know how much approx we would pay 4 a family for water, gas, leccy, internet? Is there anything similar to council tax?

3) we need to be commutable to sliema for my husbands work (ideally 40mins by public transport as he doesn't drive I do). Does anyone know what areas are nice, quiet but not too quiet, have some nice things for the children and are near good international and maybe state schools?

4) how much do people (approx of course) spend on groceries per week. Here in the uk we spend about £80 a week give or take.

5) is it realistic to bring my car over wih me? I have noticed cars seem to be more expensive in Malta than the UK, but I know I will have to pay registration tax, so I am not sure what to do. I have a Ford Fiest 2015 plate. I have owned it for a year.

6) Anyone that has moved over from the UK, did you move over furniture etc and if so was it expensive to do so?

My husbands company will help us with all the logistics of moving but he has to accept or decline the offer next week. Then we have 3 months to sort things out before we move. Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the Forum, a lot of your questions have been covered before if you cannot find the right answers then please ask again and hopefully you will get the answers you require.  Coming over here when you are you should be able to find more accommodation available then later in the year, do not take too much notice of agents advertising as most are out of date and the properties not available.
With regards bills there are only electric and water, no mains gas or council rent to pay, the only gas available is bottled gas which most people use for cooking.

When you say to ignore agents (and we have seen this a lot) how do we find the properties that are avaliable? I do know these questions have been asked previously, but some answers are months or even years old and I dont known if they are still correct. I hope you understand if I am going to uproot my kids I want to have as much info as I can get

MrsPi88 wrote:

When you say to ignore agents (and we have seen this a lot) how do we find the properties that are avaliable? I do know these questions have been asked previously, but some answers are months or even years old and I dont known if they are still correct. I hope you understand if I am going to uproot my kids I want to have as much info as I can get

What I said or at least meant was do not take too much notice of their adverts as many of the properties are not for let,  this has not changed over the years.  By all means pay them a visit when you are here and you will find out what actually is available as opposed to just looking online.
Properties we have rented and the one we have now have still been advertised when we were and are living in them.