UK Family moving to Malta - Lija?

Hi,
I live in Lija and would certainly recommend it. It's a very small and pretty village, some say (one of) the prettiest in Malta. I would say it's a good place for families, it's clean, quiet (although there's quite a bit of through traffic in the morning, through narrow streets, not so nice), safe, quite posh even. It's perhaps a bit too quiet sometimes, there's not a whole lot of "street life", people here are very reserved, probably a lot more than in other parts of Malta where you might have more inquisitive neighbours :-) There are very few bars/restaurants/shops, although you can find those in Balzan and especially Attard - the tree places make up one conglomerate known as "the three villages", so if you're looking for a place to live you could also include those in your search.

Lija is said to have some of the best fireworks in Malta - no mean feat! (Mqabba would be the main competitor). The festa is on the 6th of August.

San Anton Gardens/Kitchen Garden is within walking distance and fantastic for families. There's a football club so i'm sure there's a way to get your kids in there. There seem to be quite a few foreigners living here.

It's not by the sea, obviously, but it's just a 10 km drive to Ghajn Tuffieha, the best beach on the island. There are direct buses to Rabat/Mdina, Ghajn Tuffieha/Golden Bay, Valletta, and Cirkewwa (for the Gozo ferry).

Personally, i would say Lija is A LOT nicer than Iklin, which seems to be just a few haphazard modern houses sandwiched in between the main road and some fields. Iklin might be cheaper though than Lija.

Hello nilonilonilo,

Many thanks for taking the time to provide us with some feedback on Lija.

It certainly is an area we are keen on as it is a village which is what we are used to coming from the Isle of Man and it just seems a really nice place.

We will definitely also consider looking at Balzan and Attard to widen our search in the hope of finding the perfect property.

Just out of interest do you know how long it would take to drive to Sliema from Lija around 7.30am on a week day as our children start school at 7.45am and also how long it would take to drive home from Sliema to Lija in rush hour traffic of an evening? When we were in Malta we never actually did the early morning rush hour so were unable to gauge an estimate of how long it takes.

Once again, many thanks for your response as we really need to make a decision on where to live and at present it is narrowed down to Ibrag, Swieqi, St. Julian's, Kappara and now Lija / Balzan / Attard. We liked the idea of the former with them being closer to Sliema however, if it is not a too long a drive each morning and night then it makes  the latter far more appealing

Many thanks,


Lee & Roxy

Hmm, i don't know, i don't commute to work. My girlfriend works in Kalkara, 10 km (not same direction as Sliema though), but it takes her nearly an hour. I know somebody who has to get to Sliema from Attard and it can easily take an hour as well.

7:30 is the worst rush hour, it gets better after 8. But if there's an accident or something, everything goes balls up again.

Personally, I ride a bicycle, saves you all the trouble - but I understand it's not the most practical way to transport two kids

Well, commuting to Sliema from Lija during rush-hour traffic will probably take anything between 20 minutes and even 1 hour , depending on where you get stuck ( Msida,Kappara Roundabout, San Gwann-Naxxar).

The morning is usually worse than in the afternoon.

Just unpredictable !

Cheers
Ricky

Hello nilonilonilo / Ricky,

Many thanks for all your help, it definitely gives us more to think about.

I suppose everything has it pros and cons so we need to seriously consider whether it is worthwhile living in such a nice area as Lija, Attard or Balzan but have to potentially spend up to 2 hours a day in the car (return journey) or finding somewhere closer such as Ibrag, Swieqi, St. Julian's or Kappara.

We really can't thank you enough for all your help and we better start making our final decision soon

Cheers,


Lee & Roxy