Best plaice to live with a child when working at airport.

I would recommend Marsascala, beautiful town with good airport links and only takes about 15 mins to the airport

From a fellow Dub

Mellieha to the airport would be too far IMO, it would drive you crazy after a while, life on the roads is certainly not as stress-free or pleasant an experience as northern Europe. And that's probably an understatement. There is a direct bus, the X1, but it takes an hour. In a car it might be a similar time. I can do St Paul's Bay to the airport in under half an hour during the day, at quieter times, but I once had a flight to catch at about 0930 and it took me 45 minutes in the rush-hour traffic. From further up the road in Melieha, you might be looking at close to an hours drive too. 10 hours a week commuting to work on the roads here, would be a mad option.

I personally think that Birzebbuga is a dump, but some people on here like it, so it's all down to personal opinion. I wouldn't want to live with this on my doorstep though. And the irony is, it's called "Pretty Bay". I wouldn't want to see ugly.





The ILS approach for the north-westerly runway does pass over the edge of the town, and that is the runway they use 90% of the time with the prevailing winds, but you would have to ask a resident there how annoying the plane noise is.

Marsascala might be an option, even in rush hour it shouldn't be more than a 20 minute drive. It's a popular place for expats too, more than enough bars / restaurants, but nowhere near as touristy as Sliema etc. There is only one tiny sandy beach available at St Thomas Bay though, all the rest are rocky.



If you have a car, another option would be to try one of the villages closer to the airport, if you lived in Rabat, Attard, Lija or even Gzira, your commute to work wouldn't be too bad and you could drive to the beach at the weekend. All the best beaches in Malta are up north, but if you've got a car, it would be easy to get to them.

sergiopuy wrote:

Hi everyone,

My wife and I have decided to relocate to Malta from Ireland. I have recently been offered a job that we agreed on taking and are now looking for the best place to live given our situation. My job would be based in the Skyparks Business Center and we want to opt for a plaice that would give us a quiet life (maybe some, but not too much night life) with access to a child friendly beach which for us is a sandy beach and if possible reasonably close to my work place.

We have been to Malta many times and we always went to Mellieha or Gzira so knowing Mellieha we thought this would be ideal to meet our requirements but that was before we found out that the job would be located near the airport.

I'd be grateful if I can have your thoughts on the following;

1- Would we be crazy to still consider Mellieha having my work plaice at the in the Skyparks Business Center in terms of distance, I would be driving?

2- We only found one close location that can meet our requirements which is Birzebbuga but are a bit concerned about the noise from plains low flying over us or the port also close by. Should we worry about that ?

3- Any other location suggestion?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Sergio

1. up to you in terms of driving the island isnt really that big its about the size of greater london ....if your driving mellieha could be a nice place however be aware that traffic is a major problem here and the roads are not the best
2.Birzebuggia is lovely and you don't really notice the plane noise (well at least i havent when i have been there)
3 another place to consider would be marsaxlokk its just round the corner from birzebuggia and there is a little sandy beach that doesnt get too busy  which you could use, the noisest day is Sunday but that's due to the market


the only thing is would say about the south of the island there isnt much in the terms of night life , that tends to be around the paceville/stjulians area but there are pubs and restaurants  in all three places

come out and take a look around and decide whats best for you guys though , dont book long term property without seeing it and its important you check out all the locations concerened first,

On An Island wrote:

I personally think that Birzebbuga is a dump, but some people on here like it, so it's all down to personal opinion. I wouldn't want to live with this on my doorstep though. And the irony is, it's called "Pretty Bay". I wouldn't want to see ugly.
.

I had assumed pretty bay was an ironic name for it ... lol

robpw2 wrote:

I had assumed pretty bay was an ironic name for it ... lol

You might be right!! 

I presumed, or maybe even hoped that it was named a couple of hundred years ago before that great ugly monstrosity was built. But you never know. It's certainly not Barbados though, I can't see Simon Cowell changing his Christmas holiday plans and going there instead.

Thanks every one for sharing your thoughts on this. I think we'll go for a short term rent in Birzebbuga and then see how that goes before committing to a long term contract. Now, initially I wouldn't be driving for the first two months or so, are there reasonable good bus links from Birzebbuga and Marsascala to the airport?

Thanks again

Sergio

Marsascala, what else 
I'm also working at the airport, takes me only about 15 minutes by car (motorcycle even faster), almost no traffic even in the morning, plenty of parking in the South 
There are buses also (esp. X5 which takes about 20-30 minutes from M'scala to the airport), but I refuse to use them on principle 

25.+26. April is an event "Fields of Joy"at the Family Park here, good opportunity to check the location 



And we also have the INSPIRE facilities here ... with heated indoor pool for the winter months and outdoor Family area for the summer 

Best compromise? Marsaskala without doubt for your requirements.

matm911 wrote:

Marsascala, what else 
I'm also working at the airport, takes me only about 15 minutes by car (motorcycle even faster), almost no traffic even in the morning, plenty of parking in the South 
There are buses also (esp. X5 which takes about 20-30 minutes from M'scala to the airport), but I refuse to use them on principle 

25.+26. April is an event "Fields of Joy"at the Family Park here, good opportunity to check the location 



And we also have the INSPIRE facilities here ... with heated indoor pool for the winter months and outdoor Family area for the summer 

Yes both birzebuggia and marsascala are frequented by airport buses and pretty regularly it's about 20-30 mins by bus