Accommodation suggestions needed + thoughts about cycling

Hi ewa22,

For some starting information and while waiting for other members to reply you, i think that it would be a good idea if you can go through the topics found in the Malta forum. Here is the link : https://www.expat.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=341

Thank you

Priscilla 

People do cycle here , though from my experience mainly those who have hired bikes.
Driving here is often aggressive and sometimes quite dangerous and there are no real cycle paths , so if your going to cycle then you need to be a pretty confident rider . Footpaths are usually pretty narrow or non existent and this means that you really have to cycle in the road .

One  thing for sure is roads are not that well maintained and some are very very bumpy .

If your wanting to work in paceville and you want to live near a beach , you may want to consider living in the st Julians area.. although property prices will be higher than other areas and it can get quite noisy as its one of the main touristy night club areas.

There are buses to St Julians regularly (though these get quite full) so you could live in  san gwann, and travel in on the bus etc it wil be less noisy , slightly cheaper on the property front and your still within bussing distance of a beach .. although as malta is not a very big island you can pretty much be at  a beach within less than an hour wherever you lived.

the other thing you will perhaps want to consider is local ameneties,  where the nearest shop is .. dragging a weeks food shopping back on a bus can be tiring (but perfectly doable)  there are online food delieveries ( i havent tried these)
st Julians has a more supermarket , a tower supermarket and a scotts
san gwann has a lidl
i can only really suggest coming out here to look at areas you might like then choosing a house  to rent once your sure where you want to live

Hello ewa 22

Having read through your ad, I suggest that you find a place close to Paceville which would be swieqi, St andrews or Bahar Ic-Caghaq. Swieqi is within walking distance of Paceville and St Andrews is only 5 minutes away by bus and bahar ic-caghaq is 10 minutes away by bus.  They are all on the same bus route which is quite an efficient route, buses run every 15 minutes.  There use to be a bycle lane however at the moment  some major road works are going on and the bycle lane has been removed for the moment.  I guess when ready everything goes back to normal.  These places are all walking distance to the sea.  Ofcourse prices would be a little lower the further you move out from the centre and many times apartments can be nicer and fully equipped and at a lower price.  The sea in bahar ic-cahaq is also very clean and a lovely place to walk around and yet with all the amenities around but all on a smaller scale from those at the centre.  Should you wish any help with accomodation I can show you two or three places. 
Regards
V123

Beware the gathering and circling agent(s) 
The majority of those who cycle are tourists or 'aliens'.
On Malta the standard of driving is horrendous, particularly in the major towns yet the actual accident rate is very low!

Thank you, people!

So far really good answers.
I will think about cycling around after arriving in Malta and checking out the area

And I really liked the idea of finding an appartment in Bahar Ic-Caghaq. It seems close to the beach but in good connection to the centre, if that's true?

I do have some more other questions for you experts:

1. What are your experiences with the Maltese banks? Where do you like the conditions?

2. Which phone company do you like and why? Which one would you suggest?

3. How long does it take to get the registration done?

Thank you in advance for your help 

Hi, I really do suggest you do a lot of reading of related topics as many of your answers will be found amongst them.
Start here: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=370643

Note the first link in that article is changed and should now be:   http://homeaffairs.gov.mt/en/MHAS-Infor … dence.aspx

Banks? I am, with HSBC and set up the account here before I arrived.
Phone? Melita for landline and internet. Go (the company) for mobile.
Registration? Do you refer to E-Residency? Several weeks but can be faster these days.

Thank you redmik!

I will check it out.

im with go for home services ( they didnt want such a huge deposit) i paid 25euro for the wireless modem and 20 euro a month (melita wanted 75 euros deposit) however the go option i use is 15mbs thought i usuallt get speeds of around 24mbs

i use vodafone for mobile purely because i went into get a phone (as they are not network locked) and i got offered a better phone and a reasonble contract plus vodafone offers 4g .  however if your just putting a sim card in your existing phone i would recomned go as you can get free credit when you sign up to them  .

Check out the Bicycle Advocacy Group on Facebook if you want to find out more about cycling in Malta.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/158119417606344/

Thanks again for the answers.

@nil: I do not have facebook. Is there another option to get information about this group?

@rob: I was thinking about taking a contract with a proper phone. I just have old ones and want to try out a phone contract in general.

Once you get your id card . you should have no issue getting a contract
however points to note

contracts over here range from 25 euros to 99 euros and you usually pay a small premium if you want a phone rather then just sim only

the more expensive phone like iphones etc will be free on 99 euros a month but you can get them on lower contracts but you pay for the phone

its worth asking what phones they offer free we had to pay a 3 months line rental up front  to guarentee the contract but that wasnt too bad

@Ewa: Hmm, i'm afraid the group cannot be consulted if you're not on FB. I wasn't on FB either, but since i'm keen on cycling, I caved in eventually... (Also, in general, it's really hard to have a social network or to keep up-to-date of things/events here if you're not on FB - sad but true).

There was talk of having a proper website for the B.A.G. and keeping it up to date with practical tips, links, etc. but it's not happening for now. There are just a few core members, all overstretched and really busy right now.