Malta with a Baby: Not a Baby-Friendly Destination
I feel like people either love or hate Malta so I’ve been wanting to visit Malta for a long time. Malta can be a fun kid-friendly destination if you stay in a family-friendly hotel or resort. Still, unfortunately staying at a regular spot and exploring off the hotel premises I found Malta to be not baby-friendly, but also not unfriendly either.
Is Malta Baby Friendly?
Before Malta, I traveled to various places with a baby, often those considered baby-unfriendly. Malta was my first trip solo with a baby at 4 months and I expected a great trip. Especially after reading that Malta is a great family destination.
The truth is… Malta was not baby-friendly! Kids friendly maybe, but with a baby it was a completely different story. Malta with baby can be done, but only when you understand what to take into account.
Every place I stayed or visited people seemed to think I was insane about traveling with a baby and often appeared annoyed (and I must say my first son was the calmest baby on earth at this age, he never cried or fussed ever at all). I never felt unwelcomed, but people would get slightly weirded out.
I’m yet to find ONE restaurant in entire Malta that had a high chair or changing table. In fact, the infamous photo of changing my son in the sink is from Valetta, but in most places I had to put my changing mat on the floor to change him (bathrooms were too small for the stroller). This didn’t make it easy.
For me, it wasn’t a huge issue as my kids don’t need much, but these things can be a big no-no to many families.
I don’t freak out often, but my biggest issue with traveling to Malta with a baby was that in various situations it was pretty unsafe – like the fact that various areas have no sidewalks at all and I had to walk with my stroller on the road along with various crazy drivers to get to the store to buy more diapers.
What to Do in Malta with a Baby
I expected gorgeous beaches on every corner of the island, but instead all we saw were rocky, overcrowded, and cement-like beaches all over Malta and Gozo.
As you probably know Azure Window is no more as this natural limestone arch, featured in several films and every postcard of Malta ever, collapsed into the sea in March of 2017.
The Blue Lagoon in Comino requires a boat tour which with a baby was next to impossible to do, and even if we did it was way too crowded to swim comfortably.
When I visited the famous Paradise Bay in Malta it was so crowded I couldn’t even find a tiny spot to sit, so we had to leave.
Gozo in particular proved to be difficult with a baby, because even in a carrier the majestic spots were mostly rocky and not easily passable. On the bright side though, while I normally don’t use the Hop-On-Hop-Off buses it was the easiest to get around Gozo, especially since it was summertime and the dust was blowing everywhere so standing in the heat and dust waiting for a taxi or local bus wasn’t the greatest idea.
Valleta had some flat streets and things were happening, but unless you wanted to stick to a few main streets everywhere else was stairs so most of the time I was carrying the stroller up the stairs.
The most fun we had was actually in Mdina. If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you might know that some very important scenes from the first season were filmed in Malta.
Mdina was stroller friendly, not crowded, easy to get to by a public bus and people seemed more welcoming than in Valetta or St Julians.
Traveling to Malta with a Baby: Basics
Car Seats in Malta
The laws on child car seats in Malta are less rigid than in some other nations in Europe. Children under the age of 3 cannot travel as front or rear seat passengers unless using a suitable restraint system, so basically – if they’re 3 years and older they can legally use a seatbelt only. Yes, you’re reading it right – car seats aren’t truly used as often as they should be.
I saw multiple instances of kids climbing around in moving cars so they basically don’t care. Don’t expect any taxi at the airport to have a car seat available even if you pre-order one (speaking from experience). I was forced to take one at some point and not even the driver was wearing a seatbelt.
In reality, nobody really cared that we hadn’t brought a car seat to Malta as I wasn’t planning on renting a car. In fact, locals were encouraging me to take a taxi or arrange transport over public buses.
Strollers in Malta
A stroller might be your worst nightmare in Malta, especially in places like Valetta. I mostly ended up carrying my stroller up and down the stairs nonstop and the streets have lots of holes. It was the next level bad if you compare with Italy.
The streets are narrow and hard to navigate with a stroller. This even applies to the pedestrian zone, which is a bit better but still pretty uneven when it comes to the terrain.
Baby Products and Diapers in Malta
I was on a short trip so didn’t need to buy much, but I actually ran out of diapers and visited a big store in St Julians. The store was fully stocked with various items like wipes and diapers of many brands.
There was a wide range of baby food available along with formula. I spotted at least 5 brands, so you don’t need to worry about that. There are lots of Hipp Organic which are considered the best baby food.
For formula-fed babies, the quality of the water in Malta is generally quite good and I was advised it’s fine to just boil tap water.
Bringing Babies to Restaurants in Malta
Most restaurants weren’t accommodating, even though I didn’t need a high chair or special treatment. I just needed to put the stroller somewhere outside and waiters seemed annoyed by it.
I asked for a bit of hot water to warm up my formula and the waitress team appeared all confused and started pointing at me to everyone else. Similar situations occurred every single day, so I began to think that this was the weird norm.
I found Maltese to be pretty ambivalent towards babies. Nobody ever let us use a seat on a public bus. On the plane, I was seated next to a Maltese man who decided to complain loudly that he didn’t want to sit next to a baby (and my son was fast asleep the entire flight and didn’t even move!).
Public Transportation with Babies in Malta
Malta has a decent system of public transport. In theory, many buses are fully accessible for buggies and are air-conditioned and there is also a special area allocated for pregnant women and parents holding young children. I’m saying in theory, as in reality is different.
Buses get so packed in the spring and summer that they won’t even stop at multiple stops because they’re so overpacked. I had bus drivers stopping for me as they felt bad that I was standing at the bus stop for what felt like forever (30+ minutes) and telling me I could get in up front with nothing to hold onto and holding onto the stroller with my baby for dear life.
That said, rent a car. Traveling around Malta by car is the easiest way to experience it all.
Do you have any questions about traveling to Malta with a baby?
Hey. So I read this and it caused me a lot of concern prior to going to Malta with my infant. Turns out it was completely unfounded. I guess having lived in other countries where people drive questionably, where there are a lack of sidewalks, and where you have to get creative with child changing facilities prepared me for what was actually a pretty normal experience. I never felt unwelcomed with my baby, regardless of where we went people were accommodating. I haven’t read the rest of your blog, but as someone who has lived outside of my home country for the past 15 years, I have come to accept that not every society has the regulations or infrastructure that my home country has, and thats ok.