Everyday practical information for Malta

Power: British plugs

• 230 V, 50 Hz, socket type G - the British three-pin plug.
• This is the only country in this European batch that uses it. Continental European visitors need an adapter; British visitors, unusually, do not.

Language

• Maltese and English are both official. Everything is signed in both and you can conduct an entire trip in English.
• Maltese is Semitic - descended from Arabic, written in Latin script, with heavy Italian and English borrowing. It is the only Semitic language written in Latin script and an official EU language.
• Italian is widely understood.

Religion and custom

• Malta is strongly Catholic and village feasts (festi) run through the summer, with fireworks that are extremely loud and go on late.
• Churches expect covered shoulders and knees; some lend shawls.
• Sunday morning is quiet and shops in villages close.

Practicalities

• Everything is close. Nowhere on Malta is more than about 45 minutes from anywhere else by bus.
• Gozo runs slower and closes earlier.