Originally Posted by B1K3R

I'm Maltese and lived most of my life in Malta....and could not wait to leave. Unfortunately I'm here at the moment too and can't wait to leave!

Very very overcrowded, traffic is a nightmare, it has become very expensive. To go to work, for example, I have to drive about 4km. It takes me 30 mins. My wife drives our daughter to school each morning, 5Km...it takes her 1hr to get back home. We wont even dare taking the public transport....

This summer, I could not even enjoy any of the beautiful beaches because there were so many tourists and people that the beaches were all choco blocks and even if you decide to go, you had to park in a main road far away with all the cars parked....That leaves you to go to a rocky uncomfortable spot somewhere along the coast....

Not to mention the heat and humidity....yuk!

Renting and houses are ridiculously expensive, for an old piece of 5h!t of an apartment, you get a house in Brisbane (of course not close to the city).

Many places and buildings are run down and just plain ugly, not maintained..of course depending on the area. There are some normal not ugly areas too. Did I mention that Malta is not very green and not many trees? And if you try to go for a walk in the "country side" you will find signs everywhere not to enter because "it's private"! People jog on the 5hiity main roads. Very rocky island, not much nature and parks. Ah, yes, there are no animals apart from stray cats and dogs. You wont see any birds as the barbaric hunters shot them down....

Wages are still very low compared to other countries, depending on what you do.

As for health services, I think they have improved a lot in recent years. I can't complain much on that.

Regarding people, not all are rude and stupid like you said. There are many yes, but I would not say the majority. On the whole, people are nice, not racist and ready to help you. But of course you never know who you'd meet like anywhere else.

Yes....I hate the hunters too! Bloody stupid barbaric what they do! Unfortunately it's part of the culture and 60% of us have been fighting the rest of the hunters to shut them down.....hopefully one day, but of course the gov does not want to loose votes...

Having said all this, many people love it here, they like the heat, they like all the pubs and restaurant, they like the history and culture, they like to be around lots of people, so it depends on what you like.

I hate it, would leave tomorrow if I can lol. oh, did I mention that I am so bored always going to the same places over and over again! It's 27.3km by 14.5km for God's sake!

And, it's in the top 10 most densely populated countries in the world! Countries by Population Density 2015 - StatisticsTimes.com

So, yes, think it twice before you plan to move here

Originally Posted by andronicus

There are some good things about Malta, like the very rich history and the traces of it left on the island ie. the original inhabitant Maltese, the Greeks, Phoenicians, Arabs, Romans, Normans, etc and especially the Knights of St John which have left a huge imprint on the island.

However, the negatives far outweigh the positive. As one poster wrote, you can be happy anywhere; on a Caribbean island, or in outer Mongolia. However, there are some things you should not compromise on if you can, and it is even these basics that Malta lacks:

1. Clean air. Malta is full of cars and diesel belching trucks. Even if one car goes past, you smell the fumes instantly. There is no emission control whatsoever. I was in the middle of Berlin during peak traffic and the air was far cleaner! The world is polluted enough so why go to Malta and get even more polluted?

2. Clean water. The local water is salty and not the best quality, which means that for the rest of your life, you have the added expense of buying bottled water.

3. It's way over-crowded. Even off-season, the island is overcrowded, with 423,000 people on an island (unofficially, it's more) on an island that's 35 kms long and 25 kms wide. Now, get this. During summer, the population expands to twice or three times that amount. That's a lot of people, which makes driving, parking, even walking a test of endurance and patience. Do you really need this in your life?

4. Everyone seems cranky, especially when the temperature reaches 40'C plus!

5. The Maltese are tourist/foreign fatigued. You can see it on their weary faces. If they meet one more tourist asking for direction to their hotel or whatever, you would swear they are about to knock them down. Often however, they are curt, off-handish and plain rude (but can we really blame them?). Still, as an ex-pat living there, many Maltese will simply assume you are another pain-in-the-arse tourist and give you the tourist treatment. It's no good trying to explain: hey, I'm an ex-pat; I'm a resident; I live here permanently. The Maltese can't distinguish you from a visitor or a resident and they wouldn't care anyway.

6. Ask yourself: do you really want to live on a tiny island where, 3 months of the year, you hear gun-shot sounds outside your bedroom window knowing that about 10,000 Maltese men are armed and roving the island looking for little birds to splatter?

7. The normal everyday noise. If you are the type of person who likes peace and quiet, waking up to the sound of chirping birds that haven't yet been killed, or likes to walk in a park or along a beach, for some solitary introspective moments - forget Malta! From 7am to 8pm, there will be noise, often just outside your bedroom window. Cars honking, engines revving, road repairs with hammer jacks blaring away, your Maltese neighbor has decided to use his garage as a mechanic's workshop, the quaint little Maltese house next to yours is being demolished to make way for a newer, seven storey apartment complex that will take two years to build, which will mean you will have construction noise next to you from 7am to 8pm six days a week.

Just about every noise you can think of and some more, you will get in full in Malta.

8. I've met many ex-pats in Malta who, 10 or even 5 years ago, had bought their dream home with a fantastic sea-view. Today, many of them have a fantastic view to their neighbor's living room 10 meters across the road! Every week, it seems a new, bigger and uglier apartment complex springs up on a cliff-top to be sold as a "luxury dream life-style". A dream for some; a nightmare for others!

Gee, I could actually go on. But I think this will do for the time being.