Quote from zentrader:
I have been doing some research on Malta as it seems like a great place to base myself in Europe for a few years. Rental properties seem dirt cheap given the 15% tax rate.
Would be interested in hearing from people who live there or have spent time there.
What is the lifestyle like on the island. As a single 30s guy am I going to be bored out of my mind? How friendly are the local women towards foreigners
I thought about living there a few years ago so I went there for a few weeks. It's a nice island, very beautiful and I'd happily return, but it's really really small.
People have their lives there as locals...really nice people...but it's a different place than you might be thinking. It's very congested in reality, for the most part anyway. The island is tiny and most of the housing is clustered.
The thing I didn't like when I was there was that even though it's very close to Europe(big plus for me) the flight taxes were really heavy which would make hopping a plane to the Alps for the weekend really expensive. Big turnoff...they were working on getting cheaper flights, not sure if they did though.
When people say there's a lot of Brits there...they're about 80 years old and mostly retired army who were stationed in Malta when they were younger and Malta was a British province(or whatever).
I'd go there and check it out if I were you...but having been there and gone to continental Europe, Spain and Portugal are both highly more desirable to me.
Also, Malta isn't as cheap as you'd think...they still use the Maltese Lira which is probably even more expensive versus the dollar now.
Regarding the women I have no idea as I saw very few attractive women. I'll tell you the clubs are spilling out with 16 year old kids drunk because that's the drinking age which I find a bit young.
All in all, I'd not live there but I'd visit again if flights were cheap...really pretty places and Valleta and Gozo are both gorgeous, but the rest of the city is nothing amazing.
Cheers.
