Malta and Gozo ended up being way more vegan-friendly than I thought! We had a really grey and rainy August in Berlin so a couple friends and I decided to seek out some warmth in southern Europe before being thrust into eternal winter darkness. We chose Malta because there were direct flights, the water would be warm enough to swim, and it wasn’t too expensive.
We also stayed in some pretty great accommodation most of the time, so here’s is the vegan food I ate on Malta and Gozo and where we stayed.
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General Malta Info
Transport – The bus system in Malta and Gozo was great, and taxis were pretty cheap (especially if splitting between a few people). Try the app eCabs for taxis, we used it a lot and you can also book and pay cash with it. You can also rent a car or get mopeds, which we didn’t do.
It’s 2€ per ride on the bus or you can buy a weekly transport pass for 21€. The express buses are 3€ (i.e. from the ferry port in Gozo to Marsalforn we took an express bus with only 2 stops).
Vegan at Malta International Airport
Want to shout out the vegan options I found at the airport while we’re here, because I was surprised and there were some good ones!
The first image is from Dr. Juice, a chain in the area, look at all those vegan desserts and even a vegan chipotle jackfruit melt, yum! That one was BEFORE security. The second image was from Costa Coffee after security, and is a vegan mushroom and chestnut pie.
Gozo
Gozo is a small island off of the main island of Malta. It’s a bit more chill and, in my opinion, has better beaches. You can get there with the Gozo fast ferry, which cost 12,99€ round-trip at the time of writing if you buy it online. We literally went to the ferry station and bought the tickets on our phone while standing there. There are two fast ferries between Malta and Gozo, I don’t really think it matters which you take, we just chose based on times, but here’s an article I found comparing them.
Where to Stay in Gozo
We decided to stay in the area called Marsalforn, and I was suuuuuper happy with our apartment we booked there. There were three of us and we each had our own rooms, two balconies, a very good outfitted kitchen, AC, a nice infinity pool and it was walking distance from Marsalforn center, which is a small town on the water where there are some good vegan options.
There was a small city beach in Marsalforn and it was an easy taxi/bus ride to other beaches. If you mainly want to sit at the beach though, you might consider the southwest side of the island (maybe look into Xlendi, for example).
Hillock Residence Apartments – This is where we stayed in Gozo and it was great! They have loads of different types of apartments. I loved that we could each have our own room, and the pool was super nice. The wifi worked, kitchen had everything you needed. Highly recommend! I booked it on Booking.com, which is where the link will lead you to.
Vegan Gozo
Alive Bistro (Marsalforn) – This was my favorite place we ate at on vacation, and we went twice in 3 days! Their vegan cakes (also raw cakes) were freaking amazing. Such a nice vegan option in Gozo. They are vegetarian, but have at least 50% if not more vegan options, and all the cakes are vegan.
Chill Bar (Marsalforn) – They have good vegan junk food options like vegan cheese fries, quesadillas, burgers, etc. Good place for a drink and some snacks.
Coffee Circus Joy (Marsalforn) – This cafe had really good coffee, plenty of plant milks and some vegan food options including vegan feta you could add to things.
Vanilla+ Gelateria Artigianale (Victoria, but also a chain all over Malta) – this is a chain across Malta. They have a few vegan flavors. Most are fruit but they have this dark chocolate sorbet that tasted like eating a chocolate bar and was great.
Sphinx Pastizzeria (Victoria, but it’s also in Valetta on the main island) – This is a bakery chain, most everything is NOT vegan, but I found these curry mushy-pea-filled pasteries everywhere that I’m pretty sure were vegan, and I promptly became obsessed with them. Sometimes there’s an apple pastry that’s vegan too.
Vegan Malta – Groceries on Gozo
Greens Supermarket (Victoria, but also a chain on the main island) – Most of the supermarkets near us where small and had only basic stuff, but this place was. a20-min bus ride away and had an AMAZING selection. Every vegan cheese, meat, ice cream, etc. you could want! Definitely worth the trip if you will be on Gozo long enough to cook!
Malta
After a few days on Gozo we headed back to the main island of Malta for a few days and stayed in the area Valletta, which is very touristy and old and surrounded by city walls. It was pretty and SO much more crowded than Gozo. I personally think 1-2 days there was enough, as I liked the more chill vibe of Gozo, but in my group of three friends we all had different flights at different days/times, so it made sense to be centrally located by the airport.
There are TONS of buses right near Valletta so it was easy to get around. There were NOT any great beaches within less than an hour bus ride of Valetta though, so if you’re aiming for that I’d stay somewhere else.
If you want to shop, eat, and hit up bars though, Valletta was great.
If I were to do it again, I’d probably also go check out the Mdina Gate on the main island, which is a medieval citadel and seems pretty cool.
Where to Stay in Malta
Merkanti Apartments (Valletta) – This was right in the action in the center of Valletta on the merchants street. It was a good base for us given that we all needed to get to the airport at all different times, some early in the morning. That way we could also be near stuff, but get to the airport fast. I took the bus easily to the airport in 25-30 minutes. We had a two room place that also had a futon in the living room. The kitchen was big and more-or-less well-outfitted. My only complaint is we had the ground-floor apartment so it was quite dark, but I believe they have multiple apartments to choose from.
Dhara Guest House Malta (Paola) – This place was literally a 7-minute drive from the airport. We stayed here the first night as two of us were flying in at 10pm. It was clean, had AC, coffee and some basic breakfast stuff in the morning (not so much vegan so we got our own vegan cheese and bread), also a little garden courtyard and rooftop hangout area. The owner was nice and because of the breakfast you also get the opportunity to chat with other guests. We had a bit of a misunderstanding as we booked when they had just joined booking.com and the pictures weren’t clear. We thought we were booking a 3-room apartment, but it was in fact one room with two double beds. The owner has since changed the pictures and it’s more clear, and she gave us an extra room to make up for the confusion. Besides that I’d recommend.
Vegan Malta
Gugar Hangout & Bar (Valletta) – This is one of those cafe in the day, bar at night kinda places with an alternative vibe and it was pretty chill. They have a lot of vegan options. We didn’t go for a main meal but below is a peanut/tahini cup I got as a snack and a vegan ftira sandwich (ftira is a Maltese specialty).
Cafe Castille (Valletta) – This cafe has tons of vegan options from sandwiches to burgers to pizza and cake, also loads of smoothies and stuff. I got a quick vegan chicken sandwich on the way to the airport and it was tasty!
Amorino Valletta (Valletta) – This is in the main downtown area of Valletta, they mostly have fruit sorbets for vegans but also had this chocolate one. They scoop it into a flower!
Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters (Valletta) – Just shouting out this place for their excellent coffee. We went here all three days we stayed in Valletta. They have 3-4 different plant milks, and your standard vegan banana bread. If you want good coffee near Valletta with vegan milk options, go here.
…and that’s that! I hope you find this helpful if you decide to go to Malta and/or Gozo! It was definitely more vegan-friendly than I expected there!
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