After having visited both Cyprus and Malta, I started thinking which of the islands would I recommend to other people and there it was: a fierce competition and a biased comparison of their characteristics. I will try my best to be objective, but surely this is an illusion, as I spent 4 days in one and 4 months on the other and have seen them from different perspectives. Still I will compare them through the eyes of a traveller and I welcome all opinions/suggestions/criticism…
1. Urban landscape – Malta has a funny concept of towns as it is basically one huge city made up of several small municipalities. It is very difficult to realize when Bugibba ends and Qawra starts, for example (those are two resort towns in the North of the island of Malta, where we stayed some weeks ago). Streets are winding and narrow, houses are even narrower and they give a strong feeling of authenticity, with pale yellow walls and lively colored wooden balconies, with their house names and paintings and statues of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary on the street corners. The towns in Cyprus are also beautiful, but they are more modern, with more steel and glass buildings, though if you wander through the streets of walled city of Nicosia you will fall in love with them also. Nevertheless, Cyprus-Malta 0-1
2. Rural landscape – now this is a clearer category, as Malta doesn’t really have villages (it is all a cluster of very small towns) and Cyprus prides itself (or it should) with the picturesque villages of the Akamas peninsula or those in the Troodos mountains. Or like my dad put it: the most beautiful areas of the whole island! Cyprus-Malta 1-1
3. Exotic trees – exotic for a Romanian living in Finland: palm, olive, orange and lemon trees… it’s a paradise for the eyes, I will come to miss so much the orange and yellow balls in the trees on my way to school and the palm trees – oh, I couldn’t take enough mental pictures of them… though I only saw a few lemon trees in Malta and no orange trees at all (maybe I just missed them). Cyprus-Malta 2-1
4. Public transport – there’s always the option of renting a car, but if you want to travel around the islands by public buses, Cyprus has a lot to learn from Malta – flexibility, frequency (evening and night buses including), coverage, price, access to all tourist attractions (the buses themselves being touristic attractions). Needless to bring up again the downsides of the public transport system of Cyprus, we debated on that many times already… Malta is definitely tying up the situation on this one. 2-2
5. Road conditions – I was inclined to give Cyprus an advantage on this category (highways all through the country, connecting the most important areas), but after scratching a car on a very-very-very “holy” road, and also taking half an hour for 5 km (on the way from the Akamas Gorge to Lara Bay) it’s 3-3 J
6. Sandy beaches – Malta must have some sandy beaches, we just didn’t find them (maybe we were not looking in the right direction) but compared to Cyprus, where Ayia Napa (most probably thanks to Nissi Beach) takes the lead in the whole Europe (according to travellers’ ratings on TripAdvisor http://www.gotimeshare.org/travel/001008-tripadvisor-reveals-europe%E2%80%99s-best-beaches), Cyprus-Malta 4-3
7. Coastal breathtaking views – big rivalry there… Aphrodite’s Birthplace, Cape Greko (Sea Caves) /vs./ Blue Grotto, Azure Window… we love them all… 5-4
8. Price level – both are Euro countries and euro coin-collector paradise, but Malta is cheaper, a clear advantage for budget travellers like us – 5-5
9. Touristic approach – Cyprus is a sand-sea-sun destination, no matter how much sustainable tourism experts try to change its profile. Malta is a “resort-country” also, filled with tourists. The point will go to Malta, however, because their tourist offices are open also on Sunday, opening times are more convenient (even in the evenings) and there have museums, movie projections and informative brochures about all main events happening on the island. One other difference is that all museums have discounted student-prices (ISIC prices, but any other student card goes also) Cyprus-Malta 5-6
10. History – Malta has the Knights and their stubbornness to resist all invasions as well as recovering from the disasters of WWII. Cyprus has the “Cyprus problem”, with 34% of the island under Turkish occupation, travelling to the North side can become a real adventure and visiting North Nicosia is like travelling in space and time, to a Turkey some decades back. Both former British colonies, both two gems of the Mediterranean… Cyprus-Malta 6-7
On some 10 point comparison, I was pleased to see it’s almost a tie… it was indeed a surprise for me also, as we got so used to criticize Cyprus on all sides. However, we give Malta an extra point for welcoming us so peacefully and treating us with good weather and amazing stories… but this is only because our experience was unforgettable, I agree to others having different perceptions. I am going to miss Cyprus as well, we’ve seen the island from North to South and from West to East and we’ve learned some of its secrets by living in Nicosia since January.
So… if you want to visit one of these islands and you cannot decide which one – go see them both and prove me wrong on what I wrote here – I’d love to hear all about your experiences!
O.
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