Date Ideas Malta: 20 First and Second Date Plans With Costs

Short answer: the best first-date ideas in Malta are short, public and easy to leave: coffee and a walk to Upper Barrakka Gardens, a sunset on the Sliema promenade, a drink on Strait Street, or a free salsa night in Sliema. For a second date, go a little bigger: a Gozo day trip (€4.65 ferry fare each), a Sunday re-enactment at Fort St Elmo (€10), bowling at The Eden (€9.95 each), a beginners’ bouldering session, Mdina after dark or a jazz night at Valletta Waterfront. Below are 20 date plans with costs, who-pays suggestions, how long they take and how to get there, plus an honest section on who pays on a date in Malta.

Prices were checked on the operators’ own pages in October 2026. Where an operator doesn’t publish a price, I say “check” rather than guessing. The rule I’d give any friend: for a first meeting, pick something in a public place, with an easy end point, that you’d enjoy even if the conversation is only OK.

First-date ideas (low pressure, public, easy to end)

1. Coffee, then Upper Barrakka Gardens

• Where: Valletta. Meet by City Gate, coffee nearby, walk to the gardens for the Grand Harbour view.
• Cost: the price of two coffees.
• Who pays: whoever invited, or pay your own. Either is normal.
• How long: 1–2 hours.
• Getting there: any bus to the Valletta terminus.

2. A sunset walk on the Sliema promenade

• Where: Sliema seafront towards St Julian’s.
• Cost: free; add a drink at the end if it’s going well.
• Who pays: free; split or pay your own for the drink.
• How long: 1 hour.
• Getting there: buses along the coast road.

3. One drink on Strait Street

• Where: Valletta’s bar street. Yard 32, a gin and tapas bar at number 32, lists Tuesday to Saturday evening opening on its website, though other listings show different days, so check before you go.
• Cost: drinks vary by bar.
• Who pays: rounds, or pay your own.
• How long: 1–2 hours.
• Getting there: Valletta terminus; night buses run from there. More in the Valletta nightlife guide.

4. Gun salute and a pastizz

• Where: Upper Barrakka at 12:00 or 16:00, when the Saluting Battery fires its salute (check the days on its website), then a cheap snack nearby.
• Cost: free to watch from the gardens.
• Who pays: whoever’s hungry.
• How long: 1 hour.
• Getting there: Valletta terminus.

5. A free salsa or bachata night

• Where: Barrio Latino, Sliema: bachata on Tuesdays, salsa on Thursdays, from about 20:30 (per SalsaVida listings, checked October 2026).
• Cost: free entry; buy a drink.
• Who pays: pay your own.
• How long: 2 hours.
• Getting there: buses along the Sliema front.

6. Bowling at The Eden

• Where: SuperBowl at The Eden, St George’s Bay, St Julian’s.
• Cost: €9.95 per adult, per The Eden’s site.
• Who pays: loser buys the next drink.
• How long: 1 hour.
• Getting there: buses to St Julian’s.

7. A quiz night as a team of two

• Where: Valletta Waterfront lists quiz nights from 11 to 25 November 2026 (bookings opening soon when checked).
• Cost: check the Waterfront events page.
• Who pays: split.
• How long: an evening.
• Getting there: walk down from Valletta.

8. The Malta Book Festival

• Where: MFCC, Ta’ Qali, Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 November 2026.
• Cost: check the National Book Council’s listing.
• Who pays: buy each other a book.
• How long: 1–2 hours.
• Getting there: bus towards Ta’ Qali.

Second-date ideas (a bit longer, a bit more planned)

9. A day in Gozo

• Where: ferry from Ċirkewwa to Mġarr, then the Citadel in Victoria, Xlendi or Ramla Bay.
• Cost: €4.65 standard foot-passenger fare each, validated in Gozo on the way back (Gozo Channel).
• Who pays: pay your own fare; take turns for lunch and coffee.
• How long: a full day.
• Getting there: bus to Ċirkewwa; leave early.

10. In Guardia at Fort St Elmo

• Where: Fort St Elmo, Valletta. Heritage Malta’s re-enactment runs on selected Sundays: 18 and 25 October, 1 and 15 November, 6 and 13 December 2026, at 11:00.
• Cost: €10 adults, or €17 with the fort and National War Museum (Heritage Malta).
• Who pays: the inviter buys the tickets, the other buys lunch.
• How long: half a day with lunch.
• Getting there: walk from the Valletta terminus.

11. Mdina after dark

• Where: the walled old city, quiet and lantern-lit in the evening; dinner in Rabat or Mdina.
• Cost: free to walk; dinner extra.
• Who pays: split dinner, or take turns.
• How long: an evening.
• Getting there: buses to Rabat/Mdina.

12. A bouldering intro

• Where: Crashpad Climbing Centre, Qormi, with a one-hour “Fresh Start” introduction for beginners.
• Cost: see Crashpad’s pricing page.
• Who pays: pay your own.
• How long: 2 hours.
• Getting there: bus to Qormi or drive.

13. Jazz at Valletta Waterfront

• Where: the Valletta Waterfront Jazz Series, Volume 3 on Thursday 5 November 2026 (booking required).
• Cost: see the Waterfront events page.
• Who pays: inviter books, the other buys drinks.
• How long: an evening.
• Getting there: walk down from Valletta.

14. La Sociale on a Saturday

• Where: Barceló Fortina, Sliema, with a workshop at 20:30 before the social dancing.
• Cost: €10 (SalsaVida listing, checked October 2026).
• Who pays: pay your own.
• How long: an evening.
• Getting there: bus to Sliema, taxi home.

15. A padel game as a foursome

• Where: any club on Playtomic, from Valletta to Mosta.
• Cost: court price varies by club and time; split four ways.
• Who pays: split.
• How long: 90 minutes plus a drink.
• Getting there: depends on the club.

Free and romantic: the classic plans

16. Sunset at Dingli Cliffs

The most romantic free plan on the island. Bring a jacket and a snack, and stay back from the unfenced edge. Bus to Dingli, then a short walk. Free.

17. A picnic in Buskett Gardens

Shady woodland below Verdala Palace, near Rabat. Everyone brings one thing. Free.

18. Marsaxlokk on a Sunday morning

Colourful luzzu boats and the Sunday market, then a seafood lunch if you want to splash out. Free to browse.

19. Christmas lights in Valletta

From late November, a walk through the lights is a free, festive second or third date. The 2026 switch-on dates hadn’t been announced when checked.

20. A Valletta Baroque Festival concert

Listed by Festivals Malta for 7–24 January 2027, in churches and palaces around Valletta. Ticketed per concert. Dinner after.

For more free ideas, see free things to do in Malta; for a bigger occasion, see these birthday ideas in Malta.

Romantic things to do in Malta

If you’re already together and want something special: a sunset at Dingli, dinner in Mdina, the Upper Barrakka at dusk with the harbour lit up, a day in Gozo with a swim at Ramla in the warmer months, or a candlelit concert during the Baroque Festival in January. The common thread is the light. Malta’s honey-coloured stone at golden hour does a lot of the work for you.

Who pays on a date in Malta?

There’s no single rule here, and anyone who tells you there is is guessing. In practice, you’ll see all of these:

• The inviter pays: common for a first coffee or a drink, especially if one person clearly asked the other out.
• Split: very normal, especially among younger people, internationals and anyone on a student or starter salary.
• Take turns: one pays for the coffee, the other for the next drink or the next date.
• Pay your own: perfectly fine, especially for activities with a ticket price.

The honest advice is the same as for any plan: say it before, not at the bill. “My treat for the coffee” or “Shall we split?” takes two seconds and removes the awkward moment. It’s the same idea as the “who pays” line on every plan on this site, and the same four options (host pays, split, pay your own or free) that a host picks when posting a plan on MeetNow, which, to be clear, is an app for plans with people in general, not a dating app.

Copy-paste invite messages

For a first coffee

“Coffee in Valletta on Saturday at 11? We could walk down to Upper Barrakka after for the view. My treat for the coffee.”

For a second date

“Fancy a day in Gozo next Sunday? Ferry from Ċirkewwa around 09:00, the Citadel, then lunch in Xlendi. We each pay our own ferry and take turns for lunch and coffee?”

For something different

“There’s a free salsa night in Sliema on Thursday from 20:30. Neither of us can dance, which is the point. One drink, and we leave if it’s awful.”

Date ideas by season

• Autumn (October and November): warm sea, early sunsets after the clocks change on 25 October, the Book Festival in November and the first jazz nights indoors.
• Winter (December to February): Christmas lights, cosy wine bars, the Baroque Festival in January and Carnival in February.
• Spring (March to May): wild flowers, long walks, picnics in Buskett, and Gozo before the summer crowds.
• Summer (June to September): early-evening swims, sunset drinks by the water, festas almost every weekend. Avoid long outdoor plans in the midday heat.

Meeting someone new: the safety box

Tips for planning a date in Malta

• Pick a landmark as a meeting point. City Gate in Valletta, the Sliema ferry landing or the Love monument at Spinola Bay.
• Check the transport. Ferries finish early from 1 November; buses are slower than you think at rush hour.
• Have a plan B for weather. Bowling, the cinema or a wine bar if it rains.
• Send the whole plan in one message. Time, place, rough length and who pays. It’s considerate, it shows you’ve thought about it, and it means nobody has to ask awkward follow-up questions.
• Keep the first one short. An hour of coffee you’d happily extend beats a four-hour dinner you can’t escape.
• Look at the night as a whole. The Valletta nightlife guide covers wine bars and jazz if you want to move on after dinner, and our Paceville safety guide helps if you head to St Julian’s.

Make the plan

The best date ideas are the ones with a time, a place and a clear answer to “who pays?”. Pick one, send the message, and enjoy it.