Malta. Avoid Malta-Taxi Online Tours...learn from our mistake.

[nutella2]

Just wanted to share my experience with this tour company with others. We visited Valletta on July 27th and based on some positive reviews on various sites decided to pre-arrange a tour with this company. My first warning sign should have been that Mark (company contact) wanted payment in advance for the tour. I know this was a bad move, and know better, but I did it...and regretted it later. The booking process was smooth, Mark was helpful in setting up an itinerary for a 4-hour tour and all seemed good.

 

We arrived in Valletta and were to meet the driver at 8am. He showed up at 8:30 with an excuse that the ship usually docks at a different spot so that was why he was late. In reality the ship pulled in at 7:00am so even if he did show up at 8am it would not take 30 mins to go to the new location.

 

In any event we start the tour; we go to our first location, Mosta to see the church and the bomb. George our driver was friendly and engaging at this point and this stop of the tour went well. The church at Mosta was beautiful and worth the stop, however this is where it all went wrong.

 

George then took us to the Malta Aircraft museum, not on the planned itinerary made in advance. At this point I talked to George as he seemed to think we had booked a 6-hour tour but I had the email from Mark showing what we had agreed to and paid for in advance. This resulted in an angry phone call between George and i assume Mark as to what the plan was. After the call George took us to Mdina, our next planned stop, where after an hour of touring on our own he picked us up. I guess George was still upset because our next stop was Valletta to drop us off even through we were supposed to see a few other sites. His excuse was that the 4-hour tour was not enough time to see what was planned, but Malta is pretty small an in my view we could have seen more, especially without the aircraft museum stop. So back to Valletta it was where we dropped off at the bus terminal and given some general directions to get around. So in the end the 4 hour tour was about 3 hours...tops.

 

I've contacted Mark from the company a few times since I've been back but have not had any reply from him, so to me that is one of the most telling signs.

 

 

So my advice to travellers to Valletta, especially arriving by cruise ship. There is a line of legitimate taxis just outside the cruise terminal where many people arranged for tours of various lengths. English is common and a price should be negotiated in advance. Malta is small and most of the popular sites are located in the central and eastern part of the island and can be easily reached, you can't do it all in a day but can do a lot.

 

Anyway, that is my story and I hope it helps others have a better Malta experience than we did.

[Mercury]

Thank-you - appreciate you posting this advice. It has certainly helped me.

[6rugrats]

Did you pay with your credit card? Have you tried disputing the charge?

[BrumBuoy]

The best way to see MALTA is using the open top buses.

[truel1111]

I did both Mdina and Valletta by bus and walking. Both places are so small, you see more by walking.

 

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Malta/Mdina-453886/Transportation-Mdina-TG-C-1.html