Fortunately for the tourists, all but the most miserly of hotels will feature some sort of heating for their guests.
However, this is not necessarily the case for many of the residents on the island. Homes are made of porous limestone, often featuring large windows and high ceilings over stone tiled floors. Perfect for summer, but not so much for those pesky winter months.
So how best to keep warm?
Central Heating: Well forget about this one. It is prohibitively expensive and as rare as hen’s teeth in Malta.
Open Fire: Ditto. This requires a house with a chimney, and you may as well burn euros as expensive carbon fuels.
Solar Panels:
An option which is growing in popularity, and about time too given that Malta has more hours of sunshine per year than anywhere else in Europe. But that’s not much use to renters or those without the funds or space to install a solar heating system.
Home Insulation:
Another thoroughly sensible and eco-friendly option, but again this is only relevant for house owners with a chunk of disposable income.
Electric Heaters:
You can pick up a small heater for as little as €20 euros. This may well nolvadex for sale no prescription seem like a great deal, until you are confronted by your monthly electricity bill at which stage you may wish to chuck the heater into the Mediterranean.
Gas Heaters:
Probably the most popular option going. Personally, I am not crazy about the idea of having a tank of highly flammable gas attached to a heating device in the middle of my living room, but if they were blowing up all the time I guess we’d hear about it. The gas heaters are a lot less expensive than the electric version, and winter is when the gas cylinder suppliers make their money.
Home-Made Heater:
Search youtube and you will find lots of instruction videos on how to create your own heater out of some candles and clay pots. Unfortunately this falls into the ‘if it sounds to good to be true…’ category. They just don’t work.
Wrap Up Warm:
This is the one we go for, and while it is certainly not a luxurious way to spend January and February in particular, it is doable. This is Malta after all, not Northern Sweden, and people will be sunning themselves on the beach by April. Wear layers, keep the curtains and doors shut after nightfall and invest in a couple of duvets (after much research, JB Stores in Hal Lija proved the best place for these).
Best of luck however you plan on enduring the winter months, and remember that soon you will be complaining about the sweltering heat again!
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The biggest shock of moving here has been this. Originally from Florida, I’m used to this but not my partner. As we investigate heating options, one that has gotten our attention is underfloor heating. This is best if you are in building or renovation mode (as we are), but probably not for established homes or flats. It seems to run between €150 – €200 per sq meter, but if you consider that you don’t put it under standard furniture (beds, closets, bath tubs, etc.) it’s not as bad as it sounds. The running costs, on the other hand, we’re still trying to figure out the true electricity costs before installing. For now, we’re warm and pretty stoned from the gas fumes in the living room. There’s gotta be a better way!
The cold winter months come as a bit of a shock to most new arrivals I think. Underfloor heating is definitely a great option if you are in a position to be able to install it. I guess I wrote my list with renters in mind, but I’ve got to believe that in a country like Malta solar panels have to be the way forward if you are a homeowner with a bit of roof space. In fact this hasn’t been the coldest winter I’ve experienced over here, so I am cautiously optimistic that we will make it to Spring without losing any limbs to frostbite…