Being from Melbourne, Australia… Paul and I are used to banks being open from around 9am to 5pm Monday through Saturday. And even on Sundays too in certain parts of Melbourne.
Yet, before arriving in Malta, we didn’t get any Malta currency. OK, OK, OK… you’re probably thinking we should’ve thought ahead. And you’re right, we should’ve! But keep reading to find out what happened!
We thought we could wing it, and that there’d be currency exchange places or banks at the airport.
We arrived at Malta airport around 2:30pm, and had intentions of changing our Australian dollars into Malta currency… which is Euros.
Neither of us could see any Malta exchange bureaus. Yet, we did see a tourist information office.
So we wandered over and asked them where we could exchange money at Malta airport. They checked their computer and told us that none of the banks were open.
Arghhhhhhhh!
So we did a major rookie mistake by not getting any currency. Luckily the staff told us that if we wanted to change money… there were only 2 places in Malta that were open now!
So, the 2 Malta exchange places were:
1) W & J Coppini & Co. Financial Institution
144 Tower Road, Sliema, Malta
2) FexServ
66A St George’s Road, St Julian’s, Malta
So we were told that Coppini was open until 4pm, and FexServ in St Julian’s was open until 8pm.
Could We Change Money In Malta?
As we were staying in Sliema, this would be the more convenient option. So after we checked into our Sliema Hotel, which was Hotel 1926, and freshened up… we took a stroll along the waterfront to W & J Coppini.
And we made sure to bring our passports in case we needed to show our ID. Yet, in some destinations we’ve found that we haven’t needed to show our passports or ID.
Yet, when we got there just before 4pm is was CLOSED!
Then we’d then thought about going to FexServ in St Julians, but were wary that maybe that wasn’t open either. And we didn’t want to go all the way out there to risk it, to find out they were closed.
So, then we went on a hunt to find an ATM to withdraw money. That was our last option as usually the rates are crap with banks. Plus, they charge more fees.
Also, have you ever had your card swallowed up the ATM machine? We have but that was a rare occasion!
But what else could we do, as we were hankering for some Maltese pastizzis and they would only take cash. Yep, our stomachs took over!
So we found an HSBC ATM, put our card in and hey presto… it spat out some much needed money for us.
Then we could relax and enjoy some food and drinks in Malta.
And the next day we thought we’d get some more money out. So we went to HSBC bank in Sliema. Yet, the security told us that unless we had a bank account with them, we couldn’t exchange money!
Arghhhhhhhh again!
So generally speaking, the Malta bank hours are 8:30am to 12:30pm, Monday to Saturday. Depending on the location and bank, the hours will vary.
In the end, our savior was W & J Coppini in Sliema. And just so you know, they needed to see ID so that we could get some Euro.
So that was our “fun” Malta currency money exchange experience!
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