Valletta has a reputation for being expensive and it can be if you only eat where the cruise ships drop people. The actual city, the one residents live in, is full of dates you can do for under thirty euros for two. Here are five that I have tested more than once.
The pastizzi and ferry crawl, around twelve euros
Start at Crystal Palace in Hamrun, technically just outside Valletta but a fifteen-minute walk from the city gate, where pastizzi cost forty cents and have done for as long as anyone remembers. Get four, two ricotta and two pea, and a tea. Walk back into Valletta along Sarria Street, take Republic Street down to the Marsamxett ferry, ride it across to Sliema for two euros each, walk the Sliema seafront for an hour, and ride back. Total spend around twelve euros for two. The ferry at sunset is the part you will remember.
The wine bar one-glass tour, around twenty-four euros
Valletta has enough small wine bars within five minutes of each other that you can do a proper crawl on a small budget. One glass at Vinum on Old Bakery Street, one at Trabuxu Wine Bar at the bottom of Strait, one at 67 Kapitali, and you have spent around twelve euros each across two hours and three different rooms. Order the cheapest house red at each. The trick is to keep moving and to share a small plate at only one of the three stops, otherwise the bill creeps up.
Upper Barrakka Gardens with a takeaway picnic, around fifteen euros
The Upper Barrakka is free. The view across the Grand Harbour to the Three Cities is one of the great views in the Mediterranean. Pick up a ftira sandwich and a couple of pastizzi from any bakery on Saint Lucia Street, two cans of Cisk beer from a corner shop for around two euros each, and you have a picnic that costs less than a single starter at a tourist restaurant. Aim for the 4pm gun-firing if you want a small bit of theatre with your dinner. The benches at the harbour-facing wall are the ones to grab.
The free museum-and-coffee afternoon, around eight euros
The Saint James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, just inside the city gate, runs free art exhibitions year-round. The galleries are spread over four floors of an old fortification and the building itself is worth the visit. Spend an hour there, walk five minutes to Lot Sixty One on Old Bakery Street for two flat whites at around three euros each, and you have a date that took two hours and cost the price of two coffees. This is the move when the weather is bad and you do not want to commit to a bigger evening.
The night walk, free
The most underrated date in the city is also the cheapest. Start at the Triton Fountain at the city gate after 9pm, walk down Republic Street to Fort Saint Elmo at the tip, loop back along the Marsamxett bastion path with Sliema lit up across the water, and end at the Hastings Garden looking down at Manoel Island. It takes about an hour at a slow pace. The streets are well lit, almost empty after 10pm on weeknights, and the sea is on both sides of you the whole way. Add a takeaway coffee from any of the late cafes on Republic Street and you have spent four euros total.
How to keep the bill down without it feeling cheap
A few things I have learned. Do not order bottles, order glasses; Valletta wine bars charge reasonably by the glass and unreasonably by the bottle. Eat the bread and the bigilla, which is often free or very cheap, and skip the starters. Drink Cisk, the local lager, rather than imported beers; it is around two-fifty euros against five for a foreign equivalent. Take the ferry rather than a taxi if your date lives in Sliema or Gzira. Walk between venues rather than booking dinner at one place and trying to make it last three hours.
The other thing worth saying. Valletta on a budget is often more romantic than Valletta with a fat wallet. The expensive restaurants are good but they are also the same expensive restaurants you find in any small European capital. The eight-euro picnic at Upper Barrakka with the harbour at your feet is something you can only do here. Spend the money you saved on a second date instead.