Malta Airport to Mellieħa: Transfer, Taxi & Bus (2026)

Malta Airport is about 28 km from Mellieħa in the far north, the longest transfer on the main island – roughly 40 minutes by car, and more in summer traffic. A pre-booked private transfer is the easiest arrival here: a fixed fare and a driver waiting. The cheapest is the Airport Direct TD1 bus, though it stops everywhere on the way north. Here's every option compared, with prices, times and where each one leaves you.

How long does the transfer take?

Mellieħa sits at the northern tip of Malta, about 28 km from the airport down in the south. In clear traffic that's around 40 minutes by car, which makes it the longest mainland transfer you'll book – here the distance, not just congestion, is the reason.

Summer evenings and weekday rush hour stretch it further, towards 50 minutes, especially on the coast road and the climb up into Mellieħa itself. If you have a check-in deadline or an onward ferry, give yourself a buffer rather than counting on the quickest run.

Private transfer: door to door to the bay

This is the option that earns its keep on the long northern run. At the end of a flight, a fixed fare and a waiting driver beat hunting for a taxi or hauling luggage onto a bus for over an hour.

A driver meets you in arrivals, the fare is agreed before you travel – around €35 – and you go straight to your hotel with no stops. You can book the transfer ahead so it's waiting when you land, which matters most on the route where the bus alternative is slowest.

Taxi from the airport

Prefer to just walk out and go? The taxi rank is outside the terminal and the official taxi counter is in the Arrivals Hall on the ground floor.

Fix the fare at the counter first – about €35 to Mellieħa – so the price is settled before the long drive north. It's the fastest no-planning choice, but on a route this far the gap to the cheaper options is wider, so a couple or family splitting one fare gets the best of it.

Airport Direct and public buses

Airport Direct is Malta Public Transport's express airport service, and at around €3 per journey it's the cheapest link to the north. The route you want is TD1, which runs from the airport up through Rabat, Buġibba and Qawra to Mellieħa and on to Ċirkewwa – where the Gozo ferry and the Comino Blue Lagoon boats leave – with luggage space and onboard payment, no booking needed.

The catch is time. TD1 runs about hourly and calls at the northern towns on the way, so it's a long, stop-start ride next to the 40-minute drive – budget well over an hour. Regular Tallinja town buses also reach Mellieħa for around €2 but are slower still. Check the Tallinja app for live departures rather than any printed timetable.

Town on the hill or the bay below?

Mellieħa isn't one place. The old town runs along a ridge around its hilltop parish church, while most of the resort hotels sit down at Mellieħa Bay – Għadira – which has Malta's biggest sandy beach. Between them is a long, steep hill.

That split is exactly why the drop-off point matters more here than in a compact town. If you're booked into one of the beachfront all-inclusive resorts at the bay, a door-to-door transfer saves the climb; up in the town the bus stops are more central.

With Popeye Village at nearby Anchor Bay and the Comino ferries close by, Mellieħa works as a base for the north – so plan the arrival around where you're actually sleeping.

On this route the distance really is the deciding factor – it's far enough that the choice comes down to a quick, fixed-fare drive or a cheap but slow ride north. For the bigger picture once you've arrived, our getting around Malta guide covers buses, ferries and car hire, and you can weigh every arrival option in the main Malta airport transfers guide.