how to travel from malta to sicily

I'll probably integrate this entry into a page on Sicily and malta. I thought it would be useful to note how we got from one country to the other, because our guidebooks were not super useful about this.

We took a ferry by VirtuFerries from Valetta to Pozzallo, Sicily. Ferry schedules can be seen online at virtuferries or you can pick up a schedule at the Malta airport Tourist Info office. You can also call them to check on the current schedule. We arrived in Sicily around 8:30 at night, and took a taxi to a hotel that our driver knew of. The driver was very helpful at pointed at where the bus would come by in the morning to go to Siracusa. We stayed at Hotel Megaron which was clean and nice and had a good little breakfast (excellent espresso and toast with nutella). The buses to anywhere else in Sicily left from the large Plaza of Remembrance. There was a posted bus schedule there with the departure times for Siracusa, Catania, and Taormina, among others. Here is the schedule from Pozzallo going to Noto, Siracusa, Catania. The bus in Sicily is called AST and tehy have a website in Italian. The buses were comfortable and we got to stare at the olive orchards and the Sicilian's amazing gardens.

If you are going to Siracusa, you might as well stay on the bus till it arrives in Ortygia, which is the little island at the tip of Siracusa. We got off in a park in Siracusa proper, and ended up walking to Ortygia. Basically, you know you are there when you get to a big bus lot across a bridge. And you can ask "Ortigia?".

getting back to Malta. We took a bus from Siracusa back to Pozzallo and arrived with a few hours to spare before our ferry departed. We walked to the ferry - a few kilometers, but nothing crazy. Taxi drivers will stop you by the bus stop in Pozzallo to ask if you need a ride, so it isn't too hard to get a taxi there. There are wifi points in Pozzallo - look for a sign posted "Internet Point". It costs about 5 Euros for 5 hours, 3 Euros for one hour.

Back in Valetta, you can take a taxi (there will be many when the ferry arrives) or you can walk up into Valetta. I refused to carry my suitcase up hundreds of stairs that I imagined awaited such a walk. So we took a cab to the airport and left our baggage there since we were leaving the country later that night.