Valletta Restaurants Rank In Top 20 Most Expensive In Europe… Ahead Of Rome, Amsterdam And Paris
Valletta has been ranked as the 19th most expensive city in Europe to eat out at by a popular global crowdsourced price database, ahead of major European capitals like Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Berlin, Athens and Madrid.
Numbeo gathers data from the public on everything from perceived consumer prices and property prices to crime rates and healthcare quality, calculates averages and periodically publishes updated global rankings on these issues.
Malta has two cities with enough data to make it to the list – Valletta and Sliema.
When it comes to restaurants, people are asked how much items like a regular cappuccino, a bottle of water and a McDonald’s McMeal cost in a particular city.
This is how people rated prices in Valletta.
Restaurant prices are calculated and ranked through indexes that are relative to New York City. For example, if a city has a restaurant index of 120% it means that restaurants are perceived to be 20% more expensive than in New York City… if the index is 70%, it means restaurants are 30% less expensive.
Valletta’s mid-year restaurant index stands at 82.88%, which makes it the 19th most expensive city in Europe when it comes to eating out.
Unsurprisingly, Switzerland dominates the list, with Swiss cities Zug, Zurich, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne and Bern all making it into the top six.
They are followed by Jersey’s Saint Helier and a slew of Scandinavian cities, including Oslo, Rejkjavik and Copenhagen. London is ranked 16th while Luxembourg City is 18th and Valletta 19th.
Sliema is ranked 56th, just behind Rome and just ahead of Rotterdam.
However, average wages in the likes of the UK and Luxembourg are much higher than Maltese wages, meaning that expensive restaurants have a greater financial impact on the average Maltese worker.
With the world in the midst of an inflation crisis, grocery and restaurant prices have shot up in Malta, despite the government granting millions in financial aid to food importers.
Recent data registered Malta’s annual inflation rate for July at 6.82%, an uptick from the 6.21% measured in June 2022, with food registering the highest increase.
Several people have started sharing updated prices of restaurants across the island, with those found to have kept their prices low – such as a quaint food van in Rinella – receiving widespread praise and public support.
Has eating out in Malta become too expensive?
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