City comparison
Palermo vs Valletta & Sliema: which is better to live in?
Quick verdict
Palermo is the cheaper of the two: our estimate for a single person is about €750 a month less than Valletta & Sliema, mostly because of rent. They’re in different countries, so visa routes, taxes and healthcare differ too: see below.
Choose Palermo for
- Affordability
- Nature & green space
- Beach life
- Mountains nearby
- Lower living costs
Choose Valletta & Sliema for
- English-friendliness
- Expat community
- Remote-work scene
- Safety
Palermo vs Valletta & Sliema at a glance
| Palermo | Valletta & Sliema | |
|---|---|---|
| Country | Italy | Malta |
| Single budget / month | €1,550 | €2,300 |
| Couple budget / month | €2,350 | €3,400 |
| 1-bed rent, center | €550 | €1,250 |
| Winter highs (Dec to Feb) | 16°C / 60°F | 16°C / 61°F |
| Summer highs (Jun to Aug) | 30°C / 86°F | 31°C / 87°F |
| Sunshine (hours/yr) | 2,530 | 3,054 |
| City size | Large city | Mid-size city |
| Coastal | Yes | Yes |
| Direct flights to the US | Yes | Yes |
| Affordability | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Sunny, warm climate | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| English-friendliness | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Safety | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Walkability | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Public transport | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Nature & green space | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Beach life | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Mountains nearby | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Culture | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Nightlife | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Family life | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Remote-work scene | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Expat community | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Flights home | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Calm, slower pace | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
Cost of living: Palermo or Valletta & Sliema?
By our estimates, a comfortable mid-range life costs about €1,550 a month for one person in Palermo and €2,300 in Valletta & Sliema, rent included. For a couple it’s €2,350 vs €3,400, and for a family of four €3,300 vs €4,900.
Rent drives most of the gap: a one-bedroom in the center runs about €550 in Palermo against €1,250 in Valletta & Sliema, while a monthly transit pass costs - vs -. Want to plug in your own lifestyle? Use the cost of living calculator.
Climate and weather
Winters average highs of about 16°C (60°F) in Palermo and 16°C (61°F) in Valletta & Sliema. In summer it’s roughly 30°C vs 31°C. Palermo gets about 2,530 hours of sunshine a year and Valletta & Sliema about 3,054.
2,530 hours of sunshine a year · 591 mm of rain a year · Source: Palermo-Boccadifalco 1991-2020 normals (Servizio Meteorologico) via the Wikipedia climate table; sunshine is the about 2,530 hours a year in the article text
Monthly temperatures in °C and °F
| Month | Avg high | Avg low |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 15°C / 59°F | 9°C / 49°F |
| Feb | 15°C / 60°F | 9°C / 48°F |
| Mar | 17°C / 62°F | 10°C / 50°F |
| Apr | 20°C / 68°F | 12°C / 54°F |
| May | 24°C / 75°F | 16°C / 60°F |
| Jun | 28°C / 83°F | 20°C / 67°F |
| Jul | 31°C / 88°F | 23°C / 73°F |
| Aug | 31°C / 89°F | 23°C / 74°F |
| Sep | 28°C / 82°F | 21°C / 69°F |
| Oct | 24°C / 76°F | 18°C / 64°F |
| Nov | 20°C / 68°F | 14°C / 56°F |
| Dec | 16°C / 61°F | 11°C / 51°F |
3,054 hours of sunshine a year · 581 mm of rain a year · Source: Luqa Airport (near Valletta) 1991-2020 normals via Meteo Climate/MaltaWeather, as shown on Wikipedia's Valletta page.
Monthly temperatures in °C and °F
| Month | Avg high | Avg low |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 16°C / 60°F | 10°C / 50°F |
| Feb | 16°C / 60°F | 10°C / 49°F |
| Mar | 17°C / 63°F | 11°C / 52°F |
| Apr | 20°C / 68°F | 13°C / 55°F |
| May | 24°C / 76°F | 16°C / 60°F |
| Jun | 29°C / 84°F | 20°C / 67°F |
| Jul | 32°C / 89°F | 22°C / 72°F |
| Aug | 32°C / 90°F | 23°C / 73°F |
| Sep | 29°C / 83°F | 21°C / 70°F |
| Oct | 25°C / 77°F | 18°C / 65°F |
| Nov | 21°C / 69°F | 15°C / 59°F |
| Dec | 17°C / 63°F | 12°C / 53°F |
Daily life
Palermo is a large city on the coast; Valletta & Sliema is a mid-size city on the coast. Palermo is the most affordable city in our whole set, with mild winters, beaches and centuries of layered history. It suits budget-minded retirees and remote workers who can live in Italian and accept patchy public services. Valletta and Sliema give you a fully English-speaking Mediterranean life on a tiny island: sunny, safe-feeling, social and well connected to the UK. You pay for it with high rents, crowds and traffic. We estimate about €2,300 a month for a single person and €3,400 for a couple.
Living in Palermo: the upsides and downsides
- Among the lowest rents of any city we cover
- Mild winters and a long beach season
- Street food, markets and a big historic center
- Downside: Public transport and waste collection are unreliable
- Downside: Few English speakers and a small expat community
Living in Valletta & Sliema: the upsides and downsides
- English is an official language, so offices, landlords and clinics work in English
- The sunniest winters in this batch outside Cyprus, with about 3,050 sunshine hours a year
- Compact: ferries and buses reach most places from Sliema or Valletta
- Downside: Rents are among the highest in our batch: about €1,250 for a central one-bed
- Downside: Traffic and building sites; buses are crowded and slow
Visas and residency
Palermo is in Italy and Valletta & Sliema is in Malta. The main routes for each:
- Italian Citizenship by Descent (Jure Sanguinis) - Citizenship by descent, changing
- Italy Digital Nomad Visa (Remote Worker Visa) - Digital nomad visa, open, €2,125/mo income
- Italy Elective Residency Visa - Retirement visa, open, €2,583/mo income
- Italy Investor Visa (Golden Visa) - Golden visa, open, €250,000 investment
- Malta Nomad Residence Permit - Digital nomad visa, open, €3,500/mo income
- Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP) - Golden visa, open, €99,000 investment
Read the full guides: living in Palermo and living in Valletta & Sliema.
Related comparisons
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- Cagliari vs Valletta & Sliema
- Naples vs Palermo
- Palermo vs Rome
- Milan vs Palermo
- Florence vs Palermo
- Bologna vs Palermo
Costs are our estimates for a comfortable mid-range lifestyle; scores are editorial, relative to the 56 cities we cover. Methodology.