Forward thinking was needed there, all the banks south side have a minimum wait of 2 hours for the last two days, crazy. I can,t imagine having a small business here, people are trying to buy matches with a lm10 note to get euro change.

yep, bank queues are nuts here in Gozo also

But if someone did have a small wad of Lira still to be spent I believe that you can use it but expect to get Euros as change is that right Mark ?.

s2 Thats more for for people with big wads and they only have a month to do it in.

"But if someone did have a small wad of Lira still to be spent I believe that you can use it but expect to get Euros as change is that right Mark ?."

vee dee is right - true, but only in January. After that, can change at a bank until end March

Two hour queues are also common in the north of Malta also every bank there has armed guards at the moment, hope this doesn't put you off taking your wad in to be changed veedee

The armed guards are always there but usually on the inside, they are there to protect my wad thats already in. .

there has been a few hold ups at some banks ( one just before the euro came in. i think in attard )

Shows the mentality, nick it just before it goes out of fashion.

it was Euros that were (mainly) taken

Even better nick it before it,s in fashion, Give us your euro,s.

We just converted to the Euro here in Cyprus too, at the same time as Malta.

In Cyprus, our bank counters are "open" - just like when I was a kid in UK. No glass screens or bars at the counters....

But, in the last few days before New Year, we too had armed guards when the security vans were arriving with the Euros and now too, after the event as many businesses are changing their Cyprus £'s for Euros.

We can still pay in Cy£'s until the end of this month, getting Euros back in change and after the end of this month, we can exchange our £'s at the bank until the end of June....

We will be out for a visit to Malta on 27th Feb for a few days, staying at the Topaz Hotel on a "meet up" with my parents whilst they are on holiday for 4 weeks. Looking forward to being able to work in just one currency for a change! It's mostly worked out at Lm1 to Cy£1.40 and so we never seemed to get much back when we changed our currency. Things will be a lot simpler for us this year - but my parents have been going there for about 10yrs now and think it will be a bit of a shock for them...

What is the set exchange mechanism for Lm1 to the Euro and how long is it set for, does anyone know?

cwb

"What is the set exchange mechanism for Lm1 to the Euro and how long is it set for, does anyone know?"

Lm 0.4293 = Euro 1

can pay with Lm until end Jan (getting Euros in change), can change at banks until end March - after that, coins for 2 years, notes for 10 years, at the central bank

Mark have you noticed if the prices ave been 'rounded up' and things more expensive. Ie a coffee was usually 40-50cents

One example, Our tal-lira shop is now two euro. Now thats what i call a round up.

there has been very little evidence of rounding up, if anything the opposite - as vee dee says, Tal Lira became two euro, which is actually a 14% drop in prices. Its so rare for a price to be rounded up that it gets an article in The Times - in fact it is illegal to round up for the first 3 (?) months

well, the bus fare of LM 0.20 cents is now 46 euro cents. I'd prefer if it were rounded up to 50 euro cents to avoid all the small change. I really don't see the problem in rounding up a couple of cents or in fact rounding down (which also has occurred) to make things much more simple.

It's all still very cheap compared to many countries in Europe (especilally the UK).

In the Hilton Hotel we had very nice bottles of local wine for 15 euros (£11) which would have cost the equivalent of £30 (40 euros) in the UK, Absolute bargain and service to die for. Why, oh why th eBrits say Malta is expensive when eating & drinking out are so much cheaper combined with great service and much nicer locations.

I think the problem is the Brits think that when travelling abroad that food should cost only 20-30% of that in the UK- but why? The locals have to earn a living and the locations are so much nicer than the UK. I'm happy to pay 50-60% (in top quality restaurants such as in the Hilton) of the overall cost of eating out in the UK (in average high street restaurants) and always order local wine and get much better service and generally much better quality of food.

Openminded as a brit I agree with your sentiments 100%, Most of us are used having disposable income, on the other hand though a thought must be spared for the Majority of the Maltese work force who are on minimum wages of not much more than £110 p/w equiv. To these people rounding up a few cents here and there would make a big difference.

CAn anyone tell me what rate of exchange we would get for £ sterling into Euro at the momnet. Are the shops still exchanging sterling for euros??

Thanks