Malta vs Ireland for Studying English: Cost, Weather and Which One Suits You

Choosing between Malta and Ireland to study English? Here is the short answer: Malta is the cheaper, sunnier choice with a warm, mixed-nationality classroom, while Ireland gives you full native-speaker immersion and — if you are a young Japanese national — the chance to work and study for a whole year. Neither country is simply “better”. They suit different people, and below we compare the real numbers so you can decide with confidence.

We run an independent Malta guide, so we have nothing to sell you and no school to promote. Every figure here comes from a primary source, named as we go.

Key facts (at a glance)

• Cost: Malta is roughly 30% cheaper than Ireland on a like-for-like basis (Numbeo, June 2026).
• Course: a 2-week Standard General English course (20 lessons a week) at Maltalingua costs €450 tuition; with a shared school apartment, budget about €950–1,050 for two weeks all-in.
• Weather: Malta has about 90 rain days and ~3,000 sunshine hours a year; Dublin has roughly 151–191 rain days.
• Visa: Japanese nationals get 90 visa-free days in Malta; Ireland offers a 1-year Working Holiday visa that lets you work and study.

Malta vs Ireland at a glance

Factor	Malta	Ireland
Cost of living (like-for-like)	~30% cheaper	The benchmark; among the EU’s priciest
2-week course + shared room	~€950–1,050	Typically higher
Household electricity (H2 2025)	€0.1282/kWh (among EU’s lowest)	€0.4042/kWh (EU’s highest)
Weather	~90 rain days, ~3,000 sun hours	Dublin ~151–191 rain days
Classroom	Beginner-heavy, many nationalities	Mixed, with native English all around
Everyday language	English official, but Maltese/Italian heard on the street	Native English everywhere
Short stay (Japanese)	90 visa-free days	Working Holiday: up to 1 year, work + study

Cost of living and course prices, compared

Malta’s biggest advantage is money. Numbeo’s cost-of-living comparator estimates you would need about €6,800 a month in Dublin to match the standard of living €4,777 a month buys in Valletta — Malta roughly 30% cheaper on a like-for-like basis (data updated 21 June 2026).

The wider data agrees. Eurostat put Ireland’s household consumption price level at 136% of the EU average in 2025 — third-highest in the EU after Denmark — with housing costs at 190% of the EU average, the highest anywhere in the bloc. Malta, by contrast, sat within roughly 10% of the EU average. One quiet but real driver is energy: in the second half of 2025, household electricity cost €0.4042 per kWh in Ireland (the EU’s highest) versus €0.1282 in Malta (among the lowest), which feeds straight into your homestay or apartment bills.

Course prices follow the same pattern. At Maltalingua, a 2-week Standard General English course (20 lessons a week) is €450 in tuition; add a twin room in a school apartment (from €224 a week) and a two-week Malta package lands around €950–1,050 all-in. Comparable Irish packages tend to run higher once the country’s living costs are added.

See our full accommodation cost breakdown

Weather reality check: Malta’s sun vs Dublin’s rain

You will often read that Ireland has “225 wet days a year”. That figure applies to the wetter west of the country, not Dublin, where most language schools actually are. Dublin gets roughly 151–191 rain days a year — still a lot, but not the extreme the sales blogs quote.

Malta is genuinely the sunnier option: about 90 precipitation days and ~3,000 sunshine hours a year. If studying by the sea between lessons matters to you, Malta wins comfortably. If you do not mind grey skies and prefer cooler summers, Dublin’s climate will not put you off.

The immersion trade-off

“Immersion” means being surrounded by the language you are learning, so you keep practising outside the classroom. This is where Ireland pulls ahead. In Dublin, English is spoken everywhere — shops, buses, cafés — so every errand is practice.

Malta is more nuanced. English is an official language and locals speak it clearly and patiently, which suits nervous beginners. But day-to-day you will also hear Maltese and a lot of Italian on the street, and schools attract a beginner-heavy, very international crowd. One honest point: Italians are one of the largest nationality groups in Malta’s schools, so if your goal is to escape classmates from your own region, Malta may not deliver that as fully as you expect. Malta gives you immersion with patience built in; Ireland gives you immersion with no soft edges.

Visa and stay-length for Japanese students

For short courses, both are easy. Japanese nationals get 90 visa-free days in Malta under Schengen rules. To study longer, you need a Type D national long-stay visa through Identità, Malta’s identity agency, with 6–8 weeks’ processing — so apply early.

Ireland’s advantage is structural and no Malta school can match it: the Ireland–Japan Working Holiday Programme lets young Japanese nationals stay up to a year, combining paid work with English study. Application windows for 2026 are 15 January–6 February and 15–30 July. For the right person, this reframes the whole comparison: Ireland is pricier, but a Working Holiday can help pay for itself.

Weighing more than two countries? Read Malta vs UK for English

Who should pick Malta, who should pick Ireland

Choose Malta if you: want the lowest total cost, love sunshine and the sea, are a nervous beginner who wants patient, clear English, or are taking a shorter course inside the 90 visa-free days.

Choose Ireland if you: want full native-speaker immersion, are aged 18–30 and want to work while you study on the Working Holiday visa, or prefer a university-town culture and do not mind cooler, wetter weather.