Malta's mosquitoes bite in daylight. Sand flies take the night.

Yes. Malta has the Asian tiger mosquito, a small striped species that bites in daylight in shaded gardens, on terraces and around farmhouse pools, and after dark the islands' sand flies come out. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has no record of local dengue, chikungunya or West Nile in Malta, and CDC recommends no malaria medicine. The one bite-borne disease to know is leishmaniasis, spread by those sand flies, and it stays rare.

Tiger mosquitoes by day

The first records of the tiger mosquito in Malta were published in 2009, and ECDC's April 2026 map lists it as established in one of the country's two regional units. ECDC describes it as an aggressive biter that feeds mostly in the daytime and outdoors, and like other Aedes it peaks in the morning and late afternoon. In a hot, dry Maltese summer it tends to find you in the shade, at a garden lunch, a courtyard café in Valletta, a roof terrace in Sliema or the pool of a converted farmhouse on Gozo. Rooms with the windows open at night can bring bites too.

It is the same species behind the local dengue and chikungunya cases in Italy and France. ECDC's 2026 count through October 21 lists local dengue only in those two countries, 73 cases in Italy and 7 in France, and Malta has never had a local case of either virus. For a visitor here, the tiger mosquito means itchy ankles far more than illness.

Put repellent on in the morning over sunscreen and again in the late afternoon, and keep windows closed or screened at night, or run a plug-in vaporizer. Our guide to how long repellent lasts helps you time the second coat. The season is long. Tiger mosquitoes tend to stay active from about March to October, and ECDC notes that in Europe's far south, Malta included, their larvae can develop all year, so a spring or fall trip still calls for the daytime habit.

Sand flies and leishmaniasis at night

Phlebotomine sand flies are tiny, quiet flies that bite from dusk to dawn, and in Malta they spread leishmaniasis, which CDC lists for the country. A University of Malta survey of the islands' rubble walls named Phlebotomus perniciosus as the species that carries the parasite, and dogs are its main reservoir.

A 2023 study in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases compared leishmaniasis across Europe from 2005 to 2020. Malta had the highest rate of the skin form, cutaneous leishmaniasis, at a cumulative 0.95 cases per 100,000 people over the whole 16 years, so the numbers behind that ranking are small. Its rate of the internal form, visceral leishmaniasis, sat in the same band as Greece, Spain, Montenegro and North Macedonia, behind only Albania.

The fix is the evening half of the mosquito routine. Repellent goes back on before dinner outside, and you sleep in an air-conditioned or screened room or with a plug-in vaporizer running. A skin sore that doesn't heal in the weeks after the trip is a reason to see a doctor and mention Malta.

Where you're going

How the main stops compare for a June–September trip.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from a forum thread and linked so you can read it in full. It isn't dated, and one stay on Gozo can't speak for every property on the islands.

• Qala, Gozo (B&B) · warm season

  After the first night, with windows closed, the air conditioning on and DEET applied, a guest's partner woke with about 30 bites on the head, neck and hands, although no mosquitoes had been seen or heard. A reply suggested tiger mosquitoes and said they are active whenever it is warm and humid, usually March to October; nightly spraying reportedly ended the problem. Another poster went to the emergency department in Victoria for a swollen, red foot after a bite and was given antibiotics. TripAdvisor ↗

And the rule that outlasts every trip: any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit, and you tell them you were in Malta.

Traveler questions