What tourists know about Cyprus? Sea, banks, offshore... and that's all. Many people don't even realize that the island is ocated in Asia but is a part of the EU.
Most tourists come to the Larnaca airport. At the airport find information booth in the arrivals area. Ask there for all maps you need. Of all countries we visited, only Cyprus has such a large selection of free and great maps of every corner of the country.
In fact, Cyprus has many interesting places. We spent a week on the island and every day visted some new places. During our stay, we didn't visit the monasteries, although Cyprus has quite a lot of them. Most famous ones are in the Troodos Mountains.
Cyprus is ideal to rent a car. Therefore, if you are planning to travel around the island, then select this option, only consider the left-hand traffic. Cyprus also has good bus connections, use this website and you'll find any route. Sometimes the bus stops are not marked. So, if you don't know where to look for a return bus, then wait for it near the place where you got off. There are 3 types of tickets: one-time (1.5 - 2.5 euros), daily ticket within one region (5-7 euros) and daily ticket across the country (15 euros). The last one can be bought only at bus stations.
In the eastern part (Ayia Napa, Protaras) and western part (Paphos, Polis) you can easily rent a buggy or a quad (don't forget your driver's license). These unusual forms of transport are well-suited for exploring the Akamas Peninsula and Cape Greco.
The fate of the island pretty much changed in the middle of the last century. In 1963, there was a split in the parliament. Turkish Cypriots lost government posts. The conflicts between the Turkish and Greek communities continued for 11 years. In 1974, Turkey sent military troops to the island. This led to a split of the country and formation of two states, north and south. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus were separated by a buffer zone, which is controlled by the UN forces. The buffer zone divided the capital Nicosia into two parts and led to the construction of the wall.
Most tourists visit the southern part. Since 2003, the checkpoints have appeared in Nicosia. Now it's easy to visit the northern part from the southern one and vice versa.
Despite the fact that after the war of independence in 1956-59 Cyprus gained independence from Britain, the British were able to leave its military bases on the island. Given that the eastern part of Cyprus is just a few hundred kilometers from Syria and Israel, this is not surprising. Location of the bases can be seen on the following picture:
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| Military bases in Cyprus ©Wikimedia Commons / Chaosdruid |
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We were in Cyprus for 7 days, travelled by public transport and taxis.
Day 1
We spent the first three nights in Paphos. We arrived at the Larnaca airport and went to Paphos by taxi. It cost 100 euros, but we agreed to pay 125 euros and visit also the Kolossi Castle and the Cat Monastery of St. Nicholas.
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| Kolossi Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Cats in the St. Nicholas Monastery ©Yuriy Buriak |
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In Paphos we settled in the beautiful Roman hotel and went for a walk in the archaeological park in the evening.
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| Beautiful swimming pool at the Roman hotel ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Lighthouse in the archaeological park ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Ancient mosaics in the archaeological park of Paphos ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 2
In the morning after breakfast, we went on foot to the Karavella bus station in the center of Paphos (30 minutes to walk) and took the bus #645 to Polis (Polis Chrisochou bus station). At the final station we changed to the bus #622 and reached the Baths of Aphrodite.
Here we first swam on the beach under the restaurant.
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| Beach near the Baths of Aphrodite ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Then we went to the Baths of Aphrodite, and after that walked on the Akamas Peninsula. Since it was too hot, we walked to the nearest place where there was reasonable access to water (about 3 kilometers), swam in the clear water and went back to the bus.
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| Akamas Peninsula ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Akamas Peninsula ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Absolutely deserted beaches on the Akamas Peninsula ©Yuriy Buriak |
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By buses ##622 and 645 we went back to Paphos, where had a rest at the hotel, and then took the bus #615 to Coral Bay. Before reaching one stop to the final, we left the bus near the supermarket, found a taxi stand and agreed to visit the Avakas Gorge for 45 euros (including the return).
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| Avakas Gorge ©Yuriy Buriak |
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We returned to Paphos by bus #615.
Day 3
In the morning we went by bus #631 from Kato Paphos to the Aphrodite's Rock (Petra tou Romiou).
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| Saracens Rock (foreground) and Aphrodite's Rock (background) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Having swum and made a lot of pictures, we returned to the hotel for a rest. At about 2:30 pm we went by bus #622 to the Karavella bus station and changed to the Intercity bus to Limassol. In Limassol we walked for 2.5 hours.
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| Limassol waterfront ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Holy Trinity Church (Agia Triada) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Old city of Limassol ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 4
On that day, I got up at 6 am and went for a walk along the path around the archaeological park of Paphos. You should definitely come here in the morning during the sunrise.
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| Deserted coast in Paphos ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Interesting benches on the Paphos waterfront ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Sunrise in Paphos ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| There are big waves in Paphos. ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Next, we called a taxi and went to the Troodos Mountains (100 euros), where we had booked a hotel for the next two nights.
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| Troodos Square ©Yuriy Buriak |
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In the mountains, we had planned to walk on ecotrails. On the first day we went along the 14 km long Atlanti Trail and passed it in 4 hours. Along the way we saw a lot of wonderful scenery.
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| View from the Atlanti Trail ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View from the Atlanti Trail ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 5
On this day we went along the three small trails and watched the two waterfalls.
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| Caledonia Trail ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Caledonia Waterfall ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Millomeris Waterfall ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Funny fluffy fruit ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 6
In the morning we went by taxi to Larnaca. The driver asked for 90 euros and we agreed that for 100 euros he would show us some interesting places along the way. So we visited the Governor's Beach, a former beach of the government, which is now open for everybody.
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| Govenor's Beach ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Huge bunches of grapes in Cyprus ©Yuriy Buriak |
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And then we visited the Camel Park.
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| Сamel Park ©Yuriy Buriak |
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We lived in Larnaca for two nights at the hotel on the Finikudes Boulevard.
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| View from the hotel ©Yuriy Buriak |
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After a rest and a swim, we went by bus to Nicosia from the Finikoudes bus stop. In Nicosia we walked for 2.5 hours.
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| Nicosia Municipality building at the Eleftheria Square ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Nicosia ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 7
Before the afternoon we relaxed and walked around Larnaca.
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| Saint Lazarus Church ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Finikoudes Promenade ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Larnaca Fortress ©Yuriy Buriak |
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After dinner we went to Ayia Napa from the Finikoudes bus stop. In Ayia Napa we wanted to rent a buggy or a quad, but since all rentals worked only until 7 pm, we couldn't do that. Therefore, at first we went by taxi to Protaras (18 euros) and swam there on the best beach in Cyprus, Fig Tree Bay (you can also go there by bus #101/102).
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| Fig Tree Bay Beach ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Crystal clear water on the Fig Tree Bay Beach ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Next, we took a taxi to the national reserve Cape Greco (13 euros) and spend the next 2 hours walking there.
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| Somewhere between the viewpoint and the caves ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Gazebo at the top of the viewpoint ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Sea caves at Cape Greco ©Yuriy Buriak |
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In the evening we went back to Ayia Napa by bus #102, walked around the downtown and returned to Larnaca.
Day 8
We got up at 6 am to watch the sunrise from the balcony.
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| Sunrise in Larnaca ©Yuriy Buriak |
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After that we took a taxi to the airport (12 euros) and left Cyprus.
Useful links:
Maps of hiking trails in Cyprus
Bus service in Cyprus
Wine tours around Cyprus (PDF)
PDF with cycling routes in the Troodos
Bike routes in Cyprus (PDF)
Approximate prices for a taxi from the Larnaca airport
Cyprus has special sockets.
Our video about Cyprus
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