Cyprus associates mostly with beaches and sea. However, the island also has a mountain range with a winter resort.
The main place where most tourists arrive is the Pano Platres village (1,125 meters). There are plenty of hotels, restaurants and tourist infrastructure there. We went to the highest point - Troodos Square (1,725 meters). This is not a town, just a square near the top of mount Olympus. There are two hotels, several restaurants, kiosks and tourist information center there. We stayed at the Troodos Hotel (booking.com).
Why tourists come to Troodos? It's much cooler here than on the coast, the temperature is at least 10 degrees lower, which is important on hot summer days. Also, this is the only place in Cyprus with a large forest. We came here to walk along the ecological trails that are just excellent in Cyprus.
A list of all trails with detailed maps and descriptions can be found here or here. We chose some and passed them in two days.
1. Atlanti Trail is a circular 14 km long path. The start and the finish are at the Troodos area, which is quite convenient. The trail goes around mount Olympus and offers the best views among all the trails. It took us about 4 hours, including the rest. If you find this trail difficult, there is still the Artemis Trail, it also runs around mount Olympus, but a little higher and is 7 km long.
2. Caledonia Trail. We walked on this trail from point 7 to point 9 (3.3 km, see the map), since this area is the most interesting and easy. It goes all the way down and the Caledonia Waterfall is located here. Point 7 is located on the old road to the Troodos Mountains, near the presidential summer house. The old road starts near the tourist information office of Troodos. Point 9 is the Pano Platres village, we passed down through the village and continued to walk along the Millomeris Trail.
3. Millomeris Trail is a trail to the Millomeris Waterfall. You'll have to go up a few times. Entrance to the trail is located about 400 meters from the tourist center in Pano Platres, there is also a pointer to the trail and it is marked on Google Maps. After visiting the waterfall we returned to the center of Pano Platres, from which we took a taxi to the Troodos Square for 15 euros.
4. Persephone Trail is a flat forest trail, we passed from point 3 to point 5 (2.4 km one way, see the map). It offers a view of the giant asbestos mine. When the mine closed, the enormous workings were left as a blot on the landscape of Troodos. There is now a project that should eventually restore the landscape to its former beauty. The trail begins at 200 meters from the Troodos Hotel, right here.
All the trails are well marked, there are benches and numerous signs about interesting plants. Take comfortable shoes and water. Don't forget that the weather in the mountains constantly changes, so you can also take spare socks and an umbrella.
Getting there: We traveled by taxi from Paphos for 100 euros. Taxi from Larnaca also costs 100 euros. There is a bus to Troodos from Limassol, but only one per day. Official site of Troodos says that the bus goes daily at 9:15 am from the tourist information office near the eastern entrance to the Dasoudi Beach. This place is here. The bus returns from Troodos Square at 3:30 pm. You can also find the information about the bus to Troodos at the official website of Limassol buses.
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