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On the ground

Things to do in Cyprus

Walls, forts, gardens and the food streets — the sights worth your time, with real hours and honest entry prices.

Roman theatre at Kourion above Episkopi Bay with the sea behind

Historic Sites

Kourion Archaeological Site

A Greco-Roman city on a limestone bluff seventy metres above the sea, where you watch the Mediterranean from the same theatre seats an audience used two thousand years ago.

Entry
€4.50
Details
Restored Roman Odeon and lighthouse inside Paphos Archaeological Park

Historic Sites

Paphos Archaeological Park

The UNESCO-listed heart of Nea Paphos, where a Roman odeon, a Byzantine castle and the finest mosaic floors in the eastern Mediterranean sit inside one seaside fence.

Entry
€4.50
Details
Rock-cut peristyle courtyard tomb at the Tombs of the Kings, Paphos

Historic Sites

Tombs of the Kings

A Hellenistic necropolis carved straight down into the coastal rock, where you descend staircases into columned courtyards with the sea breaking a hundred metres away.

Entry
€2.50
Details
Reconstructed circular Neolithic houses on the hillside at Choirokoitia

Historic Sites

Choirokoitia Neolithic Settlement

A UNESCO-listed village of round mud-brick houses abandoned around 5200 BC, with five full-size reconstructions you can walk into and understand in ten minutes.

Entry
€2.50
Details
Roman floor mosaic of Dionysus under a protective shelter at Kato Paphos

Historic Sites

Kato Paphos Mosaics - House of Dionysus

Five hundred square metres of third-century Roman floor mosaic found by a farmer's plough in 1962, and still the finest set of figured pavements in the eastern Mediterranean.

Entry
€4.50
Details
Excavated Phoenician temple walls at the Ancient Kition site in Larnaca

Historic Sites

Ancient Kition

The Mycenaean and Phoenician city under modern Larnaca, where a sunken temple precinct of Astarte sits between apartment blocks a quarter of an hour from the seafront.

Entry
€2.50
Details
Colonnaded palaestra and Roman baths at Salamis on the east coast

Historic Sites

Salamis Ancient City

A square kilometre of Roman city among sand dunes and acacia on the east coast, with a colonnaded gymnasium, a theatre for fifteen thousand and a beach at the far end.

Entry
€5
Details
Stone belfry and arcaded facade of the Church of Agios Lazaros in Larnaca

Spiritual Sites

Church of Agios Lazaros

A ninth-century stone church built over the tomb of Lazarus, with a carved gilt iconostasis, an empty sarcophagus in the crypt and a bell tower the Ottomans once forbade.

Entry
Free
Details
Sixth-century apse mosaic of the Virgin and archangels at Panagia Angeloktisti, Kiti

Spiritual Sites

Panagia Angeloktisti

A village church outside Larnaca that keeps a sixth-century mosaic of the Virgin between two archangels, one of the greatest surviving works of early Byzantine art anywhere.

Entry
Free
Details
Domed mosque and minaret of Hala Sultan Tekke beside Larnaca Salt Lake

Spiritual Sites

Hala Sultan Tekke

An Ottoman mosque and pilgrimage shrine set in palms and cypresses on the shore of Larnaca Salt Lake, where flamingos stand in the water from November to March.

Entry
Free
Details
Turquoise shallow water and pale sand at Nissi Beach with the rocky islet offshore

Beaches Waterfronts

Nissi Beach

The postcard bay that made Ayia Napa famous: 500 metres of white sand, water shallow enough to wade to your own island, and a beach-bar soundtrack that runs from breakfast to sunset.

Entry
Free
Details
Sheltered crescent of golden sand at Coral Bay framed by two limestone headlands

Beaches Waterfronts

Coral Bay Beach

Paphos district's best swimming beach — a sheltered golden crescent between two limestone headlands, calm enough for children and close enough to the city for a spontaneous sea afternoon.

Entry
Free
Details
Palm-lined seafront promenade at Molos Limassol with sculptures and reflecting pools

Beaches Waterfronts

Molos Seafront Promenade and Sculpture Park

Limassol's remade seafront: a kilometre of palm groves, reflecting pools and open-air sculpture between the Old Port and the city beaches, and the walk every local does at sunset.

Entry
Free
Details
Water dropping over a mossy rock face into a pool on the Caledonia trail in Troodos

Trails Hiking

Caledonia Falls Nature Trail

Cyprus's best-loved forest walk: three kilometres of black pine, cold running water and dozens of stream crossings ending at a thirteen-metre waterfall — and the one place on the island that feels nothing like the coast.

Entry
Free
Details
Narrow limestone walls towering over the streambed inside Avakas Gorge in the Akamas

Trails Hiking

Avakas Gorge

A limestone slot canyon in the wild Akamas where walls thirty metres high close to a couple of arm-spans apart — the most dramatic short walk in western Cyprus, and one that starts twenty minutes from a Coral Bay sunbed.

Entry
Free
Details
Coastal footpath along white cliffs and sea caves at Cape Greco with deep blue water below

Trails Hiking

Cape Greco National Forest Park Coastal Trails

The wild headland between Ayia Napa and Protaras: white cliffs, sea caves, a natural rock arch and a network of marked footpaths above water so clear you can count the fish from twenty metres up.

Entry
Free
Details
Pedestrian lane of restored sandstone houses and cafe tables inside the Venetian walls of Nicosia

Historic Quarters

Ledra Street & Laiki Geitonia, Nicosia Old Town

The last divided capital in Europe, walked end to end in an afternoon: Venetian ramparts, a restored craft quarter, and a pedestrian crossing where the city simply stops.

Entry
Free
Details
Cafe tables and old stone facades around Saripolou Square in the old town of Limassol

Historic Quarters

Limassol Old Town & Saripolou Square

The knot of lanes between the medieval castle and the old port where Limassol drinks, eats and stays out late — the sea-city quarter that gives the coast's biggest resort strip an actual old heart.

Entry
Free
Details
Horseshoe-shaped stone harbour at Kyrenia with fishing boats and a castle at one end

Historic Quarters

Kyrenia Old Harbour

A horseshoe of Venetian-era warehouses, fishing boats and a vast castle on the north coast — the most photographed waterfront on the island and the reason people cross the buffer zone for the day.

Entry
Free
Details
Cobbled square in Omodos village with a stone monastery and vine-shaded shopfronts

Historic Quarters

Omodos Village & Timios Stavros Square

The wine village everyone in Limassol sends you to: a cobbled square the size of a football pitch, a monastery in the middle of it, and cellars pouring commandaria and zivania on both sides.

Entry
Free
Details
Stalls of vegetables, olives and halloumi under the roof of Nicosia municipal market

Street Markets

Nicosia Municipal Market & Ochi Square Farmers' Market

The old capital's grocery shopping in one covered hall plus the open-air stalls on the bastion outside — halloumi, olives, coriander sausage and village bread, all bought where the city buys it.

Entry
Free
Details
Restored stone market hall in central Limassol with produce stalls and cafe seating

Street Markets

Limassol Municipal Market

The stone market hall behind the old high street where Limassol has bought its vegetables, halloumi and coriander sausage for a century — now half grocery, half coffee stop, and still cheaper than any hotel breakfast.

Entry
Free
Details
Covered market building in upper Paphos with stalls of lace, spices and local produce

Street Markets

Paphos Municipal Market, Ktima

Upper Paphos at street level: a nineteenth-century market hall of lace, spices, honey and vegetables, ringed by the old high street the beach resorts below never see.

Entry
Free
Details

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