Troodos

The island's high point at 1,700 m — pine forest, four ski runs in winter, and cool air when the coast hits 38C

Troodos is not a village. It is a square at 1,700 m on the shoulder of Mount Olympus with a police post, a visitor centre, a few souvenir kiosks, a couple of hotels and a car park that fills with day-trippers between eleven and three. Above it Chionistra tops out at 1,952 m, the highest point in Cyprus, with a radar dome on the summit and four ski runs cut through black pine on the north and south faces. This is where Cypriots come to escape: when Nicosia reads 40C in August, Troodos reads 25C, and that difference is the entire economy.

Winter is the surprise. From roughly January to March, when there is snow, the Cyprus Ski Club runs lifts on the Sun Valley and North Face slopes; a day pass is modest by Alpine standards, around €20 to €30, and hire kit is available on the mountain. The runs are short and the season is unreliable — some years give six good weeks, some give ten days — but skiing in the morning and swimming at Limassol in the afternoon is a genuine, doable Cyprus stunt. Bring chains or accept that the police close the summit road when it ices.

The rest of the year Troodos is a trailhead. Four waymarked nature trails leave from within two kilometres of the square: Artemis, a 7 km loop around the Olympus summit at treeline; Atalante, a longer contour route starting by the square itself; Persephone, an out-and-back to the Makria Kontarka viewpoint above Platres; and Caledonia, which drops through the ravine to the falls and on to Psilo Dendro. The Leventis Botanical Garden below the square explains the endemic flora, which is genuinely unusual — Troodos has plants that exist nowhere else on earth.

At nine in the evening there is nothing here. The kiosks shut at dusk, the coaches have gone, and the square is dark, cold and smells of pine resin and woodsmoke. The two hotels serve dinner to their own guests, and that is the extent of it. Book Troodos if you want the summit trails from your door, cold nights in August, or the ski runs in February. Skip it if you want a village atmosphere, restaurants to choose between, or anything at all after dark — for that, drop 500 m and 20 minutes to Platres.

Where to stay in Troodos

There is a very small supply here — a handful of properties at or immediately around the square, plus the forest lodges and campsite scattered along the B8 and B9 — so book early for February half-term, Easter and the whole of August, which are the three periods everything sells out. Expect €80 to €130 a night for a comfortable double, rising towards €160 to €200 in ski weeks and peak August, and note that heating quality varies wildly in the older stone buildings; ask specifically what kind of heating is in the room, because nights hit freezing from December to March. If the square is full, base yourself in Platres or Kakopetria and drive up — both are 20 to 30 minutes away, cheaper, and have somewhere to eat at night.

The essentials

Persephone Trail to Makria Kontarka (6 km)

Leave from the southern edge of Troodos Square, past the police station, on a broad forest track dropping gently through black pine. You pass the old chrome mine spoil, then the path narrows along a spur with the Limassol plain opening below. The turnaround is the Makria Kontarka viewpoint at 1,630 m, where on a clear day you see the whole south coast to the Akrotiri salt lake. Return the same way.

Getting there & around

There is no useful public transport up here — one infrequent bus a day from Limassol via Platres is not a schedule you can plan a holiday around, so hire a car. From Limassol take the B8 north through Trimiklini and Platres, about 50 minutes and 45 km of continuous climbing; from Nicosia the B9 through Kakopetria and the Karvouna junction, roughly 1 hour 15. From Larnaca Airport allow two hours. In winter the police close the summit road when it ices and may require snow chains on the approaches, so check before setting out. Once here, the trailheads are all within two kilometres of the square and everything else needs the car.