Famagusta

Namık Kemal Square, dead centre of the walled city. The finest Gothic facade in the eastern Mediterranean, built as the Cathedral of St Nicholas in the 1300s and given a minaret after 1571. Free, but it is an active mosque — remove shoes, cover shoulders and knees, and avoid prayer times.

The citadel at the north-east corner of the walls, above the old harbour. Entry around €3. Venetian gun platforms, a vaulted great hall and the seaward view Shakespeare's play borrowed the name for. Combine it with the Ravelin bastion at the Land Gate on the opposite side of the circuit.

Nine kilometres north on the coast road, about fifteen minutes. Roman theatre seating 15,000, a gymnasium ringed with re-erected columns, latrines, baths and mosaic fragments, spread over a huge dune site. Roughly €5, closing earlier in winter. There is a swimmable beach right behind the ruins — bring a towel.

South-east of the walled city, entrance off the Democracy Street approach. Designated routes run past abandoned 1970s hotels and shopfronts frozen since 1974. Free; bicycles for hire at the gate for a few euro. Obey the photography signage and stay on the marked roads — the rest remains fenced and patrolled.

Two kilometres inland from Salamis, near the village of Tuzla. A domed monastery church now housing an icon collection, with an archaeological museum in the monks' cells and the rock-cut tomb of Barnabas in a small chapel across the field. Around €4, closes by mid-afternoon in winter.

Glapsides sits about 5 km north of the walls with soft sand, shallow water and beach bars busy with students in summer; Palm Beach is immediately east of the old town against the Varosha fence, with sunbeds and the eerie skyline of empty towers behind you. Loungers €5-8.

From the south, cross the Green Line at Strovilia near Pyla or at Ayios Dometios in Nicosia; from Protaras or Ayia Napa the Strovilia route puts you in Famagusta in 30-40 minutes, and from Larnaca allow an hour and a quarter. A hire car from the south needs separate insurance bought at the checkpoint, roughly €20-30 for three days, and northern hire cars cannot cross south. Passports for everyone, always. Within the north, minibuses run frequently along Salamis Road and to Nicosia and Kyrenia for a few euro. The walled city itself is compact — end to end on foot is twenty minutes — but Salamis needs wheels. Ferries link the port with Mersin on the Turkish mainland, an overnight crossing.

Partly. A section reopened to visitors in 2020, with marked pedestrian and cycle routes past derelict hotels and shops. Entry is free and bicycles are rented at the gate. Photography is restricted on parts of the route and the surrounding area stays fenced; follow the signage and the marshals rather than testing it.

Drive north to the Strovilia crossing near Dherynia, about 20 minutes, then a further 15-20 minutes into Famagusta. Bring passports and buy the extra vehicle insurance at the booth if the car was hired in the south. Day tours also run from both resorts, typically €35-50 including Salamis.

Tight but doable if you start early. Give Salamis two hours in the morning before the heat, St Barnabas thirty minutes, then the walled city and Varosha in the afternoon. Two days is far better and lets you add the Karpaz peninsula, which is another two hours north-east.

Yes, though not resort-standard. Glapsides, 5 km north, has soft sand and beach bars; Silver Beach and the strand behind Salamis are quieter and backed by dunes. Palm Beach next to the old town is convenient and strange, sitting in the shadow of the empty Varosha towers.