Guides ·Itineraries

How to split the week

The efficient shape is three bases: two nights in Paphos, one or two in the Troodos or a wine village, and three on the Limassol coast, with Nicosia and Kyrenia taken as a long day from Limassol. Cyprus is only 240 km end to end, but the mountain roads halve your average speed, so grouping by region matters more than distance. Fly into Paphos and out of Larnaca if the fares allow; it saves you a 150 km backtrack on the last morning and costs little extra on most European carriers.

Budget accordingly. A sea-facing four-star in Paphos runs €140 to €220 a night in May or October, a village guesthouse in Kakopetria or Omodos €70 to €110, and a five-star on the Limassol Amathus strip €300 to €500 in summer. Car hire for seven days is €200 to €320 with insurance, and fuel for the whole loop about €80. Site entries across the week come to roughly €30 per person, since almost every archaeological park charges €2.50 or €4.50.

Days one and two: Paphos and its Roman floors

Land at Paphos, pick up the car and drive 15 minutes to Kato Paphos. Spend the first afternoon at the Archaeological Park, entry €4.50, where the House of Dionysos alone holds around 550 square metres of second-century mosaic. Finish on the harbour mole at the medieval fort, then eat fish at a harbourside taverna, €25 to €32 for a fish meze. Next morning, hit the Tombs of the Kings early, €2.50, then swim at Coral Bay, 20 minutes north, where the sand is imported-soft and the water shelves gently enough for children.

Save the afternoon for the Akamas. Drive to Latchi, 45 minutes north of Coral Bay, and either take a boat to the Blue Lagoon from the harbour, about €25 for a shared half-day trip, or drive the rough track to the Baths of Aphrodite and walk the Aphrodite Trail, a 7.5 km loop with 370 m of climb and views over Chrysochou Bay. Rental contracts usually forbid the unsealed Lara Bay track, so take a jeep tour, €55 to €70, if you want the turtle beach.

Day three: over the Troodos

Drive east from Polis or Paphos into the mountains on the B7 through Panagia, stopping at Chrysorrogiatissa Monastery for the view down the Ezousa valley. Continue to Kykkos Monastery, the richest in Cyprus, founded in 1100 and rebuilt in gold mosaic; entry to the monastery is free, the museum €5, open 10:00 to 16:00 in winter and to 18:00 in summer. From there it is an hour of switchbacks to Troodos Square at 1,725 m, where the Caledonia and Artemis trails start and the air is 10°C cooler than the coast.

Sleep in Kakopetria, Platres or Omodos. Kakopetria's restored old quarter sits on the Karyotis river and has trout tavernas grilling at €14 a plate; Omodos is a cobbled wine village with the Timios Stavros monastery on its main square and half a dozen small wineries pouring Xynisteri and Maratheftiko for €5 to €8 a tasting. Nearby, the painted churches of Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis and Panagia tou Araka are UNESCO-listed; entry is by donation and both close for a long lunch, so arrive before 12:00 or after 14:00.

Days four and five: the Limassol coast

Come down the B8 to Limassol, an hour from Platres, and check into a sea-view room for three nights. Day four is a slow one: the Molos promenade, Limassol Castle at €4.50, coffee on Saripolou Square and an afternoon on Akti Olympion or the Amathus beaches, where a sunbed pair with umbrella is about €10. In the evening, the marina boardwalk and the Old Town bar streets sit ten minutes apart, so you can start with a €13 cocktail on the water and end with €4 draughts under the plane trees.

Day five is Kourion, 25 minutes west, entry €4.50, with the Roman theatre on its sea cliff and the Eustolios mosaics under cover. Add Kolossi Castle at €2.50 and the Amathus ruins on the eastern edge of town, also €2.50, then swim at Kourion Beach. If wine interests you more than ruins, drive the Krasochoria loop instead: Vouni Panayia, Vasa, Lofou and Vasa Koilaniou are within 40 minutes of Limassol, tastings run €6 to €12, and the Commandaria villages of Zoopigi and Kalo Chorio are a further 20 minutes east.

Day six: Nicosia and, if you want, Kyrenia

Nicosia is 50 minutes from Limassol on the A1. Park outside the Venetian walls near the D’Avila bastion, about €2 for three hours, and walk in to Ledra Street. The Cyprus Museum on Mouseiou Street, entry €4.50 and closed Mondays, holds the island's best antiquities, including the Aphrodite of Soloi. Laiki Geitonia and Faneromeni have covered lunch tables at €12 to €18 a head, and the Leventis Municipal Museum on Hippocratous Street is free and genuinely good on the city's layered history.

The Ledra Street crossing point is open 24 hours to pedestrians; bring your passport or national ID. Ten minutes on foot beyond it are the Büyük Han caravanserai of 1572 and the Selimiye Mosque, the former Gothic cathedral of St Sophia. Kyrenia is another 40 minutes by car or shared taxi from the northern side of the city. If you are driving your hire car across at the Agios Dometios crossing, you must buy separate third-party insurance at the booth, roughly €30 for three days, and check that your rental agreement allows it.

Day seven: Larnaca, or one more swim

If you fly from Larnaca, use the last morning there. The Finikoudes promenade, the church of Agios Lazaros with its ninth-century crypt, and the Kamares aqueduct are all within ten minutes of each other. In winter, the salt lake behind the airport fills with flamingos from November to March, and Hala Sultan Tekke on its shore is free to enter. Larnaca Airport is only 8 km from the seafront, so you can hand the car back an hour and a half before the flight without stress.

If your flight is from Paphos, spend the morning on the coast instead. Pissouri Bay, halfway between the two cities, has a long shingle beach and a handful of tavernas below the cliff; Aphrodite's Rock at Petra tou Romiou is 20 minutes further west with free parking. Over the week you will have driven roughly 550 km, paid about €80 in fuel and €30 in entries, and slept within earshot of the sea for at least five of the seven nights, which is the point of coming here.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

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Kyrenia Kaya Palazzo Resort & Casino

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