Nicosia

The checkpoint sits at the north end of Ledra Street, four minutes' walk from Eleftheria Square. Carry your passport, expect two quick booths, and check the day's opening hours locally — they are long but not always identical. On the far side you are in Arasta Street within a minute.

Eleventh floor of the tower on Ledra Street, entrance inside the department store. Around €2.50 gets you a 360-degree window walk with labelled panels showing exactly where the buffer zone runs, the Selimiye minarets and, on a clear morning, the Kyrenia range behind.

Museum Avenue, just outside the walls by the Pafos Gate, about €4.50. Neolithic Khirokitia figures, the two thousand terracotta votives from Ayia Irini standing in ranks, and the bronze Roman Septimius Severus. It closes early on Sundays, so go in the morning.

Two minutes north of the Ledra checkpoint. A 1572 Ottoman caravanserai with a domed masjid in the middle of the courtyard, craft workshops in the old cells, and shaded tables where a coffee runs about €2. The best twenty minutes in the walled city.

East side of the walls, off Ermou Street. Restored courtyard houses, a handful of workshops, then the Famagusta Gate itself — a vaulted Venetian passage now used as a municipal exhibition hall. Quiet, unpolished, and the part of old Nicosia least touched by souvenir shops.

The lanes between Faneromeni church and Trypiotis hold a dozen small tavernas. Order the full meze — twenty small plates, sheftalia, halloumi, snails, ending with fruit — at €18-22 a head. Book Friday and Saturday; locals fill these tables from 9pm onwards.

From Larnaca airport the Kapnos shuttle runs to Solomos Square on the edge of the walled city in about 45 minutes for roughly €8, with departures through the night; a taxi is €45-55. Intercity coaches connect Solomos Square with Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos for €4-7 one way, typically hourly on weekdays and thin on Sundays. Inside the city, urban buses cost €1.50 a single or €5 for a day pass, but you will barely use them — the walled city is a 25-minute walk end to end. Driving in is easy on the A1; parking inside the walls is not, so aim for the D’Avila or Solomos lots at about €1 an hour.

Yes, and thousands of people do it daily. Take your passport to the Ledra Street pedestrian checkpoint, or drive through Ayios Dometios/Metehan west of the centre. Both booths take a couple of minutes each way and there is no fee. Just confirm the current opening hours before a late evening return.

Not as a base. There is no coast within the city at all, and the quickest sea is Larnaca at 45 minutes by car or Kapnos coach. If your trip is mainly swimming, sleep in Larnaca or Limassol and give Nicosia one full day, ideally arriving by 9am before the heat.

It is the hottest inhabited place on the island because it is inland with no sea breeze. Afternoons in July and August regularly hit 38-41C inside the walls and shops shutter from about 2pm to 5pm. Plan sightseeing for before 11am and dinner after 8.30pm.

Faneromeni Square and the lanes around Onasagorou for cheap beer and student crowds until about 2am, Stasikratous and Ochi Square for smarter cocktail bars at €10-12 a drink. The old town north of Ledra also has cafes open late. Nothing much starts before 9.30pm on any night.