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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.

Where
Paphos
Time needed
1-2 hr visit
Tickets
€2.50
Rock-cut peristyle courtyard tomb at the Tombs of the Kings, Paphos Rock-cut peristyle courtyard tomb at the Tombs of the Kings, Paphos

What to expect at Tombs of the Kings

The Tombs of the Kings is a necropolis of the Hellenistic and Roman city of Nea Paphos, in use from the fourth century BC into the third century AD, and part of the same UNESCO World Heritage listing as the archaeological park two kilometres south. No king was ever buried here. The name comes from the scale and pretension of the architecture: instead of simple shafts, the wealthy of Paphos had their tombs cut into the soft coastal limestone in imitation of houses, with sunken open courtyards surrounded by Doric columns and rock-cut peristyles, a design borrowed from Ptolemaic Alexandria. Eight main tomb complexes are numbered and open, spread across a windswept coastal plateau of several hectares. Later the site sheltered early Christians, and looters worked it for centuries, which is why the burial goods are gone and the architecture is the whole show.

You walk a marked circuit over open, stony ground, dropping into the tombs by their original stepped dromoi. Tomb 3 is the one everybody photographs: a full peristyle court cut from bedrock, columns and entablature carved in place, burial niches opening off the sides, and blue sky where a roof never was. Tomb 4 is larger and darker, Tomb 8 has a well-preserved court with plastered walls, and several complexes retain the shallow loculi where bodies were slid into the rock. Between them the plateau is dotted with cisterns, quarry scars and wild fennel, with the sea directly to the west and gulls overhead. It takes an hour to see the numbered tombs properly, ninety minutes if you climb down into all of them.

The practical planning point is footwear and light. Steps are rock-cut, worn smooth and sometimes damp; sandals are a mistake and a torch on your phone helps in the deeper chambers. There is no shade anywhere on the plateau, so early morning or the last two hours before closing are the only comfortable slots in summer. Nothing is bookable; you pay at the kiosk and walk. Take water in, because the small kiosk is at the entrance only. The site pairs naturally with Paphos Archaeological Park on one antiquities day card, and it is a fifteen-minute walk from the hotel strip along Poseidonos and Tombs of the Kings Road, where a great many of the town's four and five star sea-view hotels sit.

From Kato Paphos harbour, walk or ride two kilometres north-west up Tombs of the Kings Road; on foot that is twenty-five minutes on pavement, and OSYPA bus 615 runs the length of it towards Coral Bay, stopping directly outside the gate, with a single fare of €1.50 and a day ticket around €5 and departures every twenty to thirty minutes in season. From Ktima in the upper town, bus 615 or 610 gets you down to the coast road first. Drivers come off the B6 or Tafon ton Vasileon Avenue into a free gravel car park at the entrance. Paphos airport is twenty minutes by taxi, roughly €25-30, and coach excursions from Limassol take about an hour and a quarter each way.

Admission is €2.50 for adults, one of the cheapest state site tickets in Cyprus, payable in cash or by card at the kiosk. Under-twelves enter free and school groups are admitted without charge with advance written notice to the Department of Antiquities. The Department's multi-site card, sold here, costs about €8.50 for one day, €17 for three days and €25 for seven, and if you are also doing Paphos Archaeological Park at €4.50 and Palaipaphos at Kouklia the maths works quickly in your favour. Parking is free, there is no audio guide, and the only extra spending inside is at the drinks kiosk by the gate. Licensed guides charge their own rates and are usually booked through hotels.

Go at 8:30 or after 17:00 in high summer; the plateau is white rock and radiates heat from late morning, and cruise-day coaches arrive between 10:00 and noon. Sunset light in the shoulder seasons is the photographers' reason to come late, though the gates close at 19:30 in summer and 17:00 in winter, so a genuine sunset is only possible in October to March when the sun sets before closing. March to May brings wildflowers over the tombs and the most agreeable temperatures. Winter can be wet and the rock-cut steps get slippery. The site opens every day except 25 December, 1 January and Orthodox Easter Sunday.

It suits anyone who likes architecture without a roof, photographers, and travellers with limited time who want one substantial ruin in an hour. Children generally love it, because the tombs are effectively a stone playground of staircases and courtyards, but they need close watching: several drops are unfenced and the edges are worn. Wheelchair users can follow parts of the surface path and look down into Tomb 3 and its neighbours, but no tomb interior is accessible. Skip it if you cannot manage steep, uneven steps, or if you were expecting mummies, sarcophagi or grave goods, because there are none on display here. Those objects are in the Paphos District Archaeological Museum and the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia.

Fold it into the same half-day as Paphos Archaeological Park, twenty-five minutes on foot or two stops south on the 615, and finish with lunch at the harbour. The beach at Faros and the swimming platforms below the tomb plateau are five minutes west, and Coral Bay is fifteen minutes north by bus if you want a proper sand day. The honest caveats: the site is emptier than the name promises, all the tombs are stripped, and the labelling is thin, so visitors without a guide or a good guidebook can walk the whole circuit and miss what makes Tomb 3 remarkable. There is no shade, no cafe of substance, and the wind off the sea is fierce in winter. One hour, well informed, beats two hours uninformed.

Plan your visit Tickets€2.50 Time needed1-2 hr visit WherePaphos Opening hours 16 Apr-15 Sep daily 8:30-19:30 16 Sep-15 Apr daily 8:30-17:00 Closed 25 December, 1 January and Orthodox Easter Sunday Hotels near Tombs of the Kings

Questions about Tombs of the Kings

How much is entry to the Tombs of the Kings?

Adults pay €2.50, one of the lowest state site fees on the island, in cash or by card at the entrance kiosk. Children under twelve enter free, and school groups are admitted at no charge if their school writes to the Department of Antiquities in advance. The multi-site antiquities card, around €8.50 for one day, €17 for three and €25 for seven, is sold here and covers Paphos Archaeological Park, Palaipaphos, Kourion and Choirokoitia. Parking is free.

Is there a free entry window?

No scheduled one. The €2.50 charge applies on every open day, with exemptions only for under-twelves and pre-notified school groups. Island-wide heritage open days occasionally waive fees at state sites, but they are announced at short notice through local press and cannot be planned around. Given how low the standard fee is, the practical answer is to pay it, or to buy the day card if you are visiting the archaeological park the same morning.

How long does a visit take?

Allow one to two hours. An hour covers the numbered tombs at a steady pace with a descent into Tombs 3, 4 and 8; two hours lets you walk the whole plateau, look at the cisterns and quarry faces, and take photographs from the seaward edge. Add time in summer for water breaks, since the site has no shade at all. Visitors who cannot manage the rock-cut steps will see the main courts from above in about forty minutes.

What days is the site closed?

It opens seven days a week and closes only on 25 December, 1 January and Orthodox Easter Sunday. From 16 April to 15 September hours are 8:30-19:30; from 16 September to 15 April they are 8:30-17:00, with last admission roughly thirty minutes before the gate shuts. Individual tombs are occasionally roped off for conservation or after heavy rain has made the stairs unsafe, which is worth asking about at the kiosk.

Do I need to book?

No. There is no online ticketing for Cyprus state archaeological sites and no timed entry, so you turn up and pay at the kiosk. Even on cruise-ship days the queue is a few minutes at most. What is worth booking is a licensed guide in high season, arranged through a hotel desk in Kato Paphos, because unguided visitors miss most of the architectural detail. Taxis back to town are easier ordered by phone than hailed at the gate.

Which bus stops nearest?

OSYPA route 615 runs from Kato Paphos harbour up Tombs of the Kings Road to Coral Bay and stops directly outside the entrance; a single is €1.50, an all-day ticket around €5, and buses run every twenty to thirty minutes in season. Walking from the harbour takes about twenty-five minutes on pavement. Drivers use the free gravel car park at the gate. From Paphos airport a taxi is about twenty minutes and €25-30.

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