Travel

Cyprus (June 2022)

August 14, 2022 /

[Photos below the text] We took our main holiday of 2022 in June of this summer and spent a few lovely weeks in Cyprus. It’s been over 1.5 months since we are back so this post is long overdue 🙂 All in all we enjoyed our trip and would go back. We also learnt about the history of the country, a British colony until 1960. In 1974, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus began which resulted into them taking control of 38% of the island (north east), which is still the case until today (UN peacemaking forces help with maintaining peace). Cyprus is part of the EU since 2004.

From our experience, the main tourism population comes from Great Britain, with some from Russia too. It was interesting to notice that many folks from the UK organize their weddings there, on the beach. There are many expats who have moved to Cyprus, especially Paphos and other cities in the west. It is a safe country which I very much enjoyed. Our favorite area was Protaras (while if you prefer parties, Nissi beach area is the best).

Disclaimer: This time we took a more relaxed trip with main activities being swimming, doing sports on the beach and food 🙂 That’s why my recommendations in terms of activities are limited.

Budget

Prices were reasonable, at somewhat Turkey or Greece levels.

  • Food: 10-15 eur/pp
  • Accommodation: it depends on your expectations, you can find as low as 50eur per night /2pp or go for a more luxurious one at 100eur +. We found excellent choices at around 75 eur/night/2 ppl price range
  • Car rental: we used public buses (1.5 eur/ticket/pp)
  • Sunbeds: 10eur for 2 chairs and 1 umbrella, regulated by the state so same prices everywhere
  • Activities:
    • It is common to do organized trip by bus and hotels or travel agencies have various offers; prices vary from 15eur pp to more depending on the activity (group boat trips, trips to the mountain villages, etc.)

Side notes:

  • The main currency is euro.

When should I visit?

I recommend June, September or early October. Avoid July/August as it’s too hot.

Accommodation

We usually use booking.com for our hotels research: an 8+ our of 10 review score and ideally around 50 eur/2p/night (this time we celebrated 3 special occasions so we went for smth closer to 75eur/night). We also compare prices with the hotel’s website, agoda.com, hotels.com or other providers on the Google Map entry of the hotel (Google hotels), if we have time.

Location wise, we stayed in the area of the island which is meant to have the most beautiful beaches, the south est. We stayed in both Protaras (Kokkinos boutique hotel – highly recommended) and Makronissos beach (Amethyst hotel), but enjoyed a little bit more the Protaras area. There are both all inclusive options as well as B&B only.

Transportation

2 airports offer international flights: Larnaca (closer to the area I mentioned above, with nice beaches; 1h drive) and Paphos (best for city trips, but also seaside).

For getting around on the island itself you can either use public buses or taxis (Bolt app; Uber was not launched as of June 2022; else taxis from the hotel/street).

From Larnaco airport you can either take a taxi (e.g. Bolt app) or take the shuttle bus like we did, to Protaras (~1h; 8 eur; www.kapnosairportshuttle.com; they also offer the best rates for other parts of the island).

Places of interest / Activities

  • Walking from Makronissos beach to Nissi beach by the seaside; walking from Protaras on the beach in either directions; walking from Protaras to Turtle Bay/Green Bay (or going directly there).
  • Beaches:
    • Frig Tree bay beach (our favorite!)
    • Sunrise beach/Vrissiana beach
    • Konnos beach
    • Makronissos beach
    • Nissi beach – the “Ibiza” of Cyprus (it was actually lovely to walk and hear DJ loud musing on the beach during the day, made me feel really young amongst the teenagers for an hour or so that we stayed).
  • Boat trips
  • Ayia Napa sculptures park

Food and drinks

We enjoyed:

  • Vangelis Tavern in Protaras – this was our favourite place, we mostly ate there.
  • Zorbas (sweet & salty bakery) – they have them in multiple places on the island, I absolutely adored it!
  • Amelie Gelato in Protaras
  • Yiasemi meze in Protaras
  • Agrotikon in Makronissos beach area
  • “Fruit market” in Ayia Napa had the best local fruit (near Stamina Tavern)

Places I wish I saw but didn’t have time

  • I wish we did more activities like:
    • Protaras area: Capo Greco & Ayioi Anargiroi church, Sea Caves
    • visiting the villages in the mountain areas of Troodos like Omodos or Platres.
    • visiting the cities of Paphos, Limassol, Nicossia