Northern Cyprus

[Keely]

Afternoon all, planning Cyprus in June for 9 nights (I know it’ll be hot) and would like to spend probably half the time in northern Cyprus. Flying into Larnaca, will hire a car for at least some of the time. Just starting my research, but looking for any suggestions or recommendations please regarding areas/places to stay etc. My ideal holiday is a day or two sightseeing/walking/history etc, followed by a beach/chilling day, then repeat. (I have been to Paphos many years ago, enjoyed it but seem to recall the beaches weren’t great!). Thanks in advance .

[Aston100]

Visit Ayia Napa, scene of 1990s drunken debauchery from Northern Lass.

[NorthernLass]

Lol, I never made it to Ayia Napa! Faliraki was probably the nearest (geographically).

Maybe I should add “yet” though, with all the DJs in their 50s and 60s still touring 🕺😂

[The Streets]

It’s 50 years this year since turkey invaded Cyprus. Still waiting to get my property back whilst a Turk lives in it

[LD27]

Last year we had a long weekend in Larnaca and caught the local bus to Nicosia. Used the Ledra Street crossing to go into Lefkosa (Northern Nicosia). Spent the day wandering around and had dinner. It was fascinating. The pedestrian crossing can get busy.

[Erico1875]

The Streets wrote:

It’s 50 years this year since turkey invaded Cyprus. Still waiting to get my property back whilst a Turk lives in it

1974
I was 11 and lived in Episcopi, between Limassol and Paphos.I remember 1000s of Turkish refugees camped on the grounds of the British Army Base after the Greek National Guard emptied them out their villages.
I think Turkey invaded after that.
History normally has 2 sides

[Keely]

Thanks for replies. Seems it’s not a well travelled destination…

[Aston100]

Erico1875 wrote:

The Streets wrote:

It’s 50 years this year since turkey invaded Cyprus. Still waiting to get my property back whilst a Turk lives in it

1974
I was 11 and lived in Episcopi, between Limassol and Paphos.I remember 1000s of Turkish refugees camped on the grounds of the British Army Base after the Greek National Guard emptied them out their villages.
I think Turkey invaded after that.
History normally has 2 sides

This.
I’ve heard various versions from Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

[pedro]

It isn’t well travelled, but that doesn’t mean it is not worth a visit.

I worked in Cyprus for 18 months about 10 years ago. I was based in Nicosia, which is fascinating. I made many trips to the North (indeed I regularly flew out of Ercan on the absolutely excellent Turkish Airlines – which is as close as I intend to tread into the Tel Aviv CE/CW discussion elsewhere!).

You should see Verosha (Famagusta), which I think is now more accessible – although that may not necessarily be a good thing. The beaches on the North coast are also very nice. I understand walking holidays and tours in the North are becoming more prevalent.

Cyprus is a complicated place, as you will have seen from the comments above. In many ways I felt guilty seeing a tragedy like Verosha as some sort of macabre tourist attraction. But equally, until you see it, you will never understand the emotions or the polarisation. Certainly there is a lot to learn and understand, which your average tourist visitor to Paphos or Limassol might not appreciate… Nicosia (in the Republic or North, as it is divided) is dripping with culture if you look for it.

Or you could just get off your face in Ayia Napa.

I hope you have a great trip.

[Colin MacKinnon]

Surprised no-one’s mentioned Laurence Durrell’s book Bitter Lemons.

Was in northern Cyrus 25 years ago over Christmas – beautiful and sunny during the day, freezing at night , and Bellapais – where he lived – was beautiful, as was the harbour below and the “Disney” castle.

[Lyn]

I took a short trip to both Cyprus and Lebanon in 1973, having read Bitter Lemons in school not that long before. Even though it was so long ago, I still have vivid memories of the tensions, which were palpable almost everywhere, and stark in many places, amidst all the culture, in both countries. As well said above, the situation was complex even then, but I was grateful to have been able to visit when I did.

Hope it is an enjoyable and interesting trip for you Keely. I would also recommend Lawrence Durrell’s book.

[sp59]

Cyprus is not a big island and driving is easy even though they tend not to be very good drivers. Crossing the border is not too complicated now but I am unsure of the insurance position if you hire a car in the south and take it north.

There is very interesting archaeology north and south if you like that sort of thing – the mosaics in Paphos are more impressive than any I have ever seen in the UK and the Roman remains on the cliff top at Curium near Limassol are also well worth visiting.

In the north of the island the Roman remains at Salamis, not far from Farmagusta, are impressive and you are free to wander everywhere, a bit like those of us of a certain age will remember doing at Stonehenge when we were kids.

You might like to drive up into the mountains. It will be a bit cooler up there in June than on the coast. There is a good walk near Platres to the Caledonian Falls which we have done a number of times.

The Akamas peninsula to the north east of the island is quite scenic and has some attractive walks.

There are plentiful fishing villages with little tavernas where you can enjoy fresh fish and the local white wine.

I am not very knowledgable about beaches but I think the best ones are in the North. In the south, it’s Ayia Napa which is not everyone’s cup of tea! Actually, I quite like the front at Larnaca. Beach looks nice and plentiful places to eat & shop very close at hand.

I am sure you will have a great trip. Our son bought us Lawrence Darrell’s book as a Christmas present so we’ll be reading it shortly!

[Keely]

Thank you..that’s useful. I’ll swerve ayia napa on this visit though…

[TooPoorToBeHere]

We did a family holiday in Cyprus during covid times, flying in and out of LCA to avoid the faff of changing to get to ECN. Some relatives who don’t have schengen visas went to ECN and said it was fine though.

I loved Cyprus – I think it might be my favourite place on earth.

I strongly recommend:

* Walking around the ruins at Famagusta. At the time – the island was very quiet – we struggled to find the way in and had to stop and ask some uniformed soldiers. As was the case everywhere we went on both sides – very friendly and welcoming people.
* Walk around Nicosia, it is super-charming.
* Spectacular Roman ruins as already mentioned at Salamis on which you can walk everywhere and touch the 2000-year-old mosaics – the sort of thing that in England you wouldn’t even be able to get near for screens.
* Driving in the mountains – roads are decent quality almost everywhere (exception: sketchy and pot-holed out at Apostolos Andreas) and we didn’t find the other drivers super-scary although you definitely feel the “not in the first world anymore” transition when you cross the border. Carry water and snacks in the quiet places – you can be a long way from anywhere at times.
* Crossing the border, for the experience and feeling of leaving one place, driving/walking through the dead zone, then entering a very different place.
* If you are cat people – there are friendly cats *everywhere*. Carry cat food and *especially in the heat* extra water for them. A beautiful fluffy cat by a completely empty beach drank several cupfulls of water. My kids were beyond delighted at all the cats they met.
* When in the North, everything is cheap – buy all the breads, cheeses, and butters, it’s all great.
* Rent a giant villa in the North with a pool for buttons and feel like you’re royalty.

The North is a gangster state. Don’t get me wrong – I love it to bits and there might be nowhere safer on earth in terms of being able to walk anywhere unmolested, leave your car open, not lock your house – but it is full of scams. Fake Burger King outlet by the Nicosia-Girne highway, fake brand names, bitcoin accepted in all sorts of retail outlets, fake merchandise. Bottle of Turkish “whisky” was about £3. Fake universities which sell cheap degree courses to africans. Gigantic neon brothels (“nightclubs”) in the middle of nowhere in the countryside. I was stopped by police at a roadside checkpoint once but it was all super-chill and respectful, they just checked the Southern-plated car really had the right paperwork and wished me a good day.

Crossing the border is an experience – recommended. If you have a car from the South, you have to buy extra insurance at the border crossing – which is a con and the money literally goes straight in the vendor’s pocket – but just smile and go with the flow, it’s not a lot of money. Brim the car before you come back, petrol was almost free in the North.

Turkish money is hilarious – it may have changed now, but they were in denial about their inflation and not issuing any large denomination bills so £100 was a great thick stack of paper. Everything including the money has Mustafa Kemal on it and there are portraits and statues of him everywhere too. We particularly enjoyed the hagiographic biography of him on a plaque (English and Turkish!) by a statue which stated he “gave his life for his country”; he drank himself to death.

By the B9 road on the south side we passed the (South’s) concentration camp where they imprison african migrants.

Everything is cheap in the North but there are no western shop brands there; no Lidl or Carrefour.

We drove across at Nicosia. The border crossings are not well-signposted on the South side – they are quite miserable about the existence of the other state and don’t encourage you to go – and it took a bit of finding. On the other side there is ENORMOUS golden mosque and the hillside facing the south is painted with a giant slogan as a “FU” message to their neigbour…v interesting to observe it all…

Mobile phone coverage in the North is excellent even in the very empty rural parts – top respect to the Turkish GSM engineers – but I think still UMTS (3G) everywhere with no LTE, so speeds are not great. In practice I think the North networks are all in Turkey for billing/roaming purposes so if you have Turkey in your package it will work.

North I think still has intermittent electricity at peaks so you may find you have rota power cuts. Their power station is a horrible oil-burning monster surrounded by garbage with a pall of filthy smoke over it. The cuts are advertised on the power company’s facebook page.

If you’re near it, the Şah Marketplace is probably the best supermarket in the North and worth stocking up at if you’re passing. Wonderful cakes.

Most car hire places in the South don’t let you cross the border with their car. We used http://www.cyprus-car-hire.com/ who do – with appropriate cautions about you being responsible for your own insurance/breakdown/recovery on the other side. The price was competitive, the vehicle was a JDM Nissan import that couldn’t be switched out of Japanese language and was fine, and it was a very “Cyprus” setup (bloke sits outdoors outside the airport with a bucket of car keys and a card terminal and you wander out and find him).

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Oh, and our *last impression* of Cyprus was a great and very Cyprus thing – Wizz air of course shafted us with a monstrous delay, but the LCA lounge dragons could not have been less dragon-like and refused payment for the kids, only charging us parents. We went and showered and had several very chill hours in there while everyone else sat miserable round the gate.

[Aston100]

Great report.

[Keely]

@toopoortobehere – great info thanks!