Cyprus sells you the sea first. The mountains take longer.
What the Blue Lagoon boat out of Latchi actually costs. Which Troodos day is worth losing a beach morning for. Where the turtles are, and how deep the Zenobia lies. Reviews of every tour you can book on the island.
Four days that decide a week in Cyprus.
A boat out of Latchi, a day up in the Troodos, a wreck lying off Larnaca and the one that keeps the children quiet. What each costs, and what the people who went said about it.
01The Latchi dayBlue Lagoon (Akamas) Bus & Boat Tour with Water Slide from PaphosCoach to Latchi, then eight hours on the water at Akamas. More travellers book this than anything else on the island.
02The mountain loop100% Cyprus – Tour to Troodos mountains and villages (From Paphos)Kykkos, Omodos and the high villages in one long minibus loop. Take it on the day the coast gets too hot to sit on.
03The wreck divePrivate Diving at Zenobia Wreck in LarnakaA Swedish ferry on her side in open water off Larnaca. Private, guided, and the reason divers come to Cyprus at all.
04The day with kidsWaterWorld Themed WaterPark Admission Ticket in Ayia NapaThe Ayia Napa water park, booked ahead. Not glamorous, and it buys you a whole afternoon of peace.
Every good Cyprus week has a boat in it.
Three kinds of day afloat, what it costs to get on board, and which harbour it leaves from. Latchi for the Blue Lagoon, Protaras and Ayia Napa for the caves, Larnaca for the sunset run.
Cyprus is small. Where you sleep still decides your week.
An hour of motorway separates most of these towns, but the day out of each one is different. Harbour castles and Akamas boats in the west, the party coast and the sea caves in the east, the divided capital an hour inland.
The most popular days out in Cyprus.
Every Cyprus review →More travellers take these than anything else on the island. What each one is, what it costs, and who it actually suits.
1
Blue Lagoon (Akamas) Bus & Boat Tour with Water Slide from Paphos
Spend a full day from Paphos exploring the Akamas coast, Blue Lagoon, sea caves, Latchi, Polis, and Baths of Aphrodite by bus and boat.
From · $54
Read our review →
2
Cpt Marko – Blue Lagoon & Turtle Cruise with Optional Lunch
from $42
3
100% Cyprus – Tour to Troodos mountains and villages (From Paphos)
from $66
4
APHRODITE II -LAZY DAY CRUISE-BLUE LAGOON,TURTLE COVE, with LUNCH
from $54
5
Stardust Variety Dinner Show
from $72
6
Blue Lagoon Cruise with Sightseeing from Latchi Harbour
from $30
7
Half-Day Scuba Diving Tour – Discover Scuba Diving!
from $100
8
Wave Dancer Half Day BBQ Cruise – All Inclusive
from $83
What a day out in Cyprus actually costs.
Every tour on the site grouped by price. The cheap end is not the dull end here: half the Blue Lagoon boats sit in the first column.
Blue Lagoon boats out of Latchi, glass-bottom hops, village wine tastings and the short cruises off Larnaca.
The full-day standards. Troodos loops with lunch, jeep safaris into the Akamas, a first dive with a guide.
Private boats, wreck dives with two tanks, and the all-inclusive food and wine days up in the mountains.
The Troodos is where Cyprus cools down.
Wine villages at a thousand metres, monasteries in the pines, halloumi squeaking out of the pan in front of you. It is a day trip from every coast, and ten degrees cooler than the one you drove from.
Cyprus keeps its best hour underwater.
Green turtles graze the seagrass off Protaras. The caves at Cape Greco run cold and blue when the coast is at forty degrees. And a car ferry called the Zenobia lies on her port side off Larnaca, lorries still chained to her deck.
Protaras and Ayia Napa: caves in the morning, everything else after dark.
Fig Tree Bay, the sea caves at Cape Greco and a turtle cruise most afternoons. The two resorts sit ten minutes apart and sell completely different evenings, which is the only real decision to make out here.
Every day out on the east coast →
Paphos: mosaics before the heat, Latchi boats after.
Everything in Paphos →
Half the island's tours leave from here. The old harbour and the Roman floors take a morning, the Akamas takes a whole day, and the Troodos road starts twenty minutes inland. These three carry more travellers than anything else in the west.
Latchi day boat, or the bus and boat combo
The short cruises leave Latchi harbour and are back by lunch. The full day picks you up on the Paphos strip, drives the coast road and gives you the whole Akamas run. Same water, four hours of difference.
Troodos from the coast
Two hours up through the vineyards to Kykkos, lunch in a village square, then the descent through Omodos. It eats a whole day and it is the only way to see Cyprus above the tree line without hiring a car.
Akamas by jeep or buggy
The Akamas has no sealed road worth the name, which is the point. Jeeps take the Avakas gorge and the turtle beach at Lara; buggies take the same tracks with you driving and eating the dust.
Three things that only happen on this island.
Beach clubs and boat trips run all round the Mediterranean. A ferry lying on her side in open water, a fenced-off resort town you can now walk into, and cheese made in front of you at a thousand metres do not.
The Zenobia
A Swedish ro-ro ferry sailed for Syria in June 1980, developed a list off Larnaca on her maiden voyage and went down with more than a hundred lorries aboard. She lies on her port side in open water a few minutes off the marina, shallow enough at the rail for a guided first dive and deep enough at the seabed to keep technical divers coming back for a week at a time.
- 1Half-Day Scuba Diving Tour – Discover Scuba Diving!★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 669 reviews
- 2Discover Scuba diving★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 504 reviews
- 3Try a Scuba Diving Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 400 reviews
Varosha
Famagusta's beach quarter was evacuated in 1974 and fenced off with the shops still stocked. Part of it reopened to visitors in 2020 on marked routes past hotels that have stood empty for half a century. Day tours run from Protaras, Ayia Napa and Paphos, cross at a checkpoint, and need your passport in your pocket rather than the hotel safe.
- 1Ghost-Town Famagusta Mini Bus Tour from Protaras and Ayia Napa★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 298 reviews
- 2Full-day Famagusta: Lost Cities & Coastal Secrets from Paphos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 274 reviews
- 3Red Bus Varosha experience in English from Ayia Napa, Protaras★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 88 reviews
Halloumi in the pan
Cypriot halloumi is folded by hand while the curd is still hot, pressed with mint between the layers and cooked straight from the brine, which is why it squeaks. The mountain dairies still run the whole thing in one room, and the workshops that take visitors end the way they should: a plate of it, blackened at the edges, and a jug of something local.
- 1Troodos Mountains Villages: All Inclusive Food & Wine Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 610 reviews
- 2Troodos Mountains Grape Escape: All Inclusive Food & Wine Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 98 reviews
- 3Wine Tasting and Winery Tour in Lemona Village, Paphos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 70 reviews
Four Cyprus bookings that will not wait.
Most of this island can be arranged from a sunbed the afternoon before. These four run on boat timetables, checkpoint hours, dive qualifications and two hours of mountain road, none of which care when your flight lands.
- 01Private Diving at Zenobia Wreck in LarnakaThe wreck sits in open water off the marina and the deeper half needs a qualification. Centres run it on the settled days and fill the boat first.
- 02Ghost-Town Famagusta Mini Bus Tour from Protaras and Ayia NapaThe route crosses a checkpoint and runs to the crossing's hours, not yours. Passport in your pocket, not the hotel safe.
- 03Blue Lagoon (Akamas) Bus & Boat Tour with Water Slide from PaphosThe boats leave Latchi harbour, an hour up the coast from Paphos and closer to two from Limassol. The whole day is built around one departure.
- 04Jeep Safari Troodos – Kykkos monastery Waterfall and Venetian bridge from PAPHOSThe driving is the day: two hours up, two back, and the minibuses leave the coast early to fit both in.
When it hits forty on the coast, go up or go under.
July and August do the same thing every year. The middle of the day is unusable at sea level, so the island moves to three places: the water, the mountains, and a stone cellar with a fan in the corner. Book the morning boat, keep the afternoon for the Troodos, and eat late like everyone else.
By town, coast to capital
By kind of day, boat to buggy
Paphos, the mountains, then east to the beaches: the loop most first weeks follow.
The latest Cyprus tours, reviewed.
Every new Cyprus review →
3-Hour Sunset Cruise from Protaras with Fruit & Champagne
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From Paphos to Divided Nicosia (North Cyprus walk in) and Larnaca
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No Licence Private Self Drive Boat to Blue Lagoon +masks&snorkels
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Sunday morning ride to Adonis Falls approx 3 hours
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Luxury Private Motor Yacht Jeanneau NC33 to Blue Lagoon & more…
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From Ayia Napa: Famagusta City Tour with Salamis and Varosha
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The Mermaid Cruise by Medusa Cruises – 2:30-Hour Family Adventure
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Nicosia: Last Divided City, Tour combining South & North
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Private Discovery Scuba Diving with Sea Turtles
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