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My visit to Cyprus included both the Greek part (which I will call Cyprus) and the Turkish part(North Cyprus). The trip lasted 8 days and took place in December 2023. I did it solo with as many as 2 different rental cars and various problems.
The stages of my journey were.
- Larnaka
- Agia Napa
- Cape St. Andrew
- Famagusta
- Nicosia
- The Troodos Mountains
- Limassol
- Paphos
On my google maps the itinerary
Visiting Cyprus on your own
The best way to visit Cyprus is with a ‘ rental car. Especially since there are several small places to visit scattered throughout the Island. Theoretically the problem could have been left-hand drive (which I had already experienced several times, however), in reality there were others, which were not so much about driving in Cyprus, but entanglements with the rental agencies.
The first difficulty common to all is that from Cyprus it is not possible to go with a rental car to North Cyprus, as it is not recognized by any country except Turkey itself, which helped in the separation in 1974. Even now there is a border manned by UN blue helmets and a buffer zone between the two countries. It is easy for a tourist to cross the border on foot, but it is the only way to do it independently. I had looked for a tour that started from the Greek side, but in the off-season there were none that did the tour I wanted to do.
Only solution, leave the car taken in southern Cyprus in Nicosia, walk across the border and rent another one for northern Cyprus.
I arrived at the Paphos airport late in the evening and was pleased to have found a BnB just five minutes down the road.
In my plans was to pick up the ‘car quickly to go to bed early and start visiting Cyprus by leaving early in the morning. There were many things to see, and I was going to save exploring Paphos for the last day after delivering the car.
First difficulties with car rental agency
Instead, the pickup of the first car was a feat! To save some money I had opted for an agency that was not based right at the airport, but a few miles away. I did not see this as a problem because a shuttle was provided and the directions were very detailed. I was supposed to go to the P5 parking lot where I would find the sign for the agency’s meeting point, of course I also expected not to be the only one.
I arrived at P5, no sign and no one waiting; still not very upset I called the agency at the number given. After many rings I was answered by one who somewhat impatient told me that I had dialed the number of another location, I had made a mistake…too bad I had dialed the only number in the directions they had given me themselves. The people at the right location told me to stay at P5 that the shuttle would come right away. Minutes passed, but no one really transited there. I went back to the entrance of the airport and asked two policemen, who sent me to a whole other side where, however, there was actually a bit of a bustle and especially the famous sign, and shortly thereafter the shuttle arrived.
The check-in guy resented me after I quietly pointed out to him that they had indicated a wrong number, and as if stating the world’s biggest truism, he explained to me that there are in fact 2 parking lots named P5, far apart from each other. This episode was not the only one of playing hide-and-seek with Cypriot cars.
Driving in Cyprus: beautiful
After a couple of hours of breaking in the left-hand drive and automatic transmission, found that Cypriots drive normally (every now and then on all countries you find comments about terrible drivers), and in general there is no problem driving in Cyprus, indeed. The next day I began to enjoy the excellent roads and splendid and varied views both of the sea and with mountain or hill views.
Home set of travel The scent of the Mediterranean islands
Previous stop The palace of Knossos; hard to be gay on an ‘island
Next stop Travel to Northern Cyprus and visit Nicosia
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
Countries visited in my travel stories
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