Fun things to do in Paphos

Yacht cruise in Paphos

To celebrate Roman’s birthday, I searched for a fun attraction we hadn’t done in Paphos yet, and saw that there are many different cruises there. I looked up companies offering cruises and found Paphos Sea Cruises, which had good reviews and an adult only yacht cruise. Since we’ll soon be parents, I thought this was a good opportunity to enjoy the quiet and go for a relaxing cruise.

The cruise left the port at 10:00, but it’s recommended to get there an hour early and get good seats (The seats aren’t reserved). We got seats on the third floor of the ship and realized afterwards this isn’t recommended for those who suffer from seasickness, or pregnancy. If you have a tendency for sea sickness, you’re better off sitting downstairs, which is what we did after the first stop. We just brought a chair to the side of the yacht where it was shaded and enjoyed the sea breeze. If you want to sit there, there’s no need to come early, unless you want to grab a tanning bed.

The cruise consisted of two stops. At first, we stopped at Coral Bay Beach for an hour and a half with the option of snorkeling, kayaking or just floating with a long sponge noodle floater, and there was also a lunch break with a buffet. Then we continued sailing for another twenty minutes and stopped at the stunning Sea caves, this time for an hour during which we could snorkel, kayak or swim. We also enjoyed a fresh fruit dessert there with watermelon, pineapple and melon, and some cakes.

We returned to the port around 16:00, and Roman and I agreed this was a great attraction. We had a good time and were very pleased with the company’s service.

This particular cruise costs 89 euros and is an “all included” package. The package includes transportation to and from the hotel, a glass of champagne upon arrival, a beach towel, a light breakfast, a fancy yacht with a maximum of 55 people on board, a buffet lunch, and an open bar with alcohol and light drinks.

Adonis Baths

On the third day of our trip, we decided to go and explore Paphos’ villages, starting at Chloraka village and moving on to Tala, where we stumbled upon a sign pointing towards Adonis Baths. We were in Paphos three times before, and had never heard of them until then, so we decided to check it out.

The drive was on a dirt paved road through the mountains. It was a bit rough, but suitable for any type of vehicle (Ours was a small automatic car which barely made the ascents, but it was fine). It’s about a half hour drive on an unpaved road, but it was worth the effort to find this gem in the mountains. There’s a 9 euro entrance free per person, there are two natural pools with waterfalls.

My recommendation is visiting early in the day, in the middle of the week if possible, so it’s less crowded. The water is really cold, so take note. (For example, I only dipped my feet in, but Roman enjoyed swimming in them). There’s also a museum there (We didn’t find it particularly exciting) and a food stand with sandwiches, coffee and more… There’s also a tanning bed area. By the baths is a tavern for anyone looking to have lunch there.

Oniro by the sea restaurant – A restaurant with an amazing view of an abandoned ship and water caves.

I found a recommendation for Oniro by the sea on the Bestip blog. I always do some research looking for recommendations before nay destination we travel to, and I just happened to come across this one. I knew we had to go there as soon as I read it, and it turned out to be one of the best recommendations regarding Paphos.

It’s a great Mediterranean seafood restaurant with a wonderful view. It’s recommended to reserve a table in advance, so you can sit in the first row facing the sea. We didn’t book one, but after we arrived at around 15:00, a table in the first row become available within about 15 minutes.

We ordered two salads – I had a mango, avocado and jumbo shrimp salad and Roman got a ceviche salad with salmon, they were both excellent (At about 12 euros each). We chose to split a main dish, a special dish of linguini with jumbo shrimp – it was absolutely perfect (I can only hope they have it on the menu when you’re there).  Roman had a passionfruit cocktail (About 9 euros for a cocktail) and I had a non-alcoholic cocktail of ginger and almonds (About 6 euros for a non-alcoholic cocktail). The cocktails were of really high quality, we enjoyed them immensely. This restaurant is highly recommended, regardless of the view. View included (For the sea caves and the abandoned ship), I think this is a must when visiting Paphos. You can spend hours just looking out and taking photos of the magnificent sights.

https://youtu.be/R6rH33Jbh1k

Fun Segway tour

We took a Segway tour with   Paphos Segway Tours company.

We were a group of eight and had two super nice guides, Liam and Callum.

After all the group members had arrived, we went outside for an instruction on the Segways.

During the tour, we went through several interesting sites on Paphos, stopping at each one while the guide told us about the place.

We rode along the sea a lot – it was really relaxing and I didn’t want the tour to be end.

The company has longer, special tours for those already experienced with Segways. Maybe next time we’re In Paphos we’ll try one of the advanced tours.

I wrote about the tour in detail in a post about the segway tour.

Wine tastings

About a 30 minutes drive from Paphos center there’s a great winery that offers wine tastings for visitors, Tsangarides winery. From the moment we arrived, we fell absolutely in love with the place. The area is very idyllic and the design itself is very pretty as well. We sat outside and the owner, Angelos, brought 4 kinds of wine for us to try – White, Rosa, red and organic.

In addition to that, he served us some cheese and grapes as well. We chatted a lot and found him to be a really charming and humble person. At one point, a group of Hungarian journalists showed up and he gave them a tour of the winery, which we joined in on.

The winery produces as many as 300,000 bottles a year. It was really interesting learning about the wine making process – we really like drinking wine and touring wineries. If you come as a couple or a small group the tastings are free. A larger group would have to pay 5-euros per person, which is a purely symbolic price.

We enjoyed the winery and meeting Angelos very much. If you like wine I think this is a wonderful experience for those staying in Paphos.

Archaeological site Paphos

Near the harbor there is a big archeological site. It maybe sounds boring to you, but Roman (my husband) and I were surprised for the good. First of all, there was an amazing brewing (we visited in the spring) and it was so beautiful to wander around there and to see all those flowers. Aside from the flowers, the site itself is impressive.

There are ruins and mosaics and you can walk for at least 2 hours there in order to see everything. There is also a castle near the site (outside of it but really close). We had a great time there and the weather was very good, so it was completely great.

An entrance ticket cost 4.5 euro
Opening hours: every day 08:30-17:00

Paphos zoo

A very big and impressive zoo; we were a couple (without kids) and really enjoyed it. There is a big variety of animals, there are special different owls and parrots, there is a small, cute Asian elephant that exactly when we were there, he decided to have some fun and play in his pool with the water. He was funny and sweet.

You will also see lions, tigers, camels, and beautiful giraffes that you can feed for a price.
The animals’ cages are big and spacious and some of the animals can go out from the cage like the turkey and the goat.

There is also a parrots (and owls, as well) show 3 times a day. Without additional payment and we really liked the show. It was amusing and fun and the parrots were really smart and did cool stunts.
In the zoo there is also a big playground, cafeteria, and restaurant,

The average time to spend there is 3 hours.
The show hours are 12:00, 14:30, and 17:00
An entrance ticket for an adult costs 16 euro
Opening hours: every day 09:00-18:00

Indoor local market

A great local experience. If you want to buy unique souvenirs this is definitely the place to visit and it’s worth checking it out even if you don’t plan on buying anything.

There are many shops with souvenirs, bags, wallets, statues, and more, at decent prices. Although it’s not a big market, the selection is pretty big and we saw souvenirs there that we didn’t see in other places.

You can park the car in a parking place (there is a yellow sign on the way that shows you where it is). At the parking there is also a small market with fruits and vegetables (we bought fresh kiwi, mango, and strawberries there that were very good) and from there you can climb the stairs.

In the market there is also a small shack that sells iced coffee and hot coffee for euro and a half.
Opening hours Monday-Saturday 08:00-14:00, on Sunday it’s closed (the shifts are changing but it will be open at the hours I mentioned).
A direction map

Kings Avenue Paphos mall

A big mall with a lot of stores and a food court. There is also a great Japanese restaurant that we really liked. There is also a kids’ playroom and cinema that shows adults and children movies in English.
Opening hours: every day 10:00-20:00; on Sunday it opens at 11:00

Bicycle trip

Along the main road there is a long bicycle trail. It’s very fun to rent bikes and do a bike trip with them or use them as transportation.

Other things to do in Paphos, that we didn’t try, but they looked nice

• Water park– was closed when we were there because it wasn’t the season
• Knights’ Park
• Minigolf
• Bowling
• Karting

And there are other attractions like a fishing tour, jeeps tours, and more. You can book them from your hotel or from agencies. We saw several agencies along the port