Great days trips in Cyprus - Traveling outside the box

If you are visiting Cyprus and are in the mood to travel, I really recommend you to rent a car and to drive to awesome places. Cyprus is full of nature reserves, which are beautiful villages where you can spend days exploring,

The big advantage of travelling in Cyprus, is that this is a pretty small island, so the distances are short from one place to another. You can reach a lot of places even if you travel only for a few days.

Driving there on the opposite direction can be a little bit intimidating, but you will get used to it pretty fast. If it’s still frightening to you, then you can travel there by taxies or buses.

No matter where you land, if it’s Larnaca, Paphos , Limassol and Nicosia, you can reach every place that I mentioned here in maximum 2.5 hours by car.

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3.2 Old city Limassol

3.3 Lefkara village, Larnaca and natural reserve in Ayia Napa

Akamas

Located about one hour driving from Paphos.
In the west part of Greece, Cyprus, Akamas is one of the most spectacular landmarks in the island of Cyprus for people who want to see nature.

The reserve is beautiful and there are a lot of walking trails, and also an amazing blue lagoon. The reserve is about 260 kms. You can find there are many types of animals.
The Aphrodite trail is considered to be the most difficult trail there is because it involves an uphill climbing in order to reach the top. But the view from there is so awesome that it is definitely worth it.

There are also easier trails, like to the lagoon.
Another cool option in the reserve is to rent a bagi and to travel with it. So even if you are less in the walking mood, you will have another option there to do.

The entrance is free. In the entrance there is a map that shows the types of trails and distances.
Aphrodite’s trail duration is about 4-6 hours and you can do a longer trajectory if you add the blue lagoon to it.

This reserve is a great place for people who are looking for treks in Cyprus.
If you are hungry after travelling there, you can eat in the restaurant in the entrance. They have a varied menu and reasonable prices

Bridge Tzelefos

Beautiful Venetian bridges located 440 m in Pafos forest. They are located on the way up to Troodos Mountains so it’s worth visiting them on the same day that you are travelling to Troodos Mountains. The bridges are located at an about one hour drive from Limassol to Pafos, and from Larnaca about one hour and a half.

Gefiri tou Tzelefou is the biggest stone bridge that was built in Cyprus.
You can travel between the bridges by car or by foot. In the first bridge there’s an option to climb up the hill to a viewpoint. About 10-15 minutes climbing up by feet.

When we came to the bridges there were many photographers who took pictures of them because there are really beautiful.

Troodos mountains

The largest range of mountains in Cyprus. On the mountains there are many villages, monasteries, churches, of which nine of them and one of the monasteries were announced as a World Heritage Site by the Unesco Organisation.

Troodos Mountains are very popular among tourists and in the winter there’s a small ski site which has four elevators.
So if you are travelling in winter to Cyprus and want to see snow you can go there.

But Troodos Mountains are worth visiting all year long because they are full of picturesque villages, restaurants, taverns, coffee shops, stalls, and shops. The most famous is the Omodos village. About one million tourists visit it per year. In the village they produce wine and every August they have a festival there. You can visit the Afames monastery and enjoy the best atmosphere in the taverns

You can also visit the Platres village and eat there in a nice restaurant called “Skylight:
Address F825, Pano Platres, Cyprus

Nicosia

If you want to do some shopping or visit a modern city full of trendy restaurants, coffee shops, branded shops, and historical sites, Nicosia is a city worth seeing.

We ate in a very good vegetarian restaurant. We ordered laganne and kish and they were very delicious. The name of the restaurant is Inga’s Veggie Heaven.

Opening hours: Tuesday- Saturday 09:00-17:00
Address: 2 dimonaktos
I recommend this restaurant even if you are not vegetarian.
There are also coffee shops where you can play backgammon

Old city Limassol

In the old city you can visit in an impressive castle and enjoy wandering around in a great place with a unique atmosphere and great coffee shops, restaurants, and bars.

We stayed in a great hotel there called “Mediterranean Hotel Beach”
In order to read more about Limassol visit my post “Vacation in Limassol”.

Lefkara village, Larnaca and natural reserve in Ayia Napa

Lefkara village is a picturesque village that is famous for its lace industry. You will see many lace shops there as well as restaurants and coffee shops.

Cape Greco is an amazing natural reserve that is suitable for easy hiking and picnics, and also just for relaxing and to enter the clear blue water.

The entrance is free.
Larnaca is a harbour city with great cocktail bars, restaurants, and historical sites.
We stayed in an apartment hotel called Elenore Hotel, which was cheap, clean, and in a great location.
To read more about Lefkara, Larnaca and Cape Greco visit my post “Larnaca things to do”