Cape Greco
A national forest park of sea caves, cliff jumps and trails between Ayia Napa and Protaras.
Cyprus Passion / Sightseeing
Ancient ruins, painted churches, mountain monasteries and the places every empire that took the island left behind.
Cyprus has been settled for nine thousand years and fought over for most of them. What is left is unusually dense: a Neolithic village you can walk through, Hellenistic tombs cut into rock, Roman mosaics under a modern roof, Crusader forts on the harbours, and painted Byzantine churches so small you could miss them from the road.
Everything below is somewhere we have been. Filter by what you want to see, or by where you are staying — most of these sit within an hour of a coastal city.
Nothing of that kind here yet — try another region, or clear the filters.
A national forest park of sea caves, cliff jumps and trails between Ayia Napa and Protaras.
Once the capital’s largest church — Byzantine, Latin and neoclassical outside, frescoed wall to ceiling inside.
Built in 1857 by Archbishop Makarios I — the first girls’ school in Cyprus.
A church inside a cave near Kato Deftera — ‘golden cave’ — early Christian, and closed whenever it rains.
The city’s landmark church, a short walk behind the Foinikoudes seafront.
The fort at the far end of Foinikoudes — climb it for the length of the promenade.
A 178-metre ferry on its side ten minutes off Larnaca — consistently ranked among the world’s top ten wreck dives.
Twenty-odd Ottoman arches on the Limassol road, lit after dark and free to walk up to.
A city-kingdom on a limestone bluff a hundred metres above the sea — theatre, baths, mosaics and gladiators’ house.
A three-storey medieval keep with 1½-metre walls, sugar vaults below and the name behind Commandaria wine.
The first super-yacht marina in Cyprus — shops, restaurants and residences on the water.
The seafront park and walkway that runs to the marina — sculpture, lawns, sea on one side.
Built in the 1950s under British rule; now restaurants and fishing boats.
Timios Stavros — the oldest monastery in Cyprus — in the middle of Omodos village.
The fort at the end of the harbour quay — Byzantine, twice rebuilt, once a prison, then a salt warehouse.
A Hellenistic necropolis cut into solid rock, with underground peristyle atriums — and, despite the name, no kings.
230 square kilometres of untouched headland — the last large unspoiled coast on the island, and a Natura 2000 site.
A 3km limestone canyon on the edge of the Akamas — two to three hours on foot, best in spring and autumn.
Where the goddess rose from the foam — sand on one side, pebbles on the other, and a myth about swimming round it three times.
A natural grotto on the east side of the Akamas where legend puts the goddess bathing.
Founded in 1170 by the monk Neophytos, who carved his hermitage out of the rock.
Gold mosaics and painted corridors at 1,318 metres — the wealthiest monastery on the island, at the end of a spectacular drive.
The best-known waterfall walk in the Troodos, on a shaded trail above Platres.
A tall, narrow fall a short walk from Pano Platres.
An 11th-century church south of Nikitari, and some of the finest Byzantine painting on the island.
St Nicholas of the Roof, near Kakopetria — well-preserved frescoes under a steep timber roof.
A centuries-old pilgrimage monastery high in the pines above Platres.
The largest Venetian bridge on the island, in forest at 440 metres.
Opposite Kalopanayiotis in the Marathasa valley — UNESCO-listed since 1985.
A quieter fall on the Dhiarizos river, near Foini and Platres.
Limanaki — kaikia and yachts on turquoise water, fish taverns along the quay, a wedding chapel in the middle.
840 hectares of pine and eucalyptus on the capital’s edge, with running and cycling loops.
Restored lanes inside the walls, taverns and souvenir shops, and the city’s main tourist office.
A 16th-century monastery in the Xeros valley near Pentalia — long abandoned, and among the finest Byzantine buildings left standing in the district.
Our Lady of the Golden Pomegranate, founded in the 12th century above Pano Panayia and still working — with a winery in the courtyard.
A cargo ship run aground on the rocks by the sea caves at Peyia in 2011, and left there — now the most photographed sunset in Paphos.
One of the most ancient ports on the island, first built in 320 BC and still in the same place — with the castle at the end of the quay.
A small waterfall and pool in the hills above Koili, where the Mavrokolympos water gathers. Privately owned, so there is an entrance charge.
Built at Pachyammos after a miracle reported by a village resident, on ground where hard fighting took place in 1964.
Throne Hill, 3km above Kykkos — the tomb of Archbishop Makarios III and the procession of the Virgin of the Rain.
Panagia Machaira, high on the Kionia slopes about 40km from Nicosia — named for the knife that cut back the brush around its hidden icon.
A 16th-century arch over the Setrachos, built to link Kalopanayiotis village with the monastery on the far bank.
One of the oldest monasteries in the world, on a lone peak above the Larnaca plain — founded, tradition says, by Saint Helena in the 4th century.
Larnaca's first seafront street, running on from Foinikoudes past the fish tavernas — quieter than the palm promenade, and better at sunset.
Four connected lakes covering 2.2 km² beside the airport road — dry and white in summer, and full of flamingos from November.
One of the best-preserved Neolithic settlements in the eastern Mediterranean, UNESCO-listed since 1998, with five round houses rebuilt on site.
A mosque and shrine among palms on the west shore of the salt lake, built over the tomb of Umm Haram — one of the most significant Islamic sites in the Mediterranean.
A Byzantine-style cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary on Ayiou Antreou Street, with roots in a modest 13th-century church.
A recently renovated garden on the coastal road in the middle of the city — shade, an open-air theatre and the wine festival each September.
A small chapel below the peak of Koroni hill at Mitsero, with panoramic views over the Nicosia district.
A limestone sea arch in the Cape Greco forest park, cut by the sea over millennia and reached on foot from the coastal path.
A narrow tidal inlet in the Kokkinochoria lined with fishing boats and boathouses — the closest thing on the island to a working creek.
A white chapel built on the cliff edge at Cavo Greco in the 1950s, with steps down to the sea cave below where the saints are said to have kept vigil.
Dedicated to the patron saint of sailors, whose miracles were nearly all worked at sea — which makes the setting above the water the point.
A small church on a rock above Protaras, reached by a long flight of steps — and worth the climb for the view back over the bay.
The most unlikely church on the island — hidden inside a cave in rough ground near Profitis Elias, and easy to walk straight past.
A whitewashed chapel on the rocks above Ayia Thekla beach, with the older cave church cut into the ground beside it.
A natural rock bridge over clear water in the Cavo Greco area — the most photographed spot on the island, and busiest at first light.
Nearly every monastery on this page is a working community, not a museum. Shoulders and knees covered for everyone; some houses keep wraps by the door. Photography is often restricted inside — look for the signs, and ask if there are none.
Opening hours are shorter in winter and most sites close for a long midday break. Archaeological sites charge admission and the rates change; check before you drive out. Stavrovouni keeps a strict rule that admits men only to the main monastery.