Paphos, from the doorstep outwards

Kato Paphos is the part of the city you can do on foot: the harbour, the castle, the Roman mosaics and a long seafront promenade are all within twenty minutes of the front door. A hire car earns its keep on the days you go further — the Akamas peninsula, the turtle beach at Lara, the wine villages up in the Troodos. Parking at the house is free.

Within walking distance

Paphos Harbour and the castle

About twenty minutes on foot along the seafront. The medieval fort at the end of the breakwater, fishing boats, and a row of restaurants looking straight at the water.

The Roman mosaics

Paphos Archaeological Park is a fifteen-minute walk. The mosaic floors of the Houses of Dionysus, Theseus and Aion are the reason the whole town is a UNESCO site. Go early — there is very little shade.

The old town and the market

Up the hill in Ktima: a covered market, small shops, and cafés where the tourist prices have not quite reached. Ten minutes by car or a stiff twenty-five on foot.

Paphos Castle at the end of the harbour breakwater

Roman mosaic floor at the Archaeological Site of Nea Paphos

A narrow street in Paphos old town with cafés and small shops

A day on the water

The clear turquoise water of the Blue Lagoon on the Akamas peninsula

The Blue Lagoon and Latchi

Drive about an hour north to Latchi harbour and take a boat out to the Blue Lagoon — the water really is that colour, and it is cold enough to be a relief in August. Boats run all day; the late-afternoon ones come back along the Akamas cliffs at sunset. Latchi itself is worth the trip for the fish tavernas by the harbour.

Yachts and fishing boats moored at Latchi harbour at dusk

The sun setting over the sea beyond Latchi harbour

Sunset over the cliffs of the Akamas coast near Paphos

The wild end of the island

The wide sandy shore of Lara Beach on the Akamas peninsula

Lara Beach, where the turtles nest

An hour and a quarter from the house, the last part on a dirt track that a normal hire car can just about manage in summer. Lara is a protected nesting beach for loggerhead and green turtles: between June and September the nests are marked with cages and the beach closes at night. No sunbeds, no bar, no shade — bring water and an umbrella.

Quad bikes and jeep safaris in the Akamas

Operators run half-day and full-day trips from Paphos and Latchi into the peninsula — gorges, sea caves and the Baths of Aphrodite. Easier than driving it yourself, and the tracks are hard on a hire car.

Walking the Akamas

The Aphrodite and Adonis trails start near the Baths of Aphrodite and take two to three hours each. Go in spring or autumn; July and August are too hot to enjoy it.

Up into the Troodos

A stone street in the traditional wine village of Omodos, Cyprus

Omodos and the wine villages

An hour inland and eight hundred metres up, Omodos is a stone village built around the Monastery of the Holy Cross, with a cobbled square, small wineries and shops selling lace, soutzoukos and local wine. It is ten degrees cooler than the coast, which in August is the whole point.

The cobbled main square of Omodos village in the Troodos mountains

Local Cypriot wine and grape products on display in Omodos

Agia Kyriaki Chrysopolitissa church and Saint Paul’s Pillar in Paphos

Where we eat

The Parrot Restaurant, a five-minute walk from Villa Nadezda in Kato Paphos

Five minutes from the door

The Parrot is the nearest restaurant to the house — five minutes on foot, with a resident parrot that guests’ children remember long after the holiday. Down at the harbour, The Pelican has a seafront terrace and its own pelican. Neither is a tourist trap; both are where we take our own guests.

A child on the beach at sunset near Paphos, Cyprus

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