Cyprus will sell you a boat. Book the right one.
Which Blue Lagoon cruise gives you real swimming time. What the Troodos village day costs once lunch is in. Whether the Famagusta crossing is worth a whole day. Reviews of the tours you can actually book here.
A boat day, a mountain day, a track day and a first dive.
Four bookings a first week in Cyprus is usually built from. What each costs, how long it runs, and what the people who went say about it.
01The boat dayBlue Lagoon (Akamas) Bus & Boat Tour with Water Slide from PaphosCoach across the Akamas, then the lagoon by hull with a slide off the back. The long version, with swimming time built in.
02The mountain day100% Cyprus – Tour to Troodos mountains and villages (From Paphos)Kykkos, the painted churches and a village lunch, out of Paphos and back before dark. The one day worth leaving the coast for.
03The track dayValue for money Quad & Buggy Tour to Lara Bay and Adonis FallsBuggies down to Lara Bay and up to the Adonis pools. Dust, gravel and two swims on the way round.
04The first diveHalf-Day Scuba Diving Tour – Discover Scuba Diving!No licence, one morning, a shallow bay off Paphos. The cheapest way to find out whether diving is for you.
Three kinds of Cypriot boat day, and what each costs to board.
Nearly everyone here ends up on a hull at some point. What separates a good day from a wasted one is which harbour you leave from and how long the boat actually stops.
What a day out in Cyprus actually costs.
Every tour on the site grouped by price. The island is cheap for a half day on the water and dearer than you expect once the food and drink are in.
Short cruises out of Protaras and Larnaca, town walks, waterpark entry and the two-hour lagoon runs.
The standard full day: the Akamas by coach and boat, Troodos villages, jeep safaris, a first dive.
All-inclusive cruises with the food and drink in, wine days through the mountains, private boats and the wreck dives.
Paphos for the Akamas, Protaras for the coves, Larnaca for the wreck.
The island is small enough to see from one base and awkward enough that the base matters. Six towns, and the day out each one is genuinely good for.
Paphos: the harbour in the morning, the Akamas by lunch.
Half the island's bookable days leave from this one quay. Boats go north to the lagoon, jeeps go west into the Akamas and coaches go up the mountain, and all three are back in time for dinner on the front.
- 1Wave Dancer Half Day BBQ Cruise – All Inclusivefrom $83
- 2Troodos Mountains Villages: All Inclusive Food & Wine Day Tourfrom $142
- 3Blue Lagoon and Aphrodite’s Baths Guided Day Tour from Paphosfrom $54
The days out most people in Cyprus end up booking.
Every Cyprus review we have written →The tours that carry more travellers than anything else on the island, and what each one gets right.
1
Stardust Variety Dinner Show
Spend an evening in Vrysoules with the international Stardust cast, a roast dinner, unlimited beer, wine, and soft drinks, plus live vocals, comedy, and celebrity tributes to Dolly, Beyoncé, and Freddie Mercury. Pickup runs from selected hotels in Ayia Napa, Protaras, and Pernera.
From · $72
Read our review →
2
Private Discovery Dive + Photos & Videos
from $102
3
WaterWorld Themed WaterPark Admission Ticket in Ayia Napa
from $60
4
Discover Scuba diving
from $102
5
Try a Scuba Diving Experience
from $90
6
Private Diving at Zenobia Wreck in Larnaka
from $187
7
3-hour Nicosia Segway Tour
from $70
8
Wave Dancer Sunshine Full Day Cruise – All Inclusive
from $99
Behind the beach, Cyprus turns into a mountain.
Troodos climbs to nearly two thousand metres within an hour of the sea, with painted churches under shingle roofs, vines on the terraces and a gravel track down to Lara Bay. This is the half of the island most visitors never drive into.
The lagoon everybody photographs is a boat ride, not a drive.
The water off the Akamas headland sits over pale rock, which is what makes it read that colour from the deck. There is no road in worth taking a hire car down, so the crossing from Latchi or Paphos is the trip, and Turtle Cove is on the way.
Every lagoon cruise →
Three things you can only do on this island.
Clear water and old stones turn up all over the Mediterranean. A lagoon off a roadless headland, a wine the crusaders named, and the rock a goddess is said to have come out of do not.
The Blue Lagoon
The headland west of Polis has no road along it, so the bay stays empty of everything except boats. The colour comes from white rock a few metres under the surface rather than from anything in the water. Captains cut the engine and let people swim off the back for half an hour, which is the whole reason to be there, so ask how long the stop is before you pay.
- 1Blue Lagoon (Akamas) Bus & Boat Tour with Water Slide from Paphos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,496 reviews
- 2Cpt Marko – Blue Lagoon & Turtle Cruise with Optional Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,955 reviews
- 3APHRODITE II -LAZY DAY CRUISE-BLUE LAGOON,TURTLE COVE, with LUNCH★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,395 reviews
The oldest named wine still made
The sweet amber wine pressed on these south-facing Troodos slopes has been made under the same name since the crusader knights ran the island, which makes it the oldest named wine anywhere still in production. Fourteen villages are allowed to call it Commandaria. The tasting days climb out of Limassol into them, and the dry indigenous reds poured alongside it are the genuine surprise.
- 1Troodos Mountains Villages: All Inclusive Food & Wine Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 610 reviews
- 2Troodos Mountains Vino Venture: All Inclusive Full Day Wine Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 299 reviews
- 3BLUE LAGOON BOAT TRIP | Waterslide | Music | Wine |★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 253 reviews
Aphrodite's Rock
The stack sits off the coast road between Paphos and Limassol, on a beach of grey pebbles that are hard on bare feet and worth the walk anyway. Most Troodos and Limassol day trips stop here for twenty minutes on the way past. Swimming round it is a local tradition with several competing promises attached and a strong undertow on a rough day.
- 1APHRODITE II -LAZY DAY CRUISE-BLUE LAGOON,TURTLE COVE, with LUNCH★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,395 reviews
- 2Blue Lagoon and Aphrodite’s Baths Guided Day Tour from Paphos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 389 reviews
- 3From Limassol, Aphrodite Rocks and Kourion Archeological Side★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 31 reviews
Four Cyprus days that will not wait until the morning.
Most of this island can be sorted from a beach bar the night before. These four run on seasons, checkpoints, boat lists and a protected beach, none of which take any interest in your plans.
- 01Blue Lagoon (Akamas) Bus & Boat Tour with Water Slide from PaphosThe Akamas boats run a summer season out of Latchi and Paphos. In the quiet months the crossing stops altogether, and in July the slide boats go out full.
- 02Ghost-Town Famagusta Mini Bus Tour from Protaras and Ayia NapaThe day crosses a checkpoint, so everyone on the coach needs a passport with them. Seats are counted before it leaves and there is no adding one at the barrier.
- 03Private Diving at Zenobia Wreck in LarnakaThe wreck lies deep enough that it is a certified divers only boat, and the Larnaca operators run a fixed timetable with a small number of places on each tank.
- 04Value for money Quad & Buggy Tour to Lara Bay and Adonis FallsLara Bay is a protected turtle beach reached by a gravel track. Access is limited through the nesting months, so the jeep day is the way in and the season decides the route.
From July the Cypriot afternoon is a problem to plan around.
Inland temperatures sit in the high thirties by noon and the archaeological sites have almost no shade. The local answer is simple. Be out early, be in the water or under a roof from one until five, and leave the walking until evening.
By town, west coast to east
By kind of day, on the water or off it
Paphos, the Akamas, the mountain, then east to the coves.
Troodos
KourionThe newest Cyprus tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Relaxing Adults-only Blue Lagoon Catamaran Trip from Protaras
Read our review →
No Licence Private Self Drive Boat to Blue Lagoon +masks&snorkels
Read our review →
Lefkara & Nicosia’s Divided Past & Present from Paphos
Read our review →
Aphrodite’s Birthplace, Lefkara & Kourion Day Trip from Paphos
Read our review →
From Paphos to Divided Nicosia (North Cyprus walk in) and Larnaca
Read our review →
Self drive Buggy Safari at Aphrodite’s Rock in Paphos
Read our review →
Full-Day Tour UNESCO Churches and Kalopanayiotis in Cyprus
Read our review →
‘Off The Eaten Track’ City Walking Food Tour Larnaca 3.5hrs
Read our review →
