Things to do in Nicosia
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Nicosia
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months: warm and walkable, green hills after winter rain, the fullest Troodos waterfalls and often Orthodox Easter.
Best months: heat down to a pleasure, warm sea on day trips, the golf season open and the International Festival running.
Worst months: inland heat regularly past 40C, sightseeing only in mornings and evenings, and part of the capital away on the coast in August.
The year's rain and shortest days, but museums and tavernas are quiet and hotel rates are at their easiest.
Christmas festivities and market at Eleftheria Square, with the International Festival running towards the end of the year.
What's on
- Orthodox Easter April or early May, varies by year
Services, processions and feast day eating across the city, with tavernas filling and some closures on Good Friday.
- Kataklysmos Pentecost, fifty days after Orthodox Easter
The flood festival, whose biggest celebrations are on the coast at Larnaca, an easy intercity day trip from the capital.
- Anthestiria May
The flower festival celebrating spring, held in several Cypriot towns in May.
- Nicosia International Festival mid September to end of December
The city's autumn to winter programme of theatre, music and dance centred on its municipal theatre.
- Cyprus Wine Festival early autumn, in Limassol
The island's big public wine event in Limassol, a straightforward evening excursion by intercity bus.
- Christmas at Eleftheria Square December
The capital's Christmas festivities and market at Eleftheria Square, now a fixture of December in Nicosia.
Best things to do in Nicosia
Cyprus Museum
The island's national archaeology museum, and the one hour that makes the rest of Cyprus history fall into place.
Ledra Street Crossing Point
Walk through the buffer zone on the main shopping street and into the north side, passport shown at each checkpoint.
Büyük Han
A restored Ottoman caravanserai around a shaded courtyard, the finest historic building in Nicosia on either side.
Selimiye Mosque
A French Gothic cathedral with minarets added later, the clearest single building record of the city's layered past.
Shacolas Tower Museum & Observatory
An eleventh floor view over both halves of the walled city that makes the division legible at a single glance.
Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia
A free museum in a restored mansion that tells the city's own story, the ideal introduction before walking its streets.
A. G. Leventis Gallery
The city's serious art gallery, one private collection of Cypriot, Greek and European painting in a calm modern building.
Famagusta Gate
The grandest surviving gate of the Venetian walls, and the natural finish to a walk along the southern bastions and moat.
Where to stay in Nicosia
Inside the Venetian Walls (Old Town)
first trips, atmosphere, walking everywhere
Ledra, the museums, the crossing and the Faneromeni tavernas are all minutes on foot, with scarce parking and quiet lanes after dark.
Makariou Avenue and the modern centre
business grade comfort, restaurants and bars
Pools, spas, parking and full service just south of the walls, a ten minute walk or short taxi from the old town.
Engomi and the western suburbs
drivers, longer stays, pool and parking practicality
The easiest parking in the city and the largest facilities, in exchange for driving or taking taxis to the sights.
Lefkoşa (north side)
casino stays and lower prices, with caveats
Insurance, consular and payment complications make it a better day trip than a base for most first time visitors.
Think twice about
- Old town streets immediately against the buffer zone
Derelict and boarded buildings, deserted and poorly lit at night. Atmospheric at noon, bleak at midnight, so sleep on lived in streets near Ledra.
- Far suburbs without a car
Outer Strovolos and Engomi listings are sprawling, car dependent and dull at night, and taxi fares eat the saving on the room.
- Lefkoşa as a first time base
Travel insurance may not cover you, consular help is limited and entry through the north is treated as entry through an unrecognised port.
Best restaurants in Nicosia
Beba
Modern Cypriot cooking reworked with a light hand, the date night and occasion pick rated by the city's own critics.
Pyxida Fish Tavern
The city's best known fish address, a smart fish taverna where the day's catch sets the menu and fish is priced by weight.
Vino Cultura
Thirty or more wines by the glass with small plates, where Nicosia's professionals go and Cypriot varieties get poured.
Kathodon
The old town meze institution on Ledra itself, cooked to order and unhurried, the meze to book inside the walls.
Zanettos Cypriot Tavern
The theatrical meze institution where course after course simply arrives, evenings only, so book and arrive hungry.
Piatsa Gourounaki
The cheap tier's champion for souvlaki, sheftalia and platters for two, a workers' lunch and students' dinner inside the walls.
To Anamma
A courtyard taverna on Ledra serving souvlaki, sheftalia and moussaka, the convenient pick after crossing back that is also good.
Niazi's Restaurant
The north side's famous table for the full kebab, a long set procession worth making the lunch of your crossing day.
Outdoor things to do in Nicosia
Caledonia Falls Trail
A shaded streamside hike of about 3km each way to one of the island's tallest waterfalls, in cooler mountain air.
Kakopetria
A protected mountain village of stone houses and wooden balconies, with trout tavernas and riverside walks.
Omodos
The wine village day: a cobbled square, a monastery, old wine presses and small producers pouring Commandaria.
Athalassa National Forest Park
The city's green lung, flat trails around a lake where Nicosians run, cycle and walk, best at dawn in summer.
Pedieos River Linear Park
A shared walking and cycling path along the Pedieos banks, the traffic free way to cross the modern city early.
Salamis Ancient City
A Roman and Byzantine city by the sea with a gymnasium, theatre and baths on a scale Nicosia cannot match.
Famagusta
A Venetian walled town with a Gothic cathedral turned mosque and Othello's Tower, the core of the eastern day trip.
Varosha
The resort quarter fenced off since 1974, seen from permitted viewpoints and the partly reopened beachfront stretch.
Best hotels in Nicosia
Amyth of Nicosia
The old town's luxury boutique stay in a restored building, with a serious restaurant and the crossing minutes away.
Gate Twenty Two Boutique Hotel
A small well run boutique hotel by the walls, the mid range sweet spot for character, breakfast and value.
Centrum Hotel
A simple, well kept hotel inside the walls whose whole case is sleeping in the right place for very little money.
The Landmark Nicosia, Autograph Collection
The city's rebuilt grand hotel, with spa, pools and serious restaurants, the full service luxury flagship.
MAP Boutique Hotel
A small design led boutique hotel in the modern centre, sharp interiors and a loyal repeat guest following.
Cleopatra Hotel
The dependable family run mid range institution of the modern centre, with a pool, gardens and decades of repeat guests.
Hilton Nicosia
A large calm full service hotel with gardens, a big pool and spa, the family base with resort scale facilities.
Asty Hotel
The budget pick, a family run hotel with a small pool, a warm welcome and rates well below the centre.
Is Nicosia expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €55 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €110 a person |
| Splurge | €260 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Hamam Omerye: a few days ahead
- Salamis Ancient City: a few days ahead
- Famagusta: a few days ahead
- Varosha: a few days ahead
- Kyrenia: a few days ahead
- Bellapais Abbey: a few days ahead
- Aphrodite Hills Golf: weeks ahead
- Minthis Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Book Beba, Vino Cultura and Kathodon for Friday and Saturday nights.
- Book Hamam Omerye at weekends and Zanettos on any night you have set your heart on.
- Book Aphrodite Hills and Minthis tee times early in the October to April golf season.
Is Nicosia safe?
- Emergency number in the south is 112.
- The real hazards are summer heat and sun, so sightsee early and carry water.
- Southern hire car insurance is not valid in the north; buy separate insurance at a vehicle crossing and check your contract first.
- Do not photograph the buffer zone, checkpoints, soldiers or military installations on either side.
Nicosia travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Ledra Street's southern stretch is chain retail; its value is as the route to the crossing.
- Shacolas Tower is a cheap view, not a museum day out, so go in that spirit.
- In fish restaurants confirm the price of fish priced by weight before it is cooked.
- Do not pay for a divided city tour that is just the walk you can do yourself with a good museum first.
Getting around Nicosia: public transport and more
- Walk the old town; nearly every sight is inside or just outside the walls.
- Intercity buses link Nicosia with Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos and Ayia Napa cheaply.
- Larnaca Airport is about 45 to 50 minutes away, Paphos Airport about two hours.
- Hire a car for Troodos, Famagusta or golf, and halve the speeds a map app implies on mountain roads.
Who Nicosia suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Nicosia your trip
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