Nova Car Hire

Even the most dedicated beach bums should take time out of their hectic sun-bathing schedules to visit Nicosia. Known officially, and in Greek, as Lefkosia, the Cypriot capital is a charming city that embodies the real Cyprus. Wonderful restaurants range from traditional taverns serving meze and bouzouki music to hip venues full of Cypriots moving to electronic sounds.

Take time out in Nicosia and explore the wide-ranging archaeological collection in the country’s best museum, or empty your wallet among the glittering boutiques of Leoforos Arhiepiskopou Makariou III (Makarios Ave). Explore the maze of winding streets in the Old City to discover  churches, mosques, and shabbily elegant colonial houses.

Whether you call it Lemesos or Limassol, the second-biggest city in Cyprus may also be its most underrated.  Despite its industrial and commercial profile, Limassol has a gritty, urban charm, wonderful restaurants, and great venues for beach parties. Rent a car in Limassol and discover the pulsing heart of its modern life, a stylish historic district, and a popular beach.

The Old City is a much-restored district, with hip cafés, restaurants, shops, and bars centred on the Old Fishing Harbour and the former Turkish quarter, whereas the tourist section (also called  Potamos Germasogeias)is a largely dreary strip about 3km to the east of the Old City. Limassol has a reputation as “the city that never sleeps” - you have been warned! 

If you’re looking for the traditional heart of Cyprus, you might want to give Ayia Napa (Agia Napa) a miss, but if you fancy a week or two of boozy fun in the sun, it’s the ideal destination. A sleepy fishing village until 1974, it transformed itself into a tourist resort after the 1974 division, and now it’s notorious as a wild party haven.

The country’s leading package tourist resort is full of tacky bars and pub-crawling tourists, but  Ayia Napa car hire means you can escape to Waterworld (Europe’s biggest water park) and take your pick of 12 Blue Flag beaches. From endless expanses of icing-sugar sand to small, sheltered coves, Ayia Napa is beach heaven. With accommodation in high demand during high season, make sure to book your hotel and car hire well in advance if you plan to visit Ayia Napa during July or August.    

Sun-baked and weather-beaten, Larnaca is full of character. The palm-lined promenade is a charming introduction to a town full of interesting cafes and bars, a labyrinthine Turkish quarter, and ancient little whitewashed houses and ceramics studios. Get to know Larnaca with car hire. You will discover that the traditional world of pitta-bread bakers and candle makers fits neatly with the new world of big-name chain stores in the city centre.

Larnaca contains the biggest community of foreigners in Cyprus, creating an interesting mix of cultures, visible in such attractions as the Agia Faneromeni Church, Larnaca Castle, and the Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque. Bird watchers will be delighted with Larnaca Salt Lake, home to flocks of pink flamingos from November to March. 

Connected to each other by a main road, Kato Pafos (Lower Paphos) and Ktima (Upper Paphos) make a fascinating combination. Kato Pafos is a tourist trap of neon and noisy bars, yet it is home to southern Cyprus’s most interesting archaeological sites. Book car hire in Paphos and experience the novelty of standing in blazing sunshine surrounded by vast expanses of history on the edge of the Mediterranean -  a world away from the gaudy tourist town nearby.

Ktima, in central Paphos, has avoided the overdevelopment of Kato. It is home to some elegant colonial buildings, many of which house the town’s museums. There is an old Turkish quarter called Mouttalos, but this has become slightly dilapidated. The real thrill of Ktima is the quality of the food on offer in its restaurants.