Tour through the beaches of Ayia Napa (Cyprus)

Tour through the beaches of Ayia Napa (Cyprus)

Hello everyone! How are you doing? Today I want to talk to you about a trip I did to the island of Cyprus at the beginning of June this year, 2019. I was actually mulling over several destinations, like the island of Rhodes, Kos, Crete. Basically any destination with cheap enough flights. The flight I found for the best price, and which was the most attractive touristically for me, was Cyprus. We chose it because we fancied a place near the sea, where you're able to enjoy the peace and nature of the area. Also somewhere where you can go hiking, and try some different gastronomy. I will divide this trip into various entries because if I don't, the post would be far too long. Which means that I'm going to talk to you about what we did on our first day, on the exact route we took through the beaches of Ayia Napa. I'll also give you advice and general information about this country. Let's go!

How to get to Cyprus

My flight to Cyprus left from Vienna so I had to get up at 2am to get the bus from Bratislava to Vienna airport, and the journey was an hour long. The flight departed at 5am and took 3 hours. As I barely slept during the night, I was sleeping for the whole journey, which gave me enough energy for that day.

When we got to the airport, the first thing we did was look for out car rental company because we had rented one to move about more easily through the island. The owner of the rental business was waiting for us outside to sign the contract and give us the keys to the car. I don't know if you already know, but in Cyprus, they drive on the left so the first feelings as soon as we hit the open road were a little bit alarming. But, it's just a question of getting accustomed to it and simply remembering what side you have to be on.

We did the trip from Larnaca airport (one of the most important cities in Cyrpus) to the area where we would spend the following five days: Ayia Napa. Ayia Napa, along with Paphos, is one of the most touristic parts of this country as it's on the coast so therefore there are loads of beaches to relax on. There's also an infinity of hotels and an extensive and overwhelming area to go out. That day, as we had woken up really early, we decided that we wouldn't use the car so our next choice was to have a wander round Ayia Napa and go to the beaches that were in the area near our hotel.

Ayia Napa

Despite this being one of the most touristic areas of Cyprus, I have to say that I didn't like it so much. We could say that Ayia Napa is divided into three sections: the party zone, the family zone and the nature zone. On that first day we only visited the first and second so it was a bit disappointing. The best would come in the following four day.

Our hotel was right in the core of the party area, which didn't interest us in the slightest. It was quite a big fail as we hadn't realised the exact location of the hotel. It was merely because it was well priced and 10 minutes by car away from where there is only nature, the ground is practically untouched. So, we decided to book this one. Now we know for next time. We have to be more cautious.

Nissi Beach

So, that first day we decided to not use the car, so we walked from our hotel to the beach area. We had read on the internet that one of the most famous beaches was Nissi Beach, so we made it our first stop. The beach itself is quite pretty because it has a kind of island that's connected to the beach across a sandy walkway when the tide is low. However, this beach is a kind of open air club, an outside disco. There are a variety of areas with different DJ's and everyone dances and drinks alcohol. So of course, if you want peace and quiet, you have to avoid this beach at all costs and go to those next to it by continuing the coastal walk.

We were on the sand for a good while, sunbathing and eating some Greek yoghurt that we'd bought in the supermarket. After we tested the water. At first it really surprised me as I expected it to be hotter than it was (at least the following day the temperature rose and then, it was amazing). Nissi Beach isn't like the beaches we're accustomed to in Spain (especially in Galicia). Well, at least in the majority of coastal communities. Nissi Beach and the majority of sandy beaches in Cyprus have deckchairs everywhere, with built in umbrellas. What the tourists do is pay for one for a few hours and stay there all afternoon, reading, with their phones and having an ice cream. Once in a while they get up, go swimming, and that sums up their day. As there are sun loungers everywhere, it loses its sense of nature, of feeling like you're in an untouched place.

As the music was quite loud and we didn't like the atmosphere very much, we decided to go to the small island that's connected to the beach by a walkway of sand. This part is much better because you can't hear the electronic music and you can be a little more at peace. We were on the rocks and exploring some caves. This part was a lot prettier and more pleasant. We did well in coming here on the first day because everything we saw on the following days were much better. Each day we were seeing more incredible things than the day before, so the trip went from average to great. After spending our first hours here, we decided to go further afield and do a little trip through the beaches of Ayia Napa that you can walk as there is a perfectly prepared route.

Latchi Adams Beach

The following beach was Latchi Adams Beach which was only a 5 minute walk from Nissi Beach. The place was out of this world. It was surprising that it was only 5 minutes away, as there were a lot less people here. In fact, I could go swimming completely on my own in this sort of bay that you can see in the photos. On this beach, there's a kind of hotel behind it, not a very discreet kind. Also there was also an area with sun loungers, beach bars and restaurants, but we put our towels down and sunbathed on the sand for the majority of the afternoon, without needing to pay. We relaxed peacefully, but we could still hear the music in the background from Nissi Beach.

We had a siesta here, we went swimming a few times, and we were there almost all afternoon. The atmosphere was more family-orientated. There were little girls making sandcastles and people flat out on the deck chairs enjoying the afternoon, although it was a bit cloudy. A very pretty part of the beach was the bit where you'd get into the water, where there are some steps. I will leave the photos for you here. In short, it's incomprehensible to me how tourists can prefer to be on a crowded beach from 12 midday and drinking alcohol than being in this area, which is stunning.

Landa Beach

Around 6pm, we decided to continue our walk along the coast to investigate and see what else there was. We found Landa Beach. It follows the same aesthetic as Nissi Beach, but a bit more peaceful. In the water you could see offers for a multitude of water sports. From kayaks and canoes, to flying through the air with a type of paraglide. They were also renting out inflatable mattresses that you climb on and a boat that throws you round at top speed so you have to hold on tight so you don't fall. There were also pedalos... Everything. Again, the same as before, loads of umbrellas and sun loungers. We kept walking because it wasn't our ideal environment, and we looked for somewhere more intimate, and less noisy.

Makronissos Beach

It's one of the most famous beaches in this area, along with Nissi Beach, basically because it's the biggest and has the largest capacity of people. It's quite pretty and it's another area surrounded by hotels, beach bars, restaurants, everything that would seem attractive to this type of tourist. We decided to stay in the middle of this beach and the following, which was called Mikri Landa Beach, because we found a place where we could go swimming, a kind of pool.

We could chill out here and enjoy our last few hours of our first day on the beach. The area and our beach to beach tour was pretty pleasant, because despite the beaches being crammed with people, there were picnic zones were there was practically no one, or others where you could have a barbecue. I'll say it once again... The best places are where there are hardly any people. It's the best for me.

After going swimming here, we went back to Latchi Adams Beach, which was practically empty. There were so few people there that we weren't sure if it was a private beach because we didn't know how the beach system worked in Cyprus. We thought that it was public because no one told us anything, and no one looked at us strangely. We had one final swim, and went back to the hotel.

On the way back, we had to pass through the party zone of Ayia Napa. This is an area 100% dedicated to tourism. There is nothing authentic there. All the restaurants are chains: Italian, Mexican, Indian, Chinese, etc. And of course, in all the restaurants and bars, the only breakfast that you can have is the "English breakfast". There are clubs absolutely everywhere, only young people, and everyone moves about on quad bikes... It's like a made up city. It really had an effect on me. I have never been to Mallorca or Ibiza, and despite knowing the fame that Ayia Napa has because of its parties, I don't think it's as extreme as the area in Ayia Napa.

In short, it can't be said that this trip started well, better to say the opposite. Even so, we really wanted to be near the sea so we really enjoyed our little dips, especially in Latchi Adams Beach. If the objective of your trip is to party, clearly you have to go to this area. In turn, if your aim is to relax and go on an adventure, I would advice you to do everything in your power to avoid this area. Not even if your curiosity gets the better of you. That is my sincere opinion. I wish I had known to dedicate my first day in Cyprus to one of the other places we visited in the following few days, which I'll talk to you about in my following posts. And that's it for today! I hope that you want to read on so I can show you some incredible spots on the island. You can see for yourselves that Cyprus has a lot to offer. Thank you so much for reading, and see you on the next post. Best wishes! I'll see you in the comments.

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