Welcome to Cyprus! If you have been here, you will already be aware of the sunshine, the warm and welcoming Cypriot people and their culture.

Weather

If Cyprus is new to you, you should know that here you will find the best climate in the Mediterranean, with on average 340 days of sunshine a year and average summer temperatures of 32°. The Troodos mountains shield against northerly winds so that winter temperatures in Pafos town rarely fall below 15°. Most years in February you could be skiing on the slopes of Mount Olympus (6406 feet) in the morning and doing watersports or - less energetically - basking in sunshine in the afternoon.

It can rain between October and March, but most days the sun will still show its face for several hours, perfect for a holiday away from the grey British winter.

Hospitality

There is a strong bond between Britain and Cyprus, which was a Crown colony from 1925 to 1960. Most Cypriots speak English, the legal system is based on Britain’s, and traffic drives on the left. Such familiarity along with a genuine welcome, a very relaxed lifestyle, sunny climate and low crime rate – one-sixth of average European levels – explains why so many British people not only visit but also settle on the island.

Culture

Cyprus derives its name from the Latin for copper, the island’s major natural resource. (Some say the opposite: that copper derives its name from Cyprus). Over the centuries the island has been much sought after and fought over. Phoenicians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Romans, Crusaders, Franks, Venetians, Ottomans and British have all left their trace on the mosaic that forms the face of contemporary Cyprus. Richard the Lionheart captured the island in 1191 and married Queen Berengaria in Limassol castle, and Mark Antony gave Cyprus to Cleopatra as a gift.

Greek civilisation and language took root on the island 3000 years ago and has given to it a character that has survived throughout the centuries. Today's Cyprus is an independent sovereign republic and a member of the EU, adopting the Euro in January 2008.

Pafos’ Odeion – 1st century AD

Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean, with a 400-mile coastline, is at the crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa. It lies 60 m west of Syria, 45 m south of Turkey and 200 m north of Egypt.

After the ‘Districts’ of Nicosia (population:197,000) the main Districts in Southern Cyprus are Limassol (168,000), Larnaka (75,000) and Pafos (49,000 of which 19,000 are in the town). The total population of southern Cyprus is just over 700,000 with a further 100,000 in the Turkish zone. There are airports at Larnaka and Pafos (20 minutes drive from the town centre). Wide new roads connect major towns, which are linked by regular buses every day except Sunday.

Cyprus

In the early sixties fighting flared up between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, leading to Turkey invading Cyprus in 1974 to ‘protect the Turkish Cypriot minority’. After the UN-sponsored ceasefire Turkish troops remained in the North, which in 1983 they declared as ‘The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, but neither the UN nor any country except Turkey has formally recognised it.

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