North Cyprus

[IceBoy]

Hi,

I'm still looking for some winter sun over the Christmas period for the family.

A friend mentioned Northern Cyprus and that the weather will be good...questions:

1. Has anyone been recently?
2. Are the hotels any good?
3. What is the general place like?
4. Is it reasonably priced - food, drink, car hire?

Why would you go to Northern Cyprus rather than southern??????????

Looks like the weather will be good!

ICeBoy

[thainy77]

I went a few weeks ago for a long weekend and stayed in Kyrenia. There were a few decent restaurants and bars about and the hotel was ok and there are some good deals to be had.

I have spent a lot of time working in Iraq and it reminded me a lot of that.

The South is better in my opinion but i'm not a massive fan of Cyprus in general, we only went because friends were going and we live in Athens so it was a short flight.

[rob0r]

IceBoy said:

Hi,

I'm still looking for some winter sun over the Christmas period for the family.

A friend mentioned Northern Cyprus and that the weather will be good...questions:

1. Has anyone been recently?
2. Are the hotels any good?
3. What is the general place like?
4. Is it reasonably priced - food, drink, car hire?

Why would you go to Northern Cyprus rather than southern??????????

Looks like the weather will be good!

ICeBoy

1) I have family over near Kyrenia though I haven't been for about two years. Though before that I've been three years in a row. Talking to my family I don't think it's that warm during December/January, they certainly complain it's cold. I have been often in the October half term and even then it's too cold to swim in the unheated pools / sea.

2) I normally stay with the family or rent a villa. I think the last one we rented was about £550 for a week during the school holidays. We did use a hotel near Kyrenia for a couple of nights and it was pleasant enough. I think with anywhere the quality varys, do your research and you should be fine.

3) As mentioned above, some bits are not as polished as other Mediterranean places I've been to. The bits that are nice are very nice, but some bits are run down and there are a lot of half built houses everywhere. Unfortunately there are a huge amount of stray dogs.

The castle in the mountains Saint Hilarion is a very good place to visit and gives you a good workout getting to the top! The castle in Kyrenia is also a great visit. Kyrenia town centre is OK, with some nice places to drink / eat. Karpaz (the easterly northern tip) is a very beautiful natural area, if you stay around Karpaz coastal areas then places tend to have electricity via generators which don't run all the time, we normally go for a couple of days.

Some people my family know run a Land Rover tour over the mountains near Kyrenia which was a great day out.

4) Yes it is reasonably priced for food, and any restaurant I've been too has always been nice. My family lives just west of Kyrenia and there are great restaurants and bars on the main road west.

Hire cars have always been cheap, normally they are quite old and battered (well the ones we use!) but they suit the mountain roads and some of the unpaved roads very well - I wouldn't want a new car to worry about. I think I've used "Birds" rental in Alcansak from memory.

Just a note about flights... If you fly into Ercan (N Cyprus) then be prepared that it is not a direct flight, they stop over in one of the mainland Turkish airports first. You just stay on the plane while they load on people flying to N Cyprus. This takes a 4 hours flight into a 6-7 hour flight. You can fly into the South and get a taxi over to the North though, the border crossing is fine. I normally see what's cheapest and least hassle at the time.