Just booked last minute holiday to Paphos, Cyprus - please tell me it's nice?!?

[Pinkandproud]

DP and I finally decided on a last minute break in the sun (7 nights) but I haven't done as much research as I usually do and I'm slightly worrying that it's going to be horrible! I know we'll enjoy looking at the various Roman sites and museums etc and exploring that side of things... But what else is there to do?

Are there nice restaurants? How easy is it to travel by bus or similar along the coast to visit other towns? Which are the nice beaches? I'm fairly stressed with other things at the moment which is probably making me more worried than I would normally be...

Thank you to anyone who can give advice!

Buses up and down the coast are really easy. The Archaeological Park is good and the Tombs of the Kings are amazing. Also the church where St Paul preached.

Harbour is nice with nice places to eat although we only had lunch there not dinner. We were taking it easy on ourselves being last holiday pre-DC when I was 24 weeks and went half-board.

At Westernmost end of the island is a place with a new but traditional and beautiful tiny church where people father to watch the sunset.

Take a taxi to Tombs of the Kings for ease. Well worth it.

I'm going soon so I'm going to jump in here and take some notes

Where do the buses go from/is there a tourist information point?

LongtimeLurker29 Ha please do! Whereabouts are you going/what are your travel plans?

Will you have a hire car or be reliant on buses / taxis?
I have to admit to being a bit ho-hum about Pafos itself - the archeoypark and tombs of the kings are good, the harbour is pretty but it’s a very tourist town and not the ‘real’ cyprus.
If you can, head up past coral bay towards the Akamas peninsula and Aphrodite baths, very beautiful area. Also, about 20 minutes east of Pafos is Aphrodite’s rock where she was said to come ashore for the first time.
If you have a car you can head into the hills, many of the mountain villages are stunning (omodos is probably the largest, but anoyra is also lovely).
The weather this time of year is still lovely (29-32 in the day and dropping to 19 at night) and it’s quieter now schools are back, so fewer families and tourists in Pafos.
You’ll have a lovely time, but I do encourage you to get out of the town and explore if possible.
(Driving is on the left like uk, roads are generally quieter although there’s occasionally breathtakingly poor driving, it’s mostly safe!)

Oh and there’s a tourist information place on the harbour front (I think). Busses go from just behind the harbour.
Whereabouts are you staying?

Go to Coral Bay if you can. Lovely beach.

It's fab. I used to live there.

WE love the harbour for greek/fish/seafood.
They offer you a bottle of wine to entice you in but we batered for wine and liquers and got it. Its late in the season now so they did the customers to fill seats, a empty restaurant stays empty as ppl go where others are.
A taxi to Coral Bay is not too bad , we stay in Coral Bay and get a taxi into Paphos for night life.

Painted churches are lovely.

*Pinkandproud I don't really know what's about so going to take a look at the suggestions. I want to see the tombs of the king's but that's as far as I've got for now. Hope you have a lovely holiday

I'm not planning on hiring a car frankly because I'm a crap driver and not sure I would trust myself on foreign roads! Though if it really is worth it then I'd have a go.... how easy is it to hire cars whilst you're there?

We're staying at Elysia Park Luxury Holiday Residences - we usually stay in small b&bs and resorts aren't my kind of thing personally. But I think we'll be getting out and about a fair bit.

Never stayed in Paphos but stayed in other parts of Cyprus. Heard lots of good things about Coral Bay. Polis is at that end of the Island and I camped there. It's really nice. Might be nice for a day trip. I've never had a bad holiday in Cyprus and I've been going there for 11 years to visit family.

I thought Coral Bay was awful! Paphos is a nice town. Go to the restaurant at the top of a hill off the beaten track near Peyia. I think it's called something like The Last Castle. Well worth hiring a car, it's very easy as they drive on the same side of the road as us.

Thank you! Argh it's confusing when people give different views of places! What did you like/dislike about Coral Bay? Where are the nicest beaches in the area?

I live in Paphos so can tell you anything you need really

Buses are €1.50 per trip no matter how far you go on the local routes, you can get a bus to Limassol as well for about €10 return. The buses are air conditioned and every 10-15 mins on main routes.

Plenty of nice restaurants and bars dotted all over and don't think any have started closing down yet for the end of the season so should be fine.

Corallia beach at coral bay is the better one, easy to get to on the bus as it's right at the end of the route and has decent facilities (don't go to coral bay beach it's not as nice)

Driving isn't so bad as same side of the road but the local driving style may leave a bit to be desired

If you want to go a little further afield there are plenty of trips out and about to villages, etc. The blue lagoon is lovely for a boat trip out and they usually include food (and sometimes drink)

Anything else you want to know just shout

@choccyfiend78 amazing! I do have a few questions if you don’t mind!

What day trips would you advise which are possible by public transport? Or taxi if not too expensive.

Is there anywhere to go walking/cycling?

Which restaurants would you recommend?

Are there any other parts which are off the beaten track a bit but reasonably easy to get to? We would love to get out of the main tourist area.

Thank you!!

Literally just landed an hour ago, was there for a wedding. I didn’t think much of the main strip of hotels to be honest, too touristy and I’m not usually someone who likes “resorts”. But we found loads of great places to eat in the harbour and old town, enjoyed the archaelogical sites and driving around was easy (same side of the road as UK and nowhere near as busy).

We had a fantastic day out in the Troodos Mountains visiting amazing monasteries and painted churches and stopped to watch the sunset from Mt Olympus. You can also book this as a jeep safari I believe from most of the hotels. Also found an amazing place for meat meze in Pissouri Bay, huge portions of amazing local food for €17! Beautiful locally grown salad foods and eat allllll the halloumi!

Oh god no not the mountains.

Do not take a bus trip up the troodos mountains. It's terrifying.

Do the Paphos Segway tour. Great fun and not too expensive. Lovely guys that run it. One of them held onto my segway for the whole trip to help me balance!

So in Paphos town if we want to stay away from the really touristy bits we should head to old town? Anywhere else?

It's hard to get away from touristy areas as that is the main trade but the old town is good, just all been renovated and loads of little cafes and coffee shops sand some stunning wall art around. For a nice trip on public transport, there is either Polis/Latchi area or if you get the Limassol bus then Pissouri bay and Petra Tou Romiou (Aphrodite's rock) are worth a visit.

Restaurant wise it depends what you want, there is a lovely Indian called Namaste which is just off the main bar street near the hotels or up in the old town is a nice place called Muse (easiest to get a taxi to that one as it's down the back streets) good food and stunning views over the coast. I you like fish we have a South African restaurant chain called ocean basket that does fantastic prawn and calamari platters, mussels, etc and reasonably priced.

For walking, there is a coastal path right from one end of the main hotel strip right the way to the harbour and off the other direction past the lighthouse and along towards coral bay. Because there are hotels along it you can stop off and get a drink or snack at one of the beach bars and easily nip up onto the main road for a bus back