Hotels in Northern Cyprus

[EarlGreyPlea]

I’m looking for somewhere special for a couple of days - not particularly fussed about cost but must be luxurious. We like beaches and spas but also appreciate culture. Thank you in advance.

Area , zone it all the same. The term occupied is unacceptable.
PPs asked for holiday advice not a lecture on the political history of Cyprus.
For the information of the PPs
Travel insurance is always advisable. The standard of healthcare is fine in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. I know this from personal experience and that of friends and family.

Have a look at Noahs ark for luxury in the Famagusta area. It was amazing (pools are beautiful) and it has its own beach.

We've stayed at Merit Crystal Cove which was beautiful too - outside of Kyrenia. Cratos is impressive too (although we haven't stayed there), the rooms that open out onto the pool - they have little terraces - would be lovely. Both of those are more luxurious than Acapulco (in my view). I like The Colony too but not near a beach.

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Noah's Ark looks gorgeous I might have to try that next time.

Re Acapulco, I like the beach and the spa there. We had excellent food and great service too but I agree. If you want luxury there you have to upgrade your room. The bungalow rooms looked awful. We would go there with the family but somewhere like the Colony if its just us.

Merit and Cratos always seem expensive compared to the others.

So, is it possible to cross the border to visit the southern side for a day trip?
We won't be hiring a car, are there travel agencies locally, arranging such day trips to the south side? Could be escorted tours or ad hoc basis, either way.
How easy or difficult is it?

I'm not sure about that but there are companies in the south that do day trips north so I'm sure they have companies in the north that do the same.

The place would be that the attractions in the south are very spread out and I'm not sure how much of it you can do in a day. This is why people hire cars to do it I think.

There is an open top bus that's popular in the tourist resorts round here (Ayia Napa and Protaras) it goes through the villages inland then crosses the border and does Varosha and Famagusta. I'm not sure you'd want to do that the other way round.

You can cross through Nicosia on foot that's a nice thing to do.

Thank you mrsnec not much info about cross-border day trips on the net either.

I would cross the border at Nicosia if you particularly want to go to the south, but it depends what you want to do. There is more to see on the north side of nicosia- you pretty much have to go to the other end of the island for the more touristy things. I think if you stay around kyrenia you will have plenty to keep you occupied, and nicosia is maybe a 45 minute drive. I personally don't think it's worth visiting the south for a day as the things that are worth a day trip (lefkara, tombs of the kings, troodos) are that bit further away.

Thank you squarecorners . Crossing the border is not necessary, it would be an experience if it was offered at the right time and conditions.

I discovered there are ferries to-from Turkey as well and looked at that option too, as in staying in Turkey and doing Cyprus as a mini holiday within the holiday or vice versa but looks like it's a min 6 hours long crossing each way and i don't fancy doing it twice, not worth it for a relaxing holiday so killed that idea already. We'll stay in one place and do excursions from there.

Lack of usual international shops in the shopping centres, mentioned up-thread, sounds great. I wouldn't want to visit any shopping centre where i can see same shops-brands that you see at home. But shops selling unique local stuff, especially folkloric goods and handicrafts and also street markets where local do their shopping, i do love them.

Thanks everyone.

Hotels seem to advertise trips more locally like to Bellapais or Karpaz. Both worth doing.

Re holiday within a holiday if you don't want to go south, fly to the mainland from the north or break up the trip by stopping in Istanbul. I've used Pegasus in and out of Ercan (lefkosa) and it's been fine. Antalya is nice for a couple of days too. Atlasjet too.

Alternatively if you did want to see some of the south Larnaca is a good base and a really nice town. You could spend a day or so before crossing.

More ideas, great. Thanks mrsnec .

Its very easy to cross from north to south and visa versa.
The two main border crossings are
Metehan this is for cars and pedestrians . A north Cyrpus hire car cannot be taken across to the south.Insurance reasons.
If you own your vehicle you can cross over.
Lehmaci /Ledra is the popular pedestrian crossing lots of shopping on either side. Turkish side is bazaar style and lots of history. The Greek side is modern with shops and coffee shops.
Greeks and Turkish Cypriots both cross regularly. Please remember your passport.
You can get a bus (dolmus)from Kyrenia to Nicosia(Lefkosa) it takes about 40 minutes and I think it cost
approx 20T Lira about £5 return.
Hotels do offer trips to Nicosia and Famagusta just ask.
You can also get a bus from Kyrenia to Famagusta.

I forgot . The ferry from Kyriena to takes you to Tascou a port inTurkey the nearest town is Mersin 1hour a half away.
Airfares in the summer rise quite dramatically between North Cyprus and Turkey in the summer.

Looks like too much hassle for ferry crossing to mainland Turkey factoring in the land journey too. It'll create extra stress if we add that into the schedule. So I'll rest that idea for now but pedestrian crossing the border to the southern side looks appealing.
40 minutes journey for the equivalent of 5 pounds? That's really cheap.

I'd also consider a few nights in Istanbul if you want to a kind of 2 centre holiday, or alternatively basing yourself around Kyrenia and then driving up the Karpaz (known as the pan handle!) for a few nights.

I am looking into the two centre holiday option already. It'll be great to do two extremes ie city break combined with the beach. I am looking into the duration, we wouldn't want to rush, rush, rush, unpack and pack and unpack again for anything less than two weeks, however we will be going for less than two weeks duration so whether two-centre combining city and beach involving lots of flights in between, is easily doable, I'll need to check.
I suppose one week total, for two centre is too stressful. 10 days perhaps more doable.
Anyway thanks for the replies. I love planning our holidays (more than going on holidays).

I think it's doable in 10 days. I think you could even do a 3 centre if you wanted to add a night in a beach cabin only the Karpaz. Worth the experience despite roughing it a bit.

The first time I went to Istanbul we crammed loads into 2 days. You just need to pick the right location. We stayed in the centre of Sultanahmet (the Peninsular) which is a budget hotel but the 4 seasons is in the same area. I wanted to be able to walk to everything I wanted to see and it was perfect.

Thank you mrsnec .
I really don't think we will be up for three centre holiday, even if we had two weeks, which we don't. Two centre is good though. I will have lots to read, checking TripAdvisor tonight.

The idea is to have a relaxing, quiet-ish family holiday with a selection of activities and excursions without having to book in advance.

TripAdvisor awaits.

DunnoWhy, I’m envious of how much time you have

I think we now have a shortlist of five hotels, including a couple of the Merits, Cratos and Acapulco. I’ll check out the ones just mentioned in case I want to add a sixth!

EarlGreyPlea I am a planner and a list maker. I come alive when I need to search and plan anything from holidays to weekend shopping trip!
I must admit my enjoyment in planning stage is usually bigger than living the plans.

I have TripAdvisor email shots delivered to my inbox almost daily .

Here's what I've been saving "for future reference", one day hoping to see some of these:

www.tripadvisor.com/TripNews-a_ctr.naturalswimmingpoolsEN

www.tripadvisor.com/TripNews-a_ctr.2015quirkyhotelsEN

www.tripadvisor.com/TripNews-a_ctr.bizarreplacesEN

I can spend hours checking holiday places.

Oooooh I want to click on all of those but must save it until tomorrow or I’ll never get to bed!!! Thanks for sharing.