Our first trip together to Cyprus

We arrived at the airport around noon and took a bus to the Avlida Hotel, a decent four-star hotel where we booked a room with breakfast. We chose this option so we could enjoy local food and try different restaurants in the evenings instead of having dinner at the hotel every day.

After checking in, we quickly headed down to the beach and also checked out the nearby Lidl, which was conveniently located close to our hotel.

One of the first things we noticed after arriving was that cars drive on the opposite side of the road compared to most of Europe. It took us quite a while to get used to it and surprisingly, even walking around pedestrians felt a little confusing at first, as people seemed to pass each other from the “wrong” side too. 😄

Since we wanted to see as much as possible and Paphos has a very convenient public transport system, we got back on a bus and headed to Sandy Beach. It had a great atmosphere, good drinks and a beautiful coastline, making it a perfect place to spend the afternoon.

After sunset, we decided to try a local restaurant, where we had a delicious Greek platter. It was a great way to finish our first day in Paphos.

We started our second day with a relaxed morning, exploring the shopping mall and some of the historical landmarks nearby. For lunch, we discovered that the mall was also one of the cheapest places to eat, so we went for Taco Bell.

One thing we quickly noticed about Cyprus was the surprisingly high quality of food everywhere. Even something as simple as a Fanta seemed to taste much more orange-y and refreshing than anywhere else we had tried it! 😄

After a coffee, we caught our bus to Coral Bay, which is probably one of the best large beaches around Paphos. It has a wide, sandy beach, great beach bars and plenty of water sports, so you could easily spend an entire day there.

Instead, we decided to wander a little further away from the beach to watch the sunset from the tip of the bay. It was a bit of an extra walk, but absolutely worth it — the view was beautiful and made the effort worthwhile.

After sunset, we explored a few souvenir shops before taking the bus back to Paphos and calling it a day.

By our third day, we had finally got the hang of the local transportation system, but we decided it was time for a little adventure of our own. We rented a quad for 24 hours. It wasn’t exactly cheap, but it was definitely worth it!

Our first stop was the local zoo, where we had the chance to feed ring-tailed lemurs for a small extra fee. They were absolutely adorable, and the rest of the animals were just as lovely. The zoo had plenty of activities and was much more enjoyable than we expected, so we would definitely recommend visiting it.

After the zoo, we put the quad to the test and headed off-road for a bit. It was great fun and probably one of the highlights of the trip. For lunch, we found a beautiful spot on a rocky cliff overlooking the sea. The food was amazing, and the view made it even better.

After lunch, we headed to Turtle Beach, where we stayed to watch the sunset. On our way back, we stopped near Petra tou Romiou for dinner, enjoying one last meal by the coast before heading back to the hotel.

On our last day, we stopped at a really nice roadside café for a coffee. By pure chance, they were running a promotion, so we ended up getting our coffees for free — a pretty nice surprise to start our final day! ☕️

After that, we decided to take the quad off-road one more time and headed to the Adonis Baths. We jumped into the incredibly cold but beautiful natural pools, did a little hiking around the area and took plenty of photos. The scenery was absolutely worth the trip.

Unfortunately, it was soon time to say goodbye to our quad and head back to Paphos. After returning it, there wasn’t much left to do except pack our bags and enjoy one last dinner.

For our final meal, we went back to Taco Bell — not exactly the most traditional Cypriot farewell dinner, but it had become one of our favourites during the trip! 😄

The next morning, it was time to head to the airport and fly home. It was a short trip, but we managed to pack a lot of experiences into just a few days, and Paphos turned out to be a fantastic choice for our first trip together.