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As well as the amazing beaches and lively nightlife, there are plenty of shops in Ayia Napa selling everything from souvenirs and beach wear to jewellery and designer label fashion.
You can bungee jump, ride the slingshot, ride a quad bike or scuba dive. You can go to a rooftop sunset party, a pool party, a foam party, on a boat trip or take a bar crawl around Ayia Napa. There are hairdressers, tattooists’, beauticians and gyms, as well as dance classes and fitness instructors. Ayia Napa has a 14th century monastery, a museum and several churches. There are sea caves, a national forest park area and bicycle paths. Experience the outdoor Sculpture park, seafront walkway and numerous pieces of street art. Regular festivals and events showcasing traditional music and dances are held throughout the year. There is a funfair, a waterpark and work is well underway on a new state of the art marina development. Ayia Napa has a police station, a radio station and a primary school. As with any town you will also find florists, mechanics, bakeries, computer shops, camera shops, dentists, doctors, betting shops, estate agents, travel agents, insurance companies and many other businesses useful for both tourists and residents. You can't help but fall in love with the modern, cosmopolitan town of Ayia Napa but you will still find glimpses of the traditional fishing village that once was. |
Ayia Napa is much bigger than many other holiday resorts and is quite spread out. Starting from the west as you approach Ayia Napa you first come to Ayia Thekla which is a huge development of villas, a mix of residential and holiday lettings. Ayia Thekla has its own beach as well as lots of smaller secluded spots of sand along the seafront.
Next is Makronissos which is where you'll find Waterworld Waterpark and several good standard hotels and apartments. This sleepy area is becoming more developed and the new Ayia Napa marina wis located here. Makronissos has 3 gorgeous beaches and just next door is equally lovely Landa Beach. Nissi Beach with its twin bays is the most popular beach in the town and is where most people head to during the day. It is mainly higher standard hotels in this area and it is also a top destination for couples getting married abroad. As we head long Nissi Avenue we next come to Sandy Bay which is a lovely sheltered cove. The whole area from Makronissos to Sandy Bay is often now called Nissi Bay and is almost a mini resort in itself with a selection of family friendly bars and restaurants away from the bustle of the town so families often choose this area for holidays. |
A couple of kilometres east along Nissi Avenue, past many shops and restaurants, we come to the town centre. This is where the majority of the bars and all the clubs are located. It's also where you'll find plenty of shops, the harbour and lots of things to do.
Heading from the harbour eastwards but still within walking distance of the town centre is Pantachou Beach, a long sweep of sand with several high standard hotels, a selection of restaurants and a more upmarket feel to it.
As we head out of town to the east we reach the stunning sea caves, popular for cliff diving and then on to Cape Greco, which is a national forest park. Here you will also find the gorgeous pine fringed beach of Konnos Bay. Cape Greco is popular with hikers, walkers, cyclists and nature enthusiasts.
It's also a popular spot for diving and fishing and is the best place to watch the sunrise. A few miles further on you reach the neighbouring holiday resort of Protaras.
Heading from the harbour eastwards but still within walking distance of the town centre is Pantachou Beach, a long sweep of sand with several high standard hotels, a selection of restaurants and a more upmarket feel to it.
As we head out of town to the east we reach the stunning sea caves, popular for cliff diving and then on to Cape Greco, which is a national forest park. Here you will also find the gorgeous pine fringed beach of Konnos Bay. Cape Greco is popular with hikers, walkers, cyclists and nature enthusiasts.
It's also a popular spot for diving and fishing and is the best place to watch the sunrise. A few miles further on you reach the neighbouring holiday resort of Protaras.
Ayia Napa All Year Round
January to April in Ayia Napa
Ayia Napa has a different personality for each month of the year. In January most tourist venues are closed, it's often a little cloudy and pretty quiet. February you see business owners bustling to make preparations for the summer season and in March a few places start to open up and it also starts to warm up.
April is the start of the tourist season and also when the first of the workers usually arrive and this carries on through into May with lots of opening parties. From January to May, nationalities and age groups are very mixed, people from all over Europe, Russia, and the middle east and everyone from families to the very elderly all have a good time together. |
May to September in Ayia Napa
Through June and July the average age drops dramatically and this is a very popular time for British visitors and hardcore clubbers. Big events and celebrity appearances happen a lot during these months. August is still very busy but more families arrive and a wider range of nationalities come to Ayia Napa in this month. It is also when most Cypriots have their holidays and head to the coastal resorts.
In September, the pace slows a little and it's a lovely chilled out month. The heat loses it's ferocity a little as temperatures drop back to around 30 degrees. The age groups start to creep up a little again as Ayia Napa gets a little calmer and heading into late September and October some bars and clubs will close for the season. |
October to December in Ayia Napa
By late October virtually all of Ayia Napa is closed with just a few venues entertaining the small amount of tourists who arrive at this time of year.
From November onwards older people from northern Europe start to arrive for their long winter holidays and enjoy the mild winter weather. A handful of bars stay open mostly at weekends during the winter months with several clubs opening just for the Christmas season. |
A brief history of Ayia Napa
Ayia Napa has a long but until recently, fairly quiet history. In fact before 1800 the only building was the Venetian monastery which still stands next to the bars and clubs of the central square. From 1800 until 1974 the small village was home to few people, mostly fishermen and farmers.
Following the Turkish invasion of 1974 refugees from the Famagusta area boosted the population and began to develop the town into the popular tourist centre it is today.
By the mid 1980's Ayia Napa had earned itself a name as a hotspot for the younger crowd with more than 10 nightclubs and over 50 bars. During the 1990's Ayia Napa cemented it's reputation with more bars and clubs opening all over the town which rapidly spread from the centre for several kilometres alongside the stunning unspoilt beaches.
The peak years for Ayia Napa were 2000-2001 when more than 20 nightclubs could be found within 1 square kilometre. During this time UK garage was the main sound of the town and it rivalled Ibiza as the most popular clubbing resort in the Mediterranean.
Today Ayia Napa has mellowed a little and whilst still very popular with urban music lovers, especially during July and August, it now offers something for pretty much every taste in music, from House, Dubstep, RnB and cheesy tunes right through to rock and live indie music. Families are now also catered for with numerous bars offering child friendly entertainment. Whilst the loud themed bars around the central square are still present and busy as ever, a new crop of trendy lounge bars have also sprung up for the more sophisticated and grown up night out.
Luckily Ayia Napa has retained it's village feel and whilst being thronged with thousands of holidaymakers in the summer it remains one of the safest places to holiday in the Mediterranean. With a very low crime rate, especially against tourists and very friendly local people many visitors from around the world have fallen in love with Ayia Napa and return year after year, some even settling here permanently.
Following the Turkish invasion of 1974 refugees from the Famagusta area boosted the population and began to develop the town into the popular tourist centre it is today.
By the mid 1980's Ayia Napa had earned itself a name as a hotspot for the younger crowd with more than 10 nightclubs and over 50 bars. During the 1990's Ayia Napa cemented it's reputation with more bars and clubs opening all over the town which rapidly spread from the centre for several kilometres alongside the stunning unspoilt beaches.
The peak years for Ayia Napa were 2000-2001 when more than 20 nightclubs could be found within 1 square kilometre. During this time UK garage was the main sound of the town and it rivalled Ibiza as the most popular clubbing resort in the Mediterranean.
Today Ayia Napa has mellowed a little and whilst still very popular with urban music lovers, especially during July and August, it now offers something for pretty much every taste in music, from House, Dubstep, RnB and cheesy tunes right through to rock and live indie music. Families are now also catered for with numerous bars offering child friendly entertainment. Whilst the loud themed bars around the central square are still present and busy as ever, a new crop of trendy lounge bars have also sprung up for the more sophisticated and grown up night out.
Luckily Ayia Napa has retained it's village feel and whilst being thronged with thousands of holidaymakers in the summer it remains one of the safest places to holiday in the Mediterranean. With a very low crime rate, especially against tourists and very friendly local people many visitors from around the world have fallen in love with Ayia Napa and return year after year, some even settling here permanently.
Where is Ayia Napa?
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Cyprus lies at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean sea with Egypt to the South, the Leventine countries of Isreal, Jordan and Syria to the East and Turkey to the North.
Ayia Napa is pretty much the most Easterly point of the European Union with a 4-5 hour flying time from North and Western European Countries and 2 hours from Central and Eastern Europe. The nearest airport to Ayia Napa is Larnaca which is around 45 kilometres away. The closest towns to Ayia Napa are Protaras which is aproximately 8km East along the coast and is another popular holiday resort, and Paralimni which is aprox 10km inland and is a modern Cypriot town with plenty of shops and businesses. |
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Ayia Napa is quite a large town. As you enter it from the airport the first area you come to is Ayia Thekla, aprox 8km from the centre. There are few hotels in this area but hundreds of private villas. There are small sandy areas and rocky beaches along the coast from the start at Potamos Liopetriou up to the ancient Neolithic tombs and small church where there is also a market held every Wednesday at the beach bar.
Next is Macronissos which is aprox 6 km from the centre of Ayia Napa. A handful of bars and restaurants line the main road here with a choice of good standard resort hotels and small self catering complexes. There are several good sandy beaches here. Landa or Golden beach is right next door to Macronissos and is a nice sandy beach. The most famous beach area in Ayia Napa is Nissi Bay, 4km from the town centre, and is sometimes called a resort in itself, encompassing the beaches and areas of Macronnisos, Landa, Nissi and Sandy Bay. Nissi Beach is long and sandy with an island which can be walked to at low tide. Watersports, snack bars and plenty of facilities can be found plus daily DJ's and parties take place at one end of the beach during the summer. |
Sandy Bay or Vathia Gonia is a lovely sheltered beach which is slightly quieter than it's neighbour. It is popular with families and snorkelling enthusiasts and has a nice selection of hotels, shops and low key nightlife.
Continuing towards the centre of Ayia Napa along Nissi Avenue there is a cycle path along the road or a seafront path which takes in small sandy beaches and rock pools. After around 2 km of hotels, shops, bars and restaurants, the traffic lights announce you've arrived at the centre of town. From here the harbour is just a few minutes walk and in the opposite direction is the the monastery, the church and the main square, this is where most of the nightlife is situated. From the harbour Eastwards towards Cape Greco is another long sandy beach called Grecian Bay, which is lined with more large hotels. Another coastal path leads walkers past the edge of Ayia Napa and several tiny beaches towards Cape Greco national park. |
