I've not been able to find much on Cyprus and I'd very much like to travel there for 2-3 weeks this fall. At first I was going to fly into Nicosia from Turkey but I read somewhere that southern (Greek) Cyprus felt you were in the country illegally if you didn't fly into a southern city. My main questions are
1) Does either southern Cyprus or northern Cyprus belong in Schengen? We already have 90 days planned in Europe in the late winter so we can't travel where Schengen is in effect.
2) Is the border between southern and northern Cyprus easily crossed? Does the southern part of Cyprus care if a person came into Cyprus through Nicosia?
3) Does anyone have any recommendations for a couple main places to stay that have good day trips from them? We are more interested in history than beaches but this might well be a place where both happen at the same time.
If anyone can help with any of these questions I'd greatly appreciate it.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Very similar to a question I answered yesterday: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/turkey/cyprus
"At first I was going to fly into Nicosia" - Nicosia doesn't have an airport. Or to be precise, it has been closed since 1974 as it sits on the ceasefire line.
In the south you have airports at Larnaca or Paphos. In the north you have Ercan airport.
Neither half of Cyprus is in the Schengen Area. The southern half (actually 2/3, the Republic of Cyprus) is in the EU and uses the Euro.
The "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" is one of those countries that does not officially exist (according to everybody else). It uses Turkish Lira, is only recognised by Turkey and only reachable by air from Turkey or by land from Southern Cyprus.
The "border" isn't a border, because as far as the southerners are concerned, the northern part isn't a foreign country. It is a ceasefire line. I have been told it is now easy to cross, either way.
"Does the southern part of Cyprus care if a person came into Cyprus through Nicosia?" - you can't come into Cyprus through Nicosia, as it doesn't have an airport.
If you fly into the north, you can visit the south but you can't exit from the south, because you never enteted the country legally, you were smuggled in by the illegal occupation forves.
So you need to exit and enter the same way.
Posted by
OP
Istanbul, Turkey, Turkey
32 posts
That makes perfect sense. Thank you.