View over the castle ramparts to the harbour

The market at Kyrenia

The Café - Kyrenia Castle

The 10th century town of Kyrenia (Girne) has one of the most picturesque harbours in the Mediterranean. Overlooked by the imposing Venetian castle the horse-shoe harbour is a bustle of quay-side restaurants and boats.  A wonderful place for a stroll and a coffee by day, by evening one can dine out in the glow of the harbour lights. The castle is huge, and takes about half a day to get round. It can be quite strenuous clambering around, so it is best not done in the middle of the day! Thankfully there is a small cafe under shady trees in the castle courtyard where you can get refreshments. The Shipwreck Museum is also housed within the castle, displaying the 2,300 year old merchant ship (in a wonderfully cool humidity-controlled environment)- one of the oldest recovered ships in the world.

Behind the harbour lies the town centre. Kyrenia is a bustling little town of with a population of about 8,000. The town has a wide range of shops, cafes, banks, jewellers, gift shops and a weekly outdoor market (on Wednesdays) offering a huge range of goods from spices to clothing. A great place for fresh fruit and vegetables.

The town also boasts an Icon Museum, a Folk Art Museum and a Fine arts Museum.

The town centre is compact, and almost everything can be reached on foot.

Guests of North Cyprus Villas will find more details of all these attractions at their villa.

Archangelos Church, Kyrenia

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