Caledonia Waterfall, a 13-metre drop among the pines above Platres

For me, Caledonia is the waterfall in Cyprus that best repays the walk. Not for its height, which is modest, but because the trail to it follows a river that flows all year through pine and oak. I describe it from the ANETroodos and Limassol Tourism notes. A word of warning, I haven’t found a freely licensed photo of the fall itself, so the pictures show Platres and Millomeris, its neighbour on the same river.

The waterfall

You find it on the Kryos river at an altitude of 1,330 metres, further up the valley from Pano Platres. It drops 13 metres among pine and golden oak, and the company mentions nightingales and the scents of the forest. What I value most is that, according to the same notes, the flow keeps going through the hottest months, just when you want to cool off. Limassol Tourism counts it among the tallest and loveliest waterfalls on the island.

The name

Tradition has it that a Scottish visitor was so taken with the scenery that he named it after his homeland’s ancient name, Caledonia. Limassol Tourism tells it in the plural, as a group of Scots reminded of home by the damp, green landscape. On signs you’ll see Kalidonia or Kaledonia.

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The trail

The Caledonia trail is about 3 km long and Limassol Tourism rates it medium difficulty. It has two ends. The upper one is near the road from Troodos Square to Platres, about 3 km from the square, by the presidential summer residence. The company puts the trailhead 350 metres from the road and the Limassol board about 700. You can also come in on a forest track that leaves the tourist road 2 km from the square. The lower end is Psilo Dendro, the tall tree, above Pano Platres.

From the top, the path first crosses dense forest, then follows the Kryos river, passes the waterfall and finishes at Psilo Dendro. It runs inside Troodos National Forest Park, and the presidential residence area is one of the mountain’s five nature reserves in the Natura 2000 network. Limassol Tourism describes stands of black pine, golden oak and oriental plane there, along with butterwort and Kennedy’s rock-cress, two plants listed in the EU Habitats Directive.

Plants and birds

The notes list among the endemics Troodos sage, purple rock cress, a thorny gorse, a Cypriot mint, Aphrodite’s spurge and golden oak. As for birds, they mention partridges, wood pigeons, jays, Bonelli’s eagle and, as endemics, the Cyprus warbler and Cyprus wheatear.

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How I’d combine it

With a car waiting below, I’d walk down from the top and finish with lunch in Platres. Close by is Millomeris, the highest of the waterfalls in Cyprus, and from the square the Persephone Trail rounds off the morning. More routes in hiking in Cyprus.

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If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Platres for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.