Choirokoitia, a village 9,000 years old

To me, Choirokoitia is the most surprising archaeological visit in Cyprus. Not for its size, but because it puts you in front of a village 9,000 years old, with round stone houses on a hillside, and lets you step inside replicas of those houses to see how people lived.

Where it is

According to UNESCO it lies some 6 km inland, on a hillside partly wrapped by a loop of the Maroni river. The Larnaca Tourism Board puts it 35 km from the city, right beside the motorway from Larnaca to Limassol, which makes it very easy to fit into any trip between the two.

Why it’s World Heritage

UNESCO inscribed it in 1998. It explains that the settlement, about 3 ha at its largest, represents the Aceramic Neolithic of Cyprus at its peak, in other words the success of the island’s first settlement by farmers arriving from the Near Eastern mainland around the start of the 9th millennium BC. Its remains and finds have shed a great deal of light on how human society evolved in this region, and since only part has been excavated, it’s an archaeological reserve for the future.

The dates wobble slightly. UNESCO’s summary gives occupation from the 7th to the 4th millennium BC, and its description from the 7th to the 5th. What’s certain is the start, the 7th millennium.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Tochni on Expedia and filter by area before price.

What you’ll see

First come the five round dwellings rebuilt beside the settlement with the same Neolithic methods and materials. Inside are replicas of the household objects found in the originals, and around them grow native plants and trees that were already in Cyprus in Neolithic times. The main photo shows these houses. Then you climb the slope to the foundations of the original homes, as the other photos show.

Visiting hours and tickets

The Department of Antiquities opens the site every day from 8:30. Closing is at 17:00 through autumn and winter, until mid-April, and at 19:00 from 16 April. A ticket costs €2.50, and there are no visits on public holidays. Because of the slope it isn’t wheelchair accessible, though the area of the rebuilt houses is.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Choirokoitia and pick one that fits your day.

Choirokoitia village

The present-day village beside the site shares the EDEN label of the Larnaca hill villages, the tourist board notes. The board also mentions a modern olive mill there that you can visit.

Nearby sites

Tochni is under 3 km away as the crow flies, Kalavasos, with the district’s other great Neolithic settlement, about 5, and Lefkara about 8. The finds are displayed in the Larnaca Archaeological Museum. If you only have time for one Neolithic site, I’d pick this one, as the rebuilt houses make it far easier to picture. And for the island’s other sites, see archaeological sites in Cyprus.

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Larnaca before you arrive rather than at the desk.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Tochni on Booking.com and filter by area before price.