The Diarizos Valley, Paphos's quiet wine route

The Diarizos Valley is what I’d look for in Paphos once I’d done the coast. It’s a road of small villages climbing from the sea to the foothills of the Troodos along the river, with vines, reservoirs and a medieval bridge at the top. Everything here comes from the Paphos tourist board’s own pages, and the bigger picture is in my guide to Paphos district.

One river, seventeen stops

The Diarizos rises in the Troodos area and runs south-west to the sea beside Kouklia. On its Arminou page the tourist board calls it Cyprus’s second largest river by flow, and you can see it in the landscape, which stays far greener in summer than the neighbouring valleys.

Along that course the board maps out the Diarizos Valley wine route. It leaves Paphos, crosses Acheleia and Kouklia, then climbs via Nikokleia and Choletria to Stavrokonnou and Kelokedara. On it goes through Salamiou, Mesana and Arminou, past Filousa and Agios Nikolaos, touching Praitori and Kedares before finishing at Agios Georgios, Mamonia and Fasoula. You don’t need to do all of it, and I’d pick four or five stops.

Why the wine tastes different here

The tourist board explains that the Diarizos vineyards sit lower than the island’s other main wine areas, which gives the wines a character of their own. Higher up the valley you meet Mavro, the native red grape. At Salamiou it mentions the Lagria winery, and at Praitori a well-known winery that draws visitors from abroad.

If you want a comparison, the Limassol wine villages lie on the other side of the hills, and Arsos, the westernmost of them, looks straight down on this valley. The wider story of Cypriot wine is in my guide to wine in Cyprus.

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Nikokleia and its 1768 watermill

Nikokleia is the way in. The tourist board puts it 17 km south-east of Paphos by road, at 400 m, on the west bank of the river, and says its name comes from Nicocles, the last king of Paphos.

For me the watermill is the reason to stop. According to the board, monks from Chapotamiou Monastery built it around 1768 to grind grain with the force of the Diarizos, and it kept working until 1952. The site still has its water tower, channel, holding basin, wheel chamber and miller’s house. The church of Agios Dimitrios, on the square, dates from the same year, and on the edge of the village a row of olive trees the board reckons are between 500 and 900 years old.

Asprokremmos Dam is close by, and Kouklia, with the sanctuary of Aphrodite I cover under Palaepaphos, is just down the road. I’d put the two together in one morning.

Where to stop halfway up?

I’d stop for lunch on this stretch, between Salamiou and Arminou. Salamiou sits at 650 m between the Diarizos and Xeros valleys, and the tourist board counts it among the largest traditional villages in the district, with around 300 residents and restored houses. A kilometre south-east is Panagia Salamiotissa, the 16th-century church that is all that remains of its old monastery. The village also has a cypress about 800 years old, an ancient olive grove of more than two hectares and the Mouti of Salamiou nature trail.

Arminou is about 4 km away. Its reservoir beside the river waters the village’s fields, and the board notes it once had a gold mine, now abandoned. Between the two lies Mesana, whose name, the same source says, means “in the middle”.

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Kelefos Bridge and the upper valley

The finish I’d give the route is Agios Nikolaos, at 750 m. Here you’ll find Kelefos (or Tzelefos) Bridge, which the tourist board presents as Venetian and as the largest medieval bridge on the island. From Paphos it’s about 32 km in a straight line, more on the mountain road.

On the way back, Trachypedoula and Prastio are both in the Natura 2000 network, and the board says geologists, botanists and birdwatchers come here to study. Trachypedoula has a wall model showing the geology of the valley and the Troodos, while Prastio and the Hasamboulia rocks, between Kidasi and Mamonia, are well-known climbing spots.

The tourist board doesn’t publish opening times for the watermill or the churches, so I won’t give any. If you want to keep climbing, the valley drops you at the edge of the Troodos Mountains.

If you would rather go at your own pace, see the car hire deals in Paphos: the earlier you book, the more cars are left to choose from.

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