Drouseia, the village of the Akamas breeze

Drouseia is one of those villages that make the drive up to the Laona plateau worthwhile. Narrow lanes, stone houses with carved doors, cafés on the square and the edge of Akamas within reach. Here’s what to see and why I find its museum different. What’s around it is summed up in Paphos district.

The village of the breeze

Akamas Municipality puts Drouseia at 630 m, high on the Laona plateau, 30 km from Paphos and 10 from Polis; the Pafos tourism board gives 600 m. The name comes from the Greek word for cool, after the breeze off the Akamas peninsula. In the 2021 census it had 473 residents.

As you walk around you’ll see restored stone houses, carved doors, wooden windows and traditional cafés, plus a small open-air theatre with coffee shops and local produce stores beside it. There are small hotels and stone houses to stay in.

What to see in Drouseia

The Akamas Rural Life and Traditions Museum, which doubles as a crafts training centre, occupies the community building and was finished in July 2021. It tells the story of life on the peninsula, from wildlife and myths to folk architecture, with bilingual signs that use words from the Cypriot dialect. What makes it special is that craftspeople work there, weaving on looms, embroidering with silk, painting gourds or making flutes, and a free guided tour is usually available.

The church of Agios Epifanios presides over the square. The first one stood in the Akrotiri area of Akamas, and the villagers rebuilt it here in 1787, according to the tourism board and the Metropolis of Paphos; the council gives 1783. It has a single aisle, and tradition says the water that reaches the fountain, about 30 m away, runs beneath it. In early 2024 its roof was redone with handmade tiles. Its feast day is 12 May.

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

The monastery of Agios Georgios Nikoxylitis

Some 3 km north-east of the village lies what remains of this monastery, founded by monks from an earlier one who fled the Arab raids, probably in the 9th or 10th century. Under the Venetians it grew very wealthy and became one of the richest monasteries in Cyprus, until in 1808 it had to sell much of its land to help pay the ransom for the island’s bishops, imprisoned by the Ottomans.

A fire destroyed it and it was rebuilt in 1923, though only the church survived, later damaged by the earthquakes of the 1950s. It’s a single-aisled basilica, all in stone and very plain inside. Its feast days are 23 April and 3 November.

Getting there

Pafos Buses route 648 passes through Drouseia four times a day between Polis and Coral Bay, via Ineia, the Arodes villages and Kathikas. Route 641, between Polis and Paphos, stops here twice in each direction except on Sundays. A few kilometres away lie Kritou Terra and its waterfall. If you’d rather sleep down on the coast, the options are in hotels in Latchi.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Drouseia on GetYourGuide.

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

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