Kalopanayiotis, the village facing Lampadistis

Kalopanayiotis is, to me, the best base camp in the Marathasa valley. It has a UNESCO monastery opposite, a Venetian bridge, the river below and more beds than any other mountain village. To describe it I draw on the Nicosia Tourism Board, on the village notes of the mountains’ development company and on the census.

A village on the slope

The Nicosia Tourism Board counts it among the district’s prettiest villages and places it 70 kilometres from Nicosia, in the evergreen valley of the Setrachos river. The development company traces it back to the 11th century and describes restored stone houses perched on the hillside and cobbled streets decked with carnations. At the 2021 census it had 201 residents. Its name is written two ways, Kalopanayiotis and Kalopanagiotis, the census form.

The company also stresses its healing waters, which are part of the village’s identity.

The monastery opposite

Across the river stands the monastery of Agios Ioannis Lampadistis, one of the ten in the UNESCO painted churches property, with structures spanning seven centuries, from the 11th to the 18th, and an icon museum that costs 1 euro. Between the two is a 16th-century Venetian bridge. Walking down towards the river you find shady corners and forgotten springs, and the Kykkos watermill, which the Department of Antiquities protects as a pre-industrial building.

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Churches and chapels

Besides the monastery, the village has chapels such as Agios Andronikos and Agia Athanasia, Archangelos Michael and Panagia Theoskepasti. They aren’t as famous as Lampadistis, but a stroll between them shows well what religious life in the valley was like.

Nature and cycling

Just outside the village is the Kalopanayiotis reservoir, an artificial lake working since 1969, which the company describes as a popular trout fishing spot, the only species living in its deep waters. Fishing requires a licence from the Department of Fisheries. The Nicosia Tourism Board adds that the village suits cycling, with rural roads, and walking along the river trails. It also says the film Boy in the Bridge was shot here in 2014.

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

Oikos, across the valley

The company notes that the small village of Oikos lies across from Kalopanayiotis. At 650 metres, it has a 12th-century church of Agios Nikolaos whose murals barely survived a fire under Ottoman rule, and springs such as the Holy Water of Agios Lazaros.

Sleeping and eating

The official mountain accommodation list of August 2026 gives it 23 establishments, more than any other village in the Troodos, and many are traditional houses turned into rural guesthouses, some with a spa. There’s also a large hotel, a few tavernas serving Cypriot food and a café-bar. My picks are in hotels in the Troodos, and stone houses across the island in boutique hotels in Cyprus. From here, the rest of the Marathasa valley and Kykkos Monastery are close at hand.

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

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