Kyrenia district, on the north coast of Cyprus

Kyrenia is the most unusual district in Cyprus. It’s still one of the Republic’s six, with its own seats in the House, but since 1974 it has lain entirely in the northern part of the island. Here’s what official sources say about it and how to visit. The other five districts, and what each has to offer, are in the districts of Cyprus.

A whole district on the other side

The Spanish foreign ministry explains that the Republic has six districts and that Kyrenia is the only one entirely in the area the government doesn’t control, while Nicosia, Famagusta and Larnaca are only partly so. That’s why CYSTAT publishes no data for Kyrenia, on population or anything else. The ministry gives estimates for the north as a whole, around 350,000 people, but not by district.

Even so, the district remains part of the Republic’s political life. The House of Representatives allocates it three of the 56 Greek Cypriot seats, as I explain in the political system of Cyprus.

Coast and mountains

The district is the strip of north coast below the Pentadaktylos range, which the Spanish foreign ministry describes as overlooking the central Mesaoria plain. Kyrenia town lies on the far side of those mountains, roughly 19 km from the capital as the crow flies. Three medieval castles are strung along the summits, from west to east St Hilarion Castle, Buffavento Castle and, out above Karpas, Kantara Castle. On the coast, Kyrenia Castle guards the old harbour, and on the hillside above it is Bellapais, the village of Bellapais Abbey.

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The displaced municipalities

What little history I can offer comes from the Union of Cyprus Municipalities, which keeps a page for each northern municipality that lost its Greek Cypriot residents in 1974. Those pages give the main town prehistoric roots, describe Lapithos as an ancient kingdom and place the acropolis of Lambousa on the shore at Karavas. Their perspective is that of those municipalities, and I take only the facts from them. There’s more in Kyrenia and Lapithos.

Karavas and Lambousa

Of all the district’s displaced municipalities, the Karavas entry is one of the most detailed. The Union of Municipalities says some four thousand residents had to leave in 1974, that it became a municipality in 1884 and that in 1958 it built a town hall with a library, a cinema and a municipal market. Its land holds Neolithic remains, at a spot called Gyrisma, and by the sea the acropolis of Lambousa, a city that flourished from the Classical to the early Byzantine period before Arab raids destroyed it in the 7th century. In the Middle Ages a settlement called Prastio di Caravo is recorded, to which the Acheiropoiitos monastery belonged. Today the municipality operates from Nicosia.

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How to visit

There are no Green Line crossings inside the district, so you cross elsewhere, most easily in Nicosia, and carry on to the coast. Driving, you’ll need separate insurance, which some crossings such as Agios Dometios sell. It’s all in crossing to northern Cyprus, and before staying overnight, read hotels in northern Cyprus.

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