Lefkara, lace, silver and white stone

Lefkara is probably the Cypriot village with the most famous craft. Its lace is sold all over the island, but watching it being made in white stone lanes, with women embroidering outside their front doors, is something else. For me it’s the easiest inland outing from Larnaca or Limassol.

Where it is

Lefkara is up in the hills, about 30 km from Larnaca and about 32 km from Limassol as the crow flies. It’s really two settlements, Pano Lefkara, the upper one, with 870 residents in 2021, and Kato Lefkara, the lower, with 119. The header image shows its red roofs, the bell tower and the mountains rising behind.

Lefkaritika lace

Lefkaritika is what made the village famous, and since 2009 UNESCO has protected it as intangible heritage. It’s a geometric embroidery with centuries of history that women still make together, and the tourist board likes to tell visitors that even Leonardo da Vinci went home with a tablecloth. I go into it properly in Lefkara lace.

The village is also known for silver filigree, and the municipality’s Handicraft Centre teaches both crafts to young people. You can drop in any day but Wednesday, with a morning session from 10 to 13 h and an afternoon one from 14 to 17 h.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Lefkara before prices climb.

The embroidery and silverwork museum

The museum fills the Patsalos house, which belonged to one of the village’s richest families and was built from the white local limestone more than a century ago. Downstairs are a rural dining room and storeroom with large jars and farm tools, and upstairs three rooms with the furnishings of a grand Lefkara house, costumes, jewellery, silverwork and a large collection of old embroidery. A separate building houses a reconstructed blacksmith’s forge with its tools and sounds. The Department of Antiquities acquired the house in 1983 and opened it as a museum in August 1988. There’s no charge. It opens every day, 8:30-16:00 in the cooler months and 9:30-17:00 between mid-April and mid-September.

The church of the Holy Cross

The main church joins two buildings of different periods. The eastern part, with its dome over a cross-shaped plan, goes back to the early 13th century, and the larger western part is a three-aisled basilica of 1867. According to the board, it keeps a relic of the Holy Cross, and its feast falls on 14 September and the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Lefkara and choose by the reviews.

Christmas and festivals

The Deputy Ministry of Tourism put Lefkara on its 2026 list of nine Christmas villages, running from 21 November to 6 January. In August, the board’s calendar also includes the Lefkara Summer Festival.

Around Lefkara

Kato Drys is under 2 km away as the crow flies, Odou, on the same wine route, about 14, Vavla about 4.5 and Choirokoitia about 8. I’d pair Lefkara and Choirokoitia in one morning, with lunch in Kato Drys. The rest of the inland area is in Larnaca district.

A car frees you from timetables: search car hire in Larnaca on DiscoverCars and compare companies.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Lefkara before prices climb.