Limassol Carnival, eleven days of masks and serenades

If I could only pick one Cypriot festival to travel for, it would be this one. Limassol Carnival isn’t a postcard event laid on for visitors, it’s the whole city in fancy dress for eleven days, with serenades in the streets and a final parade that, according to the municipality, has earned the name «the Limassol festival». Here’s when it is in 2027, what happens and how I’d do it. The island’s full calendar is in Cyprus events.

The 2027 dates

Limassol Tourism, the city’s tourism company, has already published them. Carnival 2027 runs from 4 to 14 March, eleven days, with the Grand Carnival Parade on Sunday 14 March. The next day, Monday 15 March, is Green Monday, a public holiday across the Republic according to the official 2027 holiday list recorded by the EMA, and the start of Lent. The detailed 2027 programme hadn’t been published by early October 2026.

What the festival looks like

Limassol Municipality describes it precisely. It organises eleven days of festivities with parades, open-air dances, fancy-dress competitions and art exhibitions. The official opening is Tsiknopempti, the Thursday when locals gather around the historic centre to eat grilled meat, sing serenades and throw impromptu parties. The two weekends are the high points. The first, the Apokria weekend, brings the children’s parade, and the second, the Tyrini weekend, the Grand Parade, with thousands taking part, from the city and beyond.

The carnival’s hallmarks, according to the same municipality, are meat and wine, satire, dancing and singing, above all serenades, and masks. Costumes draw on history, politics, cinema, foreign cultures and folk tales, and the oldest are the «pellomaskes», makeshift, slightly ridiculous masks worn to hide your identity, raise a laugh and poke fun at everyone.

The mood is summed up in a 1976 article the municipality still quotes half a century on. In essence, it said that for two weeks Limassol does little but enjoy itself, that people work by day and are transformed at sundown, and that the city invites friends from other towns to join in and leave their troubles behind. The partying also spills into tavernas, clubs and hotels, especially across the two weekends.

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Who are the serenaders?

They’re the soul of the carnival. Male choirs singing serenades in three or four parts to guitars and mandolins, a style that came from the Ionian islands in the 19th century and in Limassol became bound up with the festival. They once walked the streets singing under balconies. Today they go in groups, on foot or on their floats, in elaborate costumes. They sing at midday on Tsiknopempti, in the night-time parade for the arrival of the Carnival King and in the Grand Parade on the final Sunday. And the last Saturday is their big night, when the bands march from the town hall to Diikitiriou Square and the crowd joins in.

Getting there for the weekend

Limassol sits between Larnaca and Paphos airports, so either works for a short break, and the carnival’s last weekend in 2027 runs straight into the Green Monday bank holiday on 15 March. If you want to see the children’s parade too, you’d need to arrive for the first weekend, the Apokria weekend, a week earlier.

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Where it comes from

The municipality notes that carnival was celebrated in Cyprus in the Middle Ages, under the Franks and Venetians, but that in Limassol it took off in the late 19th century, at the start of British rule, as the town prospered. At first it was spontaneous, with houses open to masked revellers and groups taking to the streets on carts, donkeys and bicycles to mock everyday life. Over time came European-style dancing, serenades and proper floats, and the balls, once held in homes and cinemas, moved into the hotels.

My plan for it

The final weekend is the one to aim for. Saturday night in Diikitiriou Square with the serenaders, then Sunday at the Grand Parade, finding a spot early. I’d stay in Limassol, ideally near Limassol old town, to get about on foot, and stay on for Green Monday, with its picnics and barbecues. If you catch Tsiknopempti, that Thursday is all about grilled meat, such as Cypriot souvla. For the rest of the city, see Limassol.

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