Lysos, the village at the gates of the Paphos forest

Lysos is the village where the Polis coast gives way to the mountains. A square, cafés, stone houses and, behind them, the Paphos forest rising to almost 1,400 m. Here’s what to see and where to go next. The bigger picture is in Paphos district.

A mountain village

The Pafos tourism board puts Lysos 40 km north-east of Paphos and 560 m up, with views towards one of the finest coastlines in the region. The highest point of its land is the peak of Tripylos, near Stavros tis Psokas, which it gives as 1,362 m, and much of the area is Paphos forest, criss-crossed with trails. In 2021 it had 172 residents.

It has a library, a park, taverns, restored traditional houses to rent and a small family hotel. The tourism board recommends it for a family break or a day in the mountains.

What to see in Lysos

The main church, Panagia Chryseleousa, dates from the late 15th or early 16th century and follows the Franco-Byzantine style, which blends Byzantine and Gothic. It has a single aisle, a dome on an octagonal drum and finely dressed stonework. In the early 17th century the Gothic window of the apse was walled up, and in the early 20th the west wall was taken down to enlarge it. On its walls are two reused medieval coats of arms, one of the Gourri family and the other like that of the noblewoman Alice Neville, whose tombstone lies in the Armenian church in Nicosia.

The chapel of Agios Charalambos, from 1909 according to the date carved over its door, stands beside a natural cave 6 m wide and 4 m high that was used for burials and probably as a hermitage. Christians and Muslims both regarded the saint as the protector of their flocks, and shepherds mixed earth from the cave with water from a holy spring to heal their animals. Until the clashes of 1963, both communities celebrated his feast together on 10 February with a livestock fair.

East of the village, in the forest between Lysos and Kynousa, stands the 13th-century chapel of Agios Georgios, protected by the Department of Antiquities, with frescoes of St Mamas.

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The Paphos forest

The tourism board explains that the Paphos forest runs from almost sea level up to Tripylos and is a haven for raptors such as Bonelli’s eagle and the goshawk, and for endemic birds like the Cyprus warbler. The road from Polis to Stavros tis Psokas passes through Lysos and leads to the Agios Merkourios picnic site, 20 km from Polis, and to the Stavros tis Psokas forest station, about 20 km from the village and one of the mouflon’s habitats. From the other side of the forest, a track from Pomos also climbs towards Stavros tis Psokas. Cedar Valley, for its part, is reached along the road to Panagia and Kykkos.

Getting there

Pafos Buses route 640 leaves Polis Chrysochous and runs via Steni, Peristerona and Filousa, at 7:40 and 12:00 on weekdays and at 9:10 and 11:30 on Saturdays. With so few trips, a car is the practical choice.

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

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

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