North Nicosia, across Ledra Street

In Nicosia you walk from one half of the city to the other through a checkpoint, and the northern part is a visit I’d recommend to anyone passing through the capital. Here’s what it is, how you cross and what to bear in mind, using gov.uk, the UN and the municipality. What changes in the north generally is in northern Cyprus. Walking across at Ledra Street is one of my free things to do in Cyprus. To sleep on the southern side and walk across, see Nicosia hotels, or, if you’re driving, the Hilton Nicosia.

What north Nicosia is

It’s the part of the capital that ended up north of the Green Line in 1974 and has been outside the Republic’s control ever since. In Turkish it’s Lefkoşa. The Republic has no official figures for its population, and the Spanish foreign ministry works with an estimate of about 80,000 people.

The split shows here more than anywhere. The UN explains that in old Nicosia the buffer zone is less than 20 metres wide at its narrowest, and from several streets in the old town you can see the barricades. The story of that strip is in the Green Line in Cyprus.

How to cross

Three of the nine crossings are in Nicosia. Two are for walkers only, gov.uk says, Ledra Street, right in the old town, and Ledra Palace beside the western walls. Agios Dometios, west of the city, is the one for cars, and you can buy insurance for driving in the north there.

You show your passport, and gov.uk reminds you that the Republic counts time in the north towards your 90 days. Heading back south, shopping is limited to 260 euros of goods, a litre of alcohol and 40 cigarettes per person. All of it is in crossing to northern Cyprus.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Nicosia on Expedia and filter by area before price.

One set of walls

I like to remember that the old city is a single whole. Nicosia Municipality explains that the Venetian walls are star-shaped, with eleven bastions and three gates, Kyrenia Gate to the north, Paphos Gate to the west and Famagusta Gate, the largest, to the east. Kyrenia Gate is in the northern half, so when you cross you’re still inside the same circuit you started exploring in the south. The walls and the siege of 1570 feature in the history of Cyprus.

Worth knowing

Past the checkpoint, prices are in Turkish lira, though most places take euros, and card payments need care. Gov.uk says consular support in the north is limited and warns against photographing military buildings.

For the monuments on this side I have no citable opening times or prices, so I leave them out. What I can point you to are its two big sights, a short walk from the Ledra crossing, Büyük Han, the Ottoman inn from the 1570s, about 300 m away, and the Selimiye Mosque, once the Gothic cathedral of St Sophia, about 400 m away. I’d cross in the morning, wander unhurried and head back south to sleep. To see both halves of the city from above, the Shacolas Tower observatory is on the southern side, by Ledra Street.

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

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

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Nicosia on Booking.com and filter by area before price.