Paphos Airport, the gateway to the west coast

Paphos is the smaller of the two airports, and for me that’s part of its charm. If your holiday is centred on the west coast, landing here saves you more than 100 km of driving from Larnaca and drops you a short hop from Kato Paphos. Below are the airport’s official numbers and my way out of it. The overview of both airports is in how to get to Cyprus. For somewhere to sleep nearby, see Paphos hotels and, a little further north, Coral Bay hotels.

Where it is and what’s nearby

It’s on the south-west coast, about 9 km in a straight line from Paphos town according to OpenStreetMap coordinates. Coral Bay is about 19 km away, Polis Chrysochous and Latchi about 36 and 37 km, and Limassol about 50 km. Troodos Square, up in the mountains, is about 42 km as the crow flies, though the road is a good deal longer.

That makes the choice simple. For Paphos, Coral Bay, the Akamas or Polis, this is your airport. For Nicosia, Ayia Napa or Protaras, look at Larnaca Airport, about 103 km away. What the whole west has to offer is in Paphos district.

How busy is it?

Much quieter than Larnaca. CYSTAT counted 1,924,520 arrivals in 2025, just over one in four of the island’s total. January saw 69,856 and August 248,546, so winter arrivals are calm and summer has the usual buzz of a holiday airport. From April to October it never dropped below 182,000 arrivals a month.

Listing UK routes isn’t possible, as the company running both airports forbids reuse of its timetables. My advice is to search Paphos and Larnaca side by side, the method I set out in flights to Cyprus for booking.

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

Getting away from the airport

For Paphos and Coral Bay, about 9 and 19 km away in a straight line, a taxi or hire car is the obvious choice. Heading further? Private shuttles run, and the transport ministry puts the link on its page. Kapnos Airport Shuttle, one of them, lists Paphos in a network with Nicosia, Larnaca, Ayia Napa and Protaras, with one large bag up to 20 kg per ticket.

If you’re exploring the Akamas or the villages inland, I’d pick up a car here. Traffic keeps left, so it’ll feel familiar. Every option is laid out in airport transfers in Cyprus, and the car side of things in car hire in Cyprus.

What the operator says

Hermes Airports gives these figures for Paphos. One runway of 2,699 m, a 20,000 m² terminal with 28 check-in desks, around 725 parking spaces and 24-hour operation. Taxis wait on the right as you leave arrivals, at any hour, and five car hire firms have desks in the terminal. The set taxi fare from here, day and night, is in taxis in Cyprus.

Public buses are run by Pafos Buses, the OSYPA company, on freephone 8000 5588. Two routes serve the airport, the 613 from Karavella station and the 612 from the Tombs of the Kings station, and a single costs 2 euros, or 3 euros at night, bought on board. How the rest of the network works is in buses in Cyprus. The 2026 parking tariff starts at 1 euro for 20 minutes and reaches 10 to 12 euros for 24 hours in the uncovered car parks. Town-centre meters and disabled parking rights are in parking in Cyprus.

If you’d like to reach your hotel without a car, route 612 runs from the airport to the Athena Beach hotel, on Theas Afroditis Avenue. To choose your dates, see the best time to visit Cyprus; in 2026 the Pafos Aphrodite Festival staged open-air opera in the castle square on 4 and 5 September.

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

An easy first afternoon

If you land early, there’s no need to go far on day one. Kato Paphos, with the archaeological park and its Roman mosaics, on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1980, is right there. It’s number one in my places to visit in Cyprus, and you can see it without driving at all.

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

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