Tourist information offices in Cyprus

Tourist offices have an old-fashioned reputation, and it isn’t always deserved. On an island where bus timetables change with the season, villages hold festivals that never reach the international listings and mountain tracks close for works, someone who can tell you face to face is worth a lot. Cyprus has two networks, the Deputy Ministry of Tourism’s and the regional tourism boards’. Here’s what each one publishes, and no opening hours, because I couldn’t verify any.

The Deputy Ministry’s eight offices

The Deputy Ministry of Tourism, the government department based on Lemesou Avenue in Nicosia, publishes its full staff directory on gov.cy. It lists eight information offices, each with its own phone number, in Nicosia, Limassol, Germasogeia, Larnaca, Paphos, Polis Chrysochous, Ayia Napa and Paralimni, the last of which covers Protaras. Between them they cover nearly every place a visitor is likely to stay, from the capital to the east coast resorts.

What the directory doesn’t give is addresses or opening hours, and I haven’t found another source I can cite for them. So my advice is to ring ahead, particularly in winter, on public holidays and at weekends. The days half the island shuts are in public holidays in Cyprus.

Limassol, the best documented

The Limassol Tourism Board gives the most detail. The town office is on Michalis Kakogiannis Square at the old port, in building THK1, and shares its number with the Deputy Ministry’s. At Limassol port, where cruise ships berth, there’s another desk in Arrivals Hall 2. Up in the hills, Platres has its own information point, very handy before a walk in the Troodos.

The board itself, a tourism promotion company tied to the Limassol Chamber of Commerce, has offices on Franklin Roosevelt Avenue. Its website is, to my mind, the most useful on the island, with cycling routes, accessible beaches and airport taxi fares. If you’re arriving by sea, see Cyprus cruises too.

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

Paphos, a board and an app

In Paphos, besides the Deputy Ministry’s office, there’s the regional tourism board, on Athinon Avenue at the corner of Alexandrou Papagou. It publishes free apps for exploring the district and has run a free guided walk through the old town, «Meet the Locals», on Thursdays in March and April at 9:15 from the Market bus stop, booked by phone. I can’t say whether it will run again, so ask. It covers Paphos old town.

Inland at Drouseia, the Akamas regional museum and information centre tells the story of rural life on the peninsula, with craftspeople demonstrating weaving and other skills and, according to the board, a guided tour that is usually free.

The office in your pocket

Some of what the office used to provide now lives on your phone. Paphos, European Capital of Smart Tourism in 2023, has put multilingual smart signs at several sights, and the archaeological park can be explored with a multilingual app. On the east coast, the Ayia Napa and Protaras tourism website links to its own guide app. Good for day-to-day use, but no app tells you which road is being dug up this week, which is why I still call in.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Limassol on GetYourGuide.

Before you fly

There’s no Cyprus tourist office I could find in the UK in the Deputy Ministry’s directory, so questions before the trip go to the head office in Nicosia on +357 22 691 100, or to the regional boards by phone or email. For the practical side of arriving, from Larnaca and Paphos airports to car hire and buses, the Limassol board’s traveller information page is a good one-stop read, and it’s in English. Keep the numbered receipt restaurants must give you, too, in case you need to complain later; the Deputy Ministry lists an address for tourism complaints on its gov.cy contact page.

What I’d ask

Three things. That week’s bus timetable, because it changes with the season. The village festivals nearby, which are the most genuine thing you’ll see and rarely make the guidebooks. And the state of mountain trails or the Akamas tracks if you plan to walk or drive them. To plan ahead, start with things to do in Cyprus.

If you would rather go at your own pace, see the car hire deals in Limassol: the earlier you book, the more cars are left to choose from.

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