Renting a villa in Cyprus

A villa with a pool is one of the most sought-after ways to holiday in Cyprus, and it pays to know what sits behind each listing. The official accommodation register has a tourist villa category, and it’s the best place to start. Here’s what appears on it, where, and what the alternatives are. If a villa doesn’t suit, compare first with where to stay in Cyprus.

A category of its own

In its August 2026 edition, the Deputy Ministry’s general list has «Tourist Villas» sections, separate from hotels and apartments. There aren’t many, and they carry no stars, only the licence mark, L if it’s firm and P if it’s still being processed. By area, they appear in Ayia Napa, Sotira, Polis and a few villages around Paphos and in the Limassol hills.

Thalassines, at Ayia Thekla

The largest group is the Thalassines villas, twelve on the register, each a single unit sleeping six, at 77 Agias Theklas Avenue, within Sotira, on the east coast. Their website says they were designed by Cypriot sculptor Andreas Limbourides, who used to spend his free time there looking for inspiration, and that they sit beside a secluded beach. They have private pools and a residents-only beach bar, the Kavouri, open from 8am to 9pm. The area is covered in Sotira.

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

Ayia Napa and Polis

In Ayia Napa, the register lists three hotel annexes as tourist villas, Callisto Annex 1 and 2 on Nissi Avenue and Panas Annex on Petreris Street. As the names suggest, they’re hotel annexes rather than stand-alone villas. In Polis there’s Natura Beach, with 8 units and 44 beds, and Zaharena, with 5 and 30. For the Polis area, see Latchi hotels.

Single villas in the villages

Inland there are one-unit villas, such as Aiora in Stroumpi, for four, Stella Fyti Heights in Fyti, for six, and Stou Savvide in Pera Pedi, up in the Limassol hills, for ten. They’re the choice for anyone who wants a village and a whole house to themselves.

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

Villas within resorts

If you want a villa with hotel services, some resorts offer them. Aphrodite Hills, near Kouklia, rents apartments and villas as well as rooms in its five-star hotel, with a golf course and a village square of restaurants, as covered in Aphrodite Hills Resort. Elysium, in Paphos, has garden studios and villas with an over-16s pool, and Columbia, in Pissouri, has hillside suites with private or plunge pools.

How I’d book a villa safely

First I’d search for its name on the official list, which gives each villa’s beds, address, phone number and whether the licence is firm or pending. Then I’d compare that address with the one in the advert. And if what’s on offer is a village house, the Paphos tourism board points out that licensed traditional houses operate under the Cyprus Agrotourism Company, an affiliate of the Deputy Ministry, and are available all year.

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

Which area for which trip

For a beach villa with children, the Ayia Thekla and Ayia Napa coast, with sandy beaches close by, as covered in Ayia Napa beaches. For nature, Polis, on the doorstep of the Akamas peninsula. And to stay cool in summer, a house in the Limassol hills near the wine villages, where Pera Pedi is.

A villa needs a car

Most villas, and almost all the village ones, only work with a hire car, since you’ll be driving to beaches, shops and tavernas. The good news for British visitors is that Cyprus drives on the left, as at home, so picking up a car at Larnaca or Paphos airport and heading off is about as easy as it gets abroad. The practicalities are in car hire in Cyprus.

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

Villa or traditional house?

It depends what you’re after. Registered villas are nearly all on the coast. In the mountain villages, the equivalent is a restored traditional house, which the Paphos tourism board describes with modern kitchens and bathrooms and often a garden and pool. They’re covered in agrotourism in Cyprus. For me, a villa is for the beach and a traditional house for unwinding in the hills.