Nearly every guide to cycling in Cyprus assumes you will stay in Paphos, and most of them do not explain why. The reason is historical rather than geographical: the cycling-tourism industry grew up in the west, so that is where the operators are, and guides are written about places where there is someone to talk to.
That is a fine reason for a guide to be written and a poor reason to choose a hotel. Here is what each end of the island is actually good at, including the parts where the west is the right answer.
The three realistic options
Cyprus is small enough that the choice comes down to three areas, and they are different rides rather than three versions of the same one.
- Paphos and the west. The established cycling base. Closest to the western approaches to the Troodos, and where most of the island’s camps and hire operators are.
- Limassol and the south. The central option, and the closest large town to the mountains. Also the biggest and busiest urban area on the coast.
- The east: Protaras, Ayia Napa, Paralimni. The resort corner, the gentlest riding, and the one with no cycling specialist industry around it at all.
The case for the west
It is a real case and it comes down to one thing: the mountains are closer. From Paphos or Limassol you can ride into serious climbing without a long transfer, and if your trip is fundamentally about the Troodos then staying in the east means driving out to them for every mountain day.
The second advantage is infrastructure. There are more cycling-specific hotels, more hire operators, more people who have organised this before. If you want to arrive and have everything already arranged around cyclists, the west is set up for that in a way the east is not.
If your week is four mountain days out of six, stay in the west. That is not a close call and there is no point pretending otherwise.
The case for the east
For most visitors, though, the week is not four mountain days. It is one big day and five others, and that is where the east makes sense.
The riding immediately around Protaras, Ayia Napa and Paralimni is gentle and rolling, the villages are close together, and the whole area is compact enough that you are never committed to a long ride home. For a mixed group, a rider building back into form, or anyone whose trip includes people who are not cyclists, that is worth a great deal.
The area also holds more kinds of riding within a few kilometres than its reputation suggests: the resort coastline, the red-soil farming villages inland, the reservoir and open country behind those, and real off-road terrain on the Cape Greco headland. Four different days without moving hotel.
The mountain day still happens: you drive out to it, ride there, and drive back, which is exactly how our own guided cycling tours run it. That costs you the transfer and buys you five better days either side.
The argument nobody makes: the official routes are here
The Cyprus tourism authority publishes cycling routes across the island, and the Famagusta region (the eastern corner) has eight of them. Every one starts in or runs through Paralimni. There is also a signposted long route, the Tour of Deryneia, at an official 93.6 kilometres, which runs from Larnaca through Cape Greco, Protaras, Paralimni, Deryneia and the red-soil villages.
That is an odd asset for a region with no cycling industry, and it is the strongest single piece of evidence that the east is underrated rather than unsuitable. We have listed all eight, with their official distances, in the eight official routes from Paralimni.
The non-cyclists in the group
This decides more trips than anyone admits. If you are travelling with a partner or family who are not riding, the east coast is a resort area with the beaches, the restaurants and the things-to-do density that come with that. Paphos has plenty too; the smaller cycling-oriented bases in the west have much less.
The combination that works well here is a morning ride finishing by 11:00 and a completely normal holiday afternoon. That is easier to arrange in the east than anywhere else on the island, and it is the shape of a lot of the cycling trips that actually happen as opposed to the ones in magazines.
Seasons change the answer
In summer, the east has the better climate for riding: the coast catches the sea breeze and the mornings are workable. In deep winter, the difference between the ends of the island is small at sea level and the mountains are cold everywhere.
There is a commercial wrinkle in winter that is worth knowing: the east coast’s rental trade is largely a summer business, and a good deal of it closes or turns into beach hire outside the resort season. That is precisely when road cyclists want to be here. We run year-round, which is the reason this is worth mentioning at all. See cycling here in winter.
Airports
Larnaca is the closer airport to the east coast; Paphos has its own airport serving the west. Neither transfer is long by the standards of a cycling holiday (this is a small island), and for most riders the flight schedule matters more than the transfer time. Check which of the two your route actually flies to before deciding a base on that basis.
Riding between them
You can ride across the island, and a few people build a trip around it. It is worth knowing that the fast direct links between the main towns are motorways, and cycling on those is illegal, so a point-to-point ride needs routing along the older parallel roads, which are slower and better. That and the rest of the road rules are in riding safely on Cypriot roads.
So where should I stay?
The west if the mountains are the point of the trip, if you want a cycling-specific hotel, or if you want to be somewhere that has organised this a thousand times.
The east if you want a week of varied riding with one mountain day in it, if the group is mixed, if there are non-cyclists along, or if you would rather ride roads with nobody else on them.
If it is the east, the bike can be at the hotel when you arrive: bike rental in Protaras, bike rental in Ayia Napa, or collect it from the shop in Paralimni. What the riding is actually like day to day is in the routes around Protaras and Ayia Napa.
Is Paphos really the best place to cycle in Cyprus?
It is the best-established, which is not the same thing. Paphos is the right answer for a climbing-focused trip and for anyone who wants the infrastructure that comes with a mature cycling destination. It is not automatically the right answer for a mixed week, a family trip, or a rider who wants quiet roads. It is named by default in most guides because that is where the operators are, not because the riding elsewhere has been assessed and rejected.
Can I do a Troodos day from Protaras?
Yes, and it is the normal way to do it from the east: drive out in the morning, ride in the mountains, drive back. What does not work is riding there and back in a day: the transit eats the day and you arrive at the interesting part with nothing left. Put it mid-week when the legs are fresh.
Is one week long enough?
A week is the natural unit and enough for a proper block: an easy first day, two building days on the coast and villages, the mountain day mid-week, a recovery day and then the longer rides. Ten days to a fortnight allows two mountain days and a genuine training block, which is what most organised camps are built around.