Cyprus Peninsulas

For an island of its size Cyprus has an unusually varied coastline, and much of what makes it varied is the peninsulas — the arms of land pushing out north, south, east and west, each with a different geology and a different character. This site documents 6 peninsulas and capes, listed by district further down the page.

Akamas and the west

The Akamas Peninsula is what people mean when they talk about wild Cyprus: roughly 230 square kilometres of the north-west corner, where cliffs drop into turquoise coves, gorges cut inland and turtles nest on beaches reachable only by track. It is the least developed part of the republic and holds the best walking on the island outside the Troodos.

Inland and east of it, Tilliria covers about 180 square kilometres of mountainous, thinly populated country between Chrysochous Bay and Morphou Bay, straddling the Paphos and Nicosia districts. Part of it has been inaccessible since 1974.

The south and the east

The Akrotiri Peninsula holds the southernmost land in Cyprus, bounded by Episkopi Bay to the west and Akrotiri Bay to the east and ending in the two capes of Zevgari and Gata. Its salt lake is one of the island’s more important wetlands.

At the opposite corner, Cape Greco — Cavo Greco — is a headland of about 385 hectares between Ayia Napa and Protaras. Sea caves, low cliffs, exceptionally clear water and a national forest park covering the whole headland make it the most accessible of the six, and the busiest.

The occupied north

Karpasia is the long finger of land running north-east for some 47 miles to Cape Agios Andreas, and the emptiest landscape in Cyprus. Kormakitis, at the north-western end of the Kyrenia district, carries a history running back to Roman and Byzantine times and remains the heartland of the island’s Maronite community. Both have been under occupation since 1974.