CyprusVista

If you haven’t booked your summer holiday in Cyprus yet, there are plenty of companies trying to tempt you with last minute bargains. So, with so much Cyprus holiday accommodation on offer, which offers you the best deal, hotel or villa?

A Cyprus hotel holiday seems to have it all; comfortable bedrooms, hotel restaurants, breakfast provided, pool, bars, sunshine - what more could you want? If you want to just chill out in the sunshine, forget the UK grey summer skies, and let someone else do the cooking, cleaning and drink mixing, Cyprus hotels are ideal! You can grab the best deals through late booking sites such as lastminute, holidayhypermarket and goingplaces. For cheap prices for 4 and 5 star North Cyprus hotels, try the new site kyreniahotels.co.uk.

However, if you crave peace and quiet, and don’t want to share your mealtimes and swimming pool with lots of other people, a Cyprus villa holiday is the answer. In your own private villa, you can be king (or queen) of all you survey. No set times for breakfast in a busy restaurant; if you want to sleep in and enjoy a leisurely brunch on your villa terrace, you can! No rush for the sunloungers by the pool; they are all yours (unless your kids get there first, of course.)

You can shop in local markets for fresh produce that’s still dusty from the fields, and cook fresh fish or sizzling kebabs on your own barbecue. Or, you can simply stroll down to the local restaurant or taverna for a taste of real Cypriot cuisine, without even breaking a sweat!

You can either choose a villa holiday in Cyprus that is packaged with a flight, or build your own from cheap flights available to Cyprus during the summer, plus villa rental and car hire. You can often save money by creating your own holiday, as you can depart on the days that are convenient for you, at more sociable flights times, and from your local airports. So, you can save on fuel costs driving to the airport, airport parking charges, overnight accommodation (some package flights leave very early) and avoid those horribly crowded changeover days too!

The REAL bargains at the moment are North Cyprus villa holidays. The Turkish Lira is currently weak against the UK pound, and prices in Northern Cyprus are around a third lower than in south Cyprus. Not only does your money go further, but rental costs are usually priced by the day, so you can create your ideal holiday without being confined to a whole week’s booking.

Cheap flights are available into Larnaca airport in the south, and Pegasus Airlines offer scheduled flights at very reasonable prices into Ercan airport in North Cyprus, five days a week. The best North Cyprus villa rental site we’ve found is Amy Villas - small, but with a good range and great value prices!

Holiday villa in Alsancak, North Cyprus: picture courtesy of Amy Villas

Popularity: 50% [?]

Cyprus Transport Minister Nico Nicolaides is not amused. Just weeks after visiting the new building works at both Larnaca and Paphos airports, the Minister has issued a warning to the two ground handling firms at the airports to “put their houses in order” - or risk being closed down.

Cyprus airport ground handling services are provided by Swissport and LGS (Louis, Gold Air and Service Air) Handling. However, the companies have made a series of embarrassing and image-damaging mistakes, such as bus loads of passengers being taken to the wrong plane and passengers waiting up to 90 minutes for their luggage. As a result, the government has not ruled out revoking the companies’ licenses if the situation does not improve rapidly.

Hermes, the owners of both airports and responsible for the improvements, are said to be unhappy with the two companies, although Hermes are not themselves responsible for the operations of the handling firms.

However, the two ground handling companies may be thrown a lifeline from cheap flights to Cyprus, such as those offered by easyjet. Since the airline, amongst others, now charge for every item of hold baggage, more and more passengers are flying with just hand luggage. This, of course, reduces the number of bags carried in the hold. With less bags to unload and load, the job of ground handling will be quicker and easier. Won’t it?

If you are coming this summer to Cyprus on holiday this summer, do bear in mind that temperatures have already reached 40 degrees in the past fortnight, and a further mini heat wave has been forecast. You can easily fit your swimsuit, shorts, shirts, sun dresses, flip flops, chic lit novel, sun hat, high factor sunblock, etc, in a hand luggage-sized bag of 55×40x20cm. In relaxed and laid back Cyprus, you probably won’t need a lot else…

Checking in at Larnaca Airport, Cyprus. Photo by sunshineandbeyond at flickr.com

Popularity: 51% [?]

If your flight to Cyprus arrived at Paphos airport this week, you may spot a small private jet sitting alone on the tarmac, guarded by a security officer. The jet, owned by an American organisation, made a re-fuelling stop at Paphos airport during a flight from the Ukraine to Austria.

Cyprus customs officers boarded the plane for a routine customs inspection, only to discover, as the Famagusta Gazette reported, “a dozen suitcases” filled with almost five billion US dollars worth of bonds.

By law, the Central Bank in Nicosia should have been notified of the plane’s intended refuelling stop, and so the plane has been ordered to remain in Cyprus.

The US organisation involved insists that the bonds are worthless. Now, the US dollar has not been at its strongest in the international exchange market recently, but this is ridiculous…

Cash in Those Cyprus Pounds
Talking of worthless currency, if you have any old Cypriot pounds notes in your possession, now is the time to exchange them for Euros. South Cyprus banks will no longer exchange notes for free after the end of this month. However, the Central Bank will continue to exchange old currency notes for a fee for the next ten years, but coins will only be exchanged for a further two years.

Popularity: 96% [?]

Flying into south Cyprus for your summer holidays will soon be a much more pleasant experience, when the shiny new terminal at Paphos airport is completed later this year.

Paphos airport known locally as Pafos International Airport has long been a favourite with tourists and residents alike for its compact size and easy access to western Cyprus. One of the great pleasures of arriving at Paphos is stepping out of the plane to see the sunshine glinting on the sea beyond, and knowing your luggage and hire car are just a short walk away.

However, departures from Paphos airport are not always so pleasant. The popularity of the airport at Paphos has meant that it has long outgrown its limited check-in facilities, with long queues often snaking out into the sunshine of the arrivals car park!

However, the new owners of the airport, Hermes Airports Ltd, are constructing a new terminal that should make ‘change-over day misery’ a thing of the past. The new 20,000sqm terminal will boast 24 check-in desks, 3 baggage reclaim carousels, and 800 car parking spaces, a massive improvement on the space in the existing crowded car park.

In anticipation of the new facilities, Paphos airport has recently attracted extra flights from established airlines, such as the new British Airways daily flights from Gatwick, which start on 1 July.  So, it will be even easier to fly to Cyprus for a week’s holiday or even a short winter break.

Last year, over 7 million passengers flew into south Cyprus’ two airports, with over 5.2 million of them arriving at Larnanca airport. The new terminal at Paphos Airport will boost its share of this impressive tourist traffic. To give the project an official seal of approval, and no doubt a reminder of deadlines, the Republic of Cyprus Minister of Communications and Works, Mr Nicos Nicolaides, visited Paphos airport this month. In March, Mr Nicos also visited the site of the new terminal at Larnaca airport, due to open on 11 November 2009.

Popularity: 88% [?]