Crossing is easy and it is normal. You walk or drive to a crossing point, show passports, and go. In Nicosia the Ledra Street crossing is on foot in the middle of the shopping street and takes about two minutes. Thousands of people do it every day. It is a formality, not a border drama.

The catch is the rental car. Most southern rental agreements do not cover you in the north, and southern insurance is not valid there. You either buy separate cover at the crossing, which is available and cheap, or you park and walk across. Ask your rental company directly before you book and get the answer in writing.

Fly into the south. Larnaca and Paphos are the international airports. Ercan in the north is only reachable via Turkey and complicates everything including your travel insurance.

Do not lecture anyone about it. Cypriots on both sides have complicated family histories and it is not a debating topic for visitors. Ask, listen, do not argue.

Meals run late and children are welcome at all of them. Nobody eats dinner at six. Restaurants fill from about half eight and children are simply part of the evening. This is one of the great things about the eastern Mediterranean with kids.

Cover shoulders and knees in monasteries. Kykkos and the painted Troodos churches are working religious sites. Take a scarf.

The south uses the euro. The north uses the Turkish lira. If you cross for the day, plenty of places in the north will take euros but at a rate that favours them. Take a small amount of lira or use a card.

Cards are fine in the south, cash still matters in villages. Mountain tavernas and roadside stalls are often cash only. Carry fifty euros and you will never be stuck.

Type G sockets. The British three pin plug. Not the European two pin. This catches out almost every visitor arriving from the continent, and Americans need a UK adapter, not a European one.

Tap water is safe but tastes heavily of chlorine. Most people drink bottled. Buy the big supermarket bottles rather than small ones.

Tipping is appreciated, not obligatory. Round up, or ten percent for a proper meal. A service charge is sometimes already on the bill so check.

The sun is stronger than it looks. July and August routinely hit forty degrees inland. Factor thirty sunscreen, hats and a genuine plan for midday if you are traveling in high summer.

Seven days, one base near Paphos. Beach mornings, the mosaics, the Akamas peninsula, one day up into the Troodos. This is the version I book most and it is the least tiring.

Ten days, two bases. Five nights west near Paphos or Polis, five nights east near Protaras or Larnaca. Different beaches, different feel, one easy transfer in the middle.

Two weeks, add the mountains. Three or four nights in a Troodos village between the two coasts. Cooler, greener, cheaper, and the part of Cyprus that feels least like a holiday resort.

Pair it with somewhere else. There are short flights to Athens, Tel Aviv, Beirut and Istanbul. If you are already reading the Greece or Turkey guides, Cyprus slots on the end of either without a long haul.

The Paphos mosaics are the real thing. Roman floors, in situ, some of the best preserved in the Mediterranean. Ninety minutes, shaded walkways, and the pictures of the gods keep children moving from house to house.

Lara Bay for turtles, if the timing is right. Loggerhead and green turtles nest on the Akamas beaches between June and August. It is a protected area, you need a proper vehicle to get there, and it is worth it.

Do the Troodos even on a beach holiday. Ten painted Byzantine churches with UNESCO status, cool air, cherry orchards, and villages where lunch costs half what it costs on the coast. One day minimum.

Walk across the Ledra Street crossing in Nicosia. It is a genuinely extraordinary thing to do with older children. Two currencies, two alphabets, two versions of the same story, four hundred meters apart.

Skip central Ayia Napa in July and August. The beaches around it are magnificent. The strip itself is a British nightlife town in high season and it is not what you came for. Protaras next door does the same water with none of the noise.

Be careful with all inclusive. Cyprus sells a lot of it and it is decent value, but eating on site every night means missing the thing Cyprus is actually best at. Half board and two dinners out is the better call.

The beaches are the easy sort. Shallow, calm, blue flag, with sand rather than pebbles on the east coast. Fig Tree Bay and Nissi are the famous ones and they earn it. This is not a place where you spend the week watching for undertow.

Let bedtime go. The whole island eats late and children are out with their families until eleven. Shift the day rather than fighting it. Nap or pool in the afternoon, late dinner, everyone happier.

Plan around the midday sun in summer. Twelve to four is not beach time in July. Museums, the water park, the hotel pool under shade. Treat it the way you would treat weather.

Food is the easiest sell in Europe. Grilled meat, chips, halloumi, bread, watermelon. Even the fussiest child eats well in Cyprus and meze means nobody has to commit to one plate.

Dogs are manageable but not effortless. The EU pet passport rules apply in the south, plenty of villas accept dogs, and most beaches do not in season. Cyprus in August is too hot for a Cavapoo and I would not take Poppy.

Healthcare is good and pharmacies are everywhere. Private clinics in the tourist areas are used to visitors. Bring your EHIC or GHIC if you have one and proper travel insurance regardless.

There is skiing in Cyprus. Mount Olympus in the Troodos runs lifts from about January to March. It is small and it is real and it is an hour and a half from a beach.

They drive on the left. One of only four countries in Europe that do. Nobody expects this and it changes which side of the car your children get out on.

Nicosia is the last divided capital in the world. Since Berlin, there is nowhere else like it, and you can walk from one side to the other in the middle of an ordinary shopping street.

Commandaria is the oldest named wine still in production. Made here since antiquity, sweet, and every village in the Troodos will pour you some whether you asked or not.