The Troodos Mountains: Where Cyprus Goes When the Coast Is Too Hot

Every family plans a Cyprus beach week. The families who enjoy it most take one day off the beach and drive up.

The Troodos mountains sit in the middle of the island, an hour from Paphos or Limassol. At the top in August it is ten degrees cooler than the coast, there are pine trees, and the villages look nothing like the resorts below.

The painted churches are the reason the region is a UNESCO site. Small stone barns with steep roofs, and inside, every wall painted with saints and stories from the fifteen hundreds. Kykkos is the big monastery with the gold and the crowds. The small ones like Asinou and Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis are the ones I would take children to. Ten minutes inside each, quiet, and the caretaker will point out the dragon.

Omodos is the village to stop in. A cobbled square, a monastery, shops selling lace and rose water, and a taverna under a vine where lunch is halloumi, village salad and grilled meat. The kids can run the square while you finish.

The walk that works with kids

The Caledonia waterfall trail from Platres. Three kilometers along a stream in the shade, easy footing, a waterfall at the end. Two hours with stops. Then the Kalidonia falls themselves for a paddle. Bring shoes that can get wet.

The stone Venetian bridges at Kelefos and Elia are on the way back down. Single arch bridges over a river in the forest, built for the camel caravans that carried copper to the coast. A five minute stop, a photo, a skipped stone.

Back on the coast by five for a swim. That is the day, and it is the one the kids will remember when the beach days have blurred together.

Planning Cyprus with kids? Start with the full Cyprus family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.