DIY Port Activities in Limassol, Cyprus

[Cruisehiker]

Visited on NCL Epic in Nov 23 and Celebrity Infinity in Feb 2024. The ship berths about 3 miles outside Limassol centre, which has an interesting old town and a good shopping area. Bus 30 normally runs into town from near the berth (used to be EU 1.5 each way but likely more now), and there may also be a cruise shuttle to town  (Celebrity and NCL provided these for us though we didn’t use so don’t know if a fee). The cruise terminal is not on the official HOHO route but a bus may well be waiting on disembarkation. We didn't go into Limassol centre but those who did reported that it had pleasant old and new sections, and a nice marina and promenade.

Travelling west from the berth there are the impressive medieval ruins of Kastelli (5 miles), the ancient (pre-Greek) and scenically located ruins of Kourion, which we really enjoyed (about 15 miles), and the lively resort of Paphos (30 miles). Though rather tacky, it has a pleasant promenade (with a new coastal walk extension), and an archaeological park. The bus to Paphos is fairly frequent and takes about 1hr 15 min and I believe (haven’t taken it myself) stops about 15 minutes from the cruise berth (see link below). Getting to Kastelli or Kourion by bus is much harder but there are plentiful taxis and tour operators around on disembarkation. Inland from all this there are the snowy Troodos mountains, with the arty crafty village of Omodos (which has a nice Byzantine church) and the mountain resort of Platres. There’s a regular circuit of Kastelli, Kourion and Omodos that taxi drivers will be very familiar with. The nearest car rental to the terminal is Astra, which is a 15-20 minute walk. We’ve rented twice without problems and they drove us over to the terminal afterwards. Btw the Limassol area, and Cyprus generally, is very safe. Many Cypriots (Greek and, to a lesser degree, Turkish) have lived, or have relatives in, the UK and there is large British air force/military base nearby so English is widely spoken.

https://intercity-buses.com/en/routes/limassol-paphos-paphos-limassol/

[Hlitner]

The last time we visited this port we joined with a few others on a decent private tour that covered lots of territory, mostly out of town.  For a future visit, if we had a long port day, we would likely opt to simply rent a car.  If we could not find a rental car agency that would offer pick-up at the port we would either grab a taxi or the local bus to get into town to an agency.

 

Hank

[Cruisehiker]

Moat people seeking private tours seem to choose, and have good experience with, Spanos.