Akamas Peninsula and reserve / Akamas

Akamas Peninsula and reserve - one of the most striking natural attractions of Cyprus, a must-visit at the first opportunity. Akamas attracts tourists with its landscapes and natural attractions, including Beautiful Bays, wild secluded beaches, unusual rocky formations, and diverse vegetation. The most beautiful bay in Cyprus, Bay Blue Lagoon, is located here. If you are lucky, you will be able to see birds, large lizards, snakes, mountain goats, foxes and even sea turtles. But objectively speaking, the animal world here is not particularly rich, so you can see the fauna only with great luck and patience. In some places you can do good snorkeling, especially popular snorkeling in the Blue Lagoon. Some guidebooks refer to the Akamas Peninsula and avakas gorge but in fact the gorge is not quite on the peninsula and is visited separately.

How to visit Akamas

There is no entrance fee for Akamas, the operating time is also not set. You can come here for free and at any time and go for a walk, but it is better to do it, of course, during the day. In the summer it is so hot here that during the day it is simply unbearable, and it is better to arrive by an early tour before the midday heat. On the territory it is forbidden to build fires, cut down trees, tear plants, arrange camping. But there are separate equipped places near the entrance and the bath of Aphrodite, where you can set up a tent.

Along the peninsula and the territory of the National Park there are many hiking trails and roads along which you can freely move on foot, on bicycles, ATVs. Despite the fact that this is a reserve, there is no ban on the movement of cars, including rented ones. There are no pointers to interesting places and attractions, it is better to use a navigator or smartphone with map applications installed on them for navigation. Organic Maps, Open Street, and other similar Yandex map editor apps. Most roads and trails are marked on such maps, unlike Google Maps, where only the main roads are indicated. There are some of the most popular routes:

• Aphrodite Trail. This is a circular route that starts from Baths Of Aphrodite, and leads first into the mountains to the top of the mountain Mouti tis Sotiras (height 370 meters), then returns to the shore and returns back to the bath. The length is 7.5 kilometers, the time will take 3-4 hours. This route is well marked on Yandex map editor as Aphrodite Trail.
• Hike to Blue Lagoon. This is a one-way and back route, but it can be combined with the previous ring, although in this case you will have to go much more. A dirt road for cars will lead you along the coast past beautiful coves and beaches of 5 and a little kilometers until you reach a beautiful Blue Bay. After that, you can go back, or continue another 3.5 kilometers to the end of the peninsula. The Return Path will be the same. On an SUV and an ATV you can drive all the way, on a regular car you can only drive 2-3 kilometers on a dry road, after which it is better to leave the car and go further on foot. For this walk it is better to plan half the day.
• Smigies Nature Trail. Not as popular a route as the previous two, but no less interesting. It starts from the equipped picnic area and camping Smigies picnic site, passes through the center of the peninsula, and can also lead you to the Blue Lagoon, but you have to walk a lot.

In addition to these routes, you can walk and ride on any other trails and roads that you find on the map or in fact on the spot. But be careful on rented cars: without experience, driving on local dirt roads is dangerous, and insurance on primers does not work. It is much safer to leave the car in the free parking near the Grotto of Aphrodite, and go on foot, because actually walking and interesting Reserve. Also near the parking lot they offer to rent or walk with a driver on quadrocycles or buggies, however, this pleasure is not cheap, from 60 euros.

🚶 How to get there

The peninsula and Akamas Nature Reserve are located at the extreme western point of the island of Cyprus, 45 kilometers from Paphos and about 8 kilometers from the city of Polis (Akamas Peninsula on the map). It is best to get there by rented transport. You need to go to one of the starting points from where the routes start: Aphrodite's Bath (swimming pool on the map) or Smigies picnic site (Smigies picnic site on the map). There you can leave transport in free parking lots. The Aphrodite bath can be reached by buses from Paphos:

• First, take any suitable bus from Paphos to Polis (№649, №641 or #645), drive to the Polis Chrysoxous stop. These buses depart from Karavella Station, aka OSYPA Terminal, which is not in the tourist area (bus station on the map), and it, in turn, will have to be reached on foot or by bus from the Kato Paphos station Bus Station from the tourist area, there are many flights between them.
• At the Polis Chrysoxous stop, transfer to Flight No. 622 (runs several times a day according to the schedule, schedule here). The fare is 1.5 euros on each flight. Bus 622 reaches almost to the bath, 10 minutes on foot.

Also see options for excursions in Paphos that can be booked online:

• 📷 search for excursions in Paphos on Tripster.ru