Keryneia, Cyprus · Europe
Kyrenia sits on the route: 25 minutes from Lápithos, 57km from Larnaca Salt Lake.
Kyrenia is in Keryneia, Cyprus, with about 27,000 people. You drive on the left here. The nearest town is Lápithos, about 13 km away.
Kyrenia is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the control of Northern Cyprus.
According to mythical tradition, Kyrenia was founded by the legendary Achaeans Cepheus and Praxandrus after the Trojan War of Homeric epic. In this traditional origin myth, theRead more
Achaeans named the new city after their hometown Kyrenia in Achaea, Greece.
As the town grew prosperous, the Romans established the foundations of its castle in the 1st century AD. Kyrenia grew in importance after the 9th century due to the safety offered by the castle, and played a pivotal role under Lusignan rule as the city never capitulated. The castle was most recently modified by the Venetians in the 15th century. The city surrendered to the Ottoman Empire in 1571.
The city's population was almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians in 1831, with a slight Muslim majority. However, with the advent of British rule, many Turkish Cypriots fled to Anatolia, and the town came to be predominantly inhabited by Greek Cypriots. While the city suffered little intercommunal violence, its Greek Cypriot inhabitants, numbering around 2,650, fled or were forcefully displaced in the wake of the Turkish invasion in 1974. Currently, the city is populated by Turkish Cypriots, mainland Turkish settlers, and British expats, with a municipal population of 33,207.
Kyrenia is a cultural and economical centre, described as the tourism capital of Northern Cyprus. It is home to numerous hotels, nightlife and a port. It hosts an annual culture and arts festival with hundreds of participating artists and performers and is home to three universities with a student population around 14,000.
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Within an hour or so of Kyrenia: Fikardou (44 km), Lefkara (52 km), Larnaca Salt Lake (57 km), Kalopanagiotis (59 km).
Kyrenia is in Keryneia, Cyprus, about 13 km from Lápithos.
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Places within a drive of Kyrenia. Keep the ones you like and add them to your trip.
4 notable places within an hour's drive.
landmark
A protected medieval village in the Troodos foothills, its 18th-century timber-and-mudbrick houses preserved intact after near-total abandonment: a handful of residents, a rural-life museum and a taverna remain.
44 km · about 50 min drive
landmark
A stone village on Troodos's southern slopes famed for lefkaritika lace: embroidery Leonardo da Vinci reputedly bought for Milan Cathedral in 1481, and filigree silverwork, still made in doorway workshops along its cobbled lanes.
52 km · about 60 min drive
natural wonder
Seasonal salt lake beside Larnaca airport that hosts flamingos in winter, ringed by a road and the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque.
57 km · about 65 min drive
landmark
A Marathasa valley village stacked above the Setrachos river, home to the UNESCO-listed Agios Ioannis Lampadistis monastery complex with three churches of frescoes under one huge timber roof, plus sulphur springs and a venetian bridge.
59 km · about 70 min drive
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