Cyprus Insider

I have some friends arriving in late September, can anyone recommend a good hotel in Nicosia! Not because I am in Limassol and want them miles away but because they want to stop over for a few days and to go across the border.

My various enquiries have lead me to the Holiday Inn but I would like to hear from anyone with personal experiences of that hotel please.  Also can anyone recommend the best places to visit in Northern Cyprus, general scenery and local life is what we are after, not army bases and tanks.

The old airports that we have all spent so much time in are to be replaced soon and construction is underway literally next door to the old buildings. Unlike many new buildings in Cyprus these are going up quickly because it is a provide and manage type contract where the Cyprus Government has leased the new airports to a new company. Hence they want them built and profitable quickly.

But will they be able to train the old staff to unload the bags a bit quicker, to get steps to planes as soon as they land and to stop smoking in the no smoking areas!

If they can get the turnaround quicker then the low-cost airlines will consider the route. It will never be a cheap as Spain, it is simply so much further.

On a recent trip out of Cyprus to the UK I had no option to catch the ‘dreaded’ Wednesday flight out from Paphos Airport. After arriving in plenty of time to beat the crowds I was met with what looked like a goldfish bowl with faces pressed against the glass! No, I was not imagining it.. it was in fact departures which was rammed to capacity. I took a deep breath and dived in, and when I managed to get to check in (after about 2 hours and having my foot run over about 10 times) I then had to join the 45 minute queue for passport control. The chaos was unbelievable and as you can imagine, there were not many happy campers. If holiday companies want people to return to Cyprus they need to think about their flight schedules and the airport… well they just need to get organised.