Ayia Napa Guide Chypre

The Town - Ayia Napa

Around the central Plana Sereri and its pedestrian zone, notional centre of the old pre-tourism village, anything not related to nightlife is likely to be a clothing boutique or overpriced fast-food outlet. Aside from the monastery, don't expect to find any other manifestations of high culture in Ayia Napa. By day the place can seem eerily quiet, since most visitors (predominandy British and Scandinavian, few of them over 35) sleep until noon, then soak up some sun on the beach before a long evening nap. People next emerge for dinner, before partying until dawn.

Ayia Napa Beaches

Some 2km west of central Ayia Napa on its namesake avenue, Nissi Beach is for once as attractive as touted -but in high season it's hopelessly crowded as the four or five hotels here disgorge their occupants onto the few hundred metres of sand, or into the handful of snack kiosks above the tidemark. At such times you can retreat by wading out to the islet which lends the beach both definition and its name (nissi means "island"). The rocky shore between Nissi and "Sunny Bay" is a popular gay hangout. Nissi and the acdjacent Makronis- 50S Beach, some Skm from the centre, are both linked to Ayia Napa proper by cycle paths, of which (to its credit) the resort has many.

Otherwise, the big attraction at Nissi is bungee-jumping, organized by Bungee Downunder June-Sept daily 9am-6pm; bookings on Tel 99684789).As the outfit's nameirnplies, they're Australian-based and -trained, with one of the sport's pioneers still involved; a fifty-metre plunge, with the option of dipping your hair in the sea, will set you back C£45. For more water and less air, there's Waterworld, a waterpark at the west end of town (May-oct daily 10am--6pm; day-pass C£14, children C£7).

Ayia Napa Practicalities

Orientation is straightforward: Nissi is the initial name of the main E309 road west to Nissi and Larnaca, 39km distant; Arkhiepisk6pou Makariou links the central square, Plana Seferi, with the harbour; and Krfou Nerou heads out east towards Cape Greko. Above Plana Sereri, the trunk routes fi:ay into a welter of narrower streets on the hillside, but if driving, persist to fmd the big roundabout at the top of town fimnelling traffic to Paralimni.

EMAN buses from Larnaca will drop you either down at the main ticket office near the base of A1;khiepisk6pou Makariou, or up at a stop next to the Cyprus Airways office. The none-too-enthusiastic CTO (Mon-Sat 8.30am- 2pm, plus Mon, Tues, Thurs & Fri 4-6.30pm) is around the corner at Kryou Nerou 12, near the five-way junction. The post office keeps limited afternoon and' Saturday morning hours, while numerous banks are liberally furnished with ATMs. Car-rental fi:anchises cluster near the town-centre end of Nissi avenue -for example Ham Yam at no. 17 (Tel 2372182S) and Andreas Petsas at no. 20 ( Tel 23721260) - with Hertz at Kryou Nerou 4. Best of several internet cares is IntenCity Media Networks, at Belloyianni 10 (24hr), with 32 multi-media terminals.

Ayia Napa Eating Out

Despite its incredible range -everything from Thai to Mexican, by way Italian and Danish cuisine in Ayia Napa usually plumps for shallow depths. The best that can usually be said is that it's hot, abundant and looks ,aguely like the glossy picture on the menu outside. Perhaps the most authentic food is to be had at the fish tavernas down at pedestrianized Limanaki port, where Cypriots can be found dining at off-season weekends despite the bumped-up prices.

Ayia Napa Drinking and nightlife

Most of the brashest watering-holes congregate just uphill from the town's monastery, around Platia Sereri and the pedestrian zone above it and to the west, particularly along Louka Louka Street (universally nicknamed "The Look" Street for reasons soon obvious). Bars are licensed between 9am and 2am during the week, with half-hour extensions at weekends -but the music must be shut off at 1.30am, which sees- the platfa's "pre-clubbing" outfits empty rapidly in favour of the numerous clubs, which can hold up to two thousand revellers. Clubs open at 1.30am and close between 4 and 4.30am; entry in these lean times runs C£3-5, and a few venues were free in 2004. Promotions often change venue from year to year, or even mid-season, but the quality of the venue dictates the type of promoters it attracts. Garage and House are not, contrary to image, the be-all and end-all of Ayia Napa; they have lately yielded to Trance, R&B plus nostalgia tracks from the 1960s to the 1980s.