Ayia Napa hotels

Hotels in Ayia Napa

Its nightlife may be what it is famous for but there's more than that to the resort of Ayia Napa, huddled at the eastern end of Cyprus's south coast. Once a quiet fishing village, it was named after a monastery built in 1100, and did not even become a proper settlement until the late 18th century.

Ayia Napa is hugely popular with tourists from across Europe, and you won't have any trouble finding a pub where you can get an English breakfast after a night out. But book one of our Ayia Napa hotels and you'll discover another side to the resort – cobbled streets, pretty gardens and harbourside tavernas where you can enjoy Cypriot cuisine. In addition, the resort's 14 lovely beaches have all been awarded a Blue Flag. The monastery, which is partly built underground and cut into the rock, is still there and is probably the village's best known landmark.

Beaches

As well as being great for bathing, Ayia Napa's beaches are also popular places for watersports, including water skiing, windsurfing, canoeing, scuba diving and speed boating. White-sanded Nissi beach has a reputation for being popular with party-lovers – the Radio 1 Roadshow has broadcast from here, and the beach bar at the western end plays music throughout the day. But the eastern end is quieter, and the clear water stays shallow for quite a way out, so it's actually an excellent choice for families. Sandy Bay, sheltered between two headlands and with gently shelving waters, is also quiet and popular with families. Down the road from Nissi beach is the WaterWorld themed waterpark, whose 18 rides and attractions include Lightning, which features a vertical drop of almost 75 metres.

Nightlife

With almost 100 bars and clubs, the potential for nights out in Ayia Napa is endless. There's every type of music on offer, from hip hop to cheesy tunes, and there are international big-name DJs here almost every night in summer. Most bars around the main Ayia Napa Square and Ayias Mavris strip get busy at around 23:00, with the clubs opening towards 01:00 and closing at around 05:00. The bars in the square and on the strip are the busiest, with those in Nissi Avenue and around the harbour normally quieter. There are also events all summer, including foam parties, bar crawls, live performances and shows, and Ministry of Sound, Addicted to Bass and Hed Kandi all hold club nights here.

Cape Greco

The beautiful, 385-hectare Cape Greco national park, just a short drive from Ayia Napa, is a world away from its thumping nightlife. Filled with colourful wildflowers and more than 80 species of bird, here you can go walking, fishing, birdwatching, cycling and diving or just admire the view from the clifftops. Look out for hares, foxes, lizards, hedgehogs and butterflies as well as Cyprus wheaters, Cyprus warblers and peregrine falcons. The park also has a chapel, several caves, a lighthouse and a ruined temple plus, if you know where to look, the remains of a Neolithic settlement 6,000 years old. Its beautiful beach, Konnos Bay, is popular with locals as well as tourists.