A bit of winter sun in Cyprus

OK, so not quite the Canaries or the Caribbean, but to get away from the dreary weather in the UK in November, I would very much recommend this beautiful island. Most UK holiday makers tend to stick to the traditional summer months of May-September when it comes to travelling to Cyprus, and whilst I would probably say December-February may be a little out of season (a higher chance of rain), the shoulder season of March, April, October and November is a fantastic time to visit. Not only will the crowds be smaller (although some establishments do start to close as the season comes to an end), but so will the cost. If you want blue skies and temperatures in the early-mid twenties (and warm enough to swim in the sea), then I’d highly recommend it. I naively thought it would be light into the early evening and we’d have a lot of daylight hours, but it started to get dark around 5pm-ish, earlier the later into the winter months you travel, so remember to take this into consideration when you’re planning what to do! Cyprus is easy though – a flight time of around 4-4.5 hours (depending on where you fly to), there are a number of airlines to choose from, and a handful of airports to fly in to. We chose Paphos, from here we hired a car and drove the short journey to the stretch of beach which is home to numerous large hotels and a good selection of bars, restaurants and shops by the harbour front. You can also opt to visit the old town of Paphos, which has a really cool vibe and many different eating establishments which are popular with the locals. Hiring a car couldn’t be easier, especially in November – it’s cheap, they drive on the left hand side and the roads are really easy to navigate. As we had this flexibility, on one of the days we decided to drive up to the Troodos Mountains (in our trusty Skoda Fabia, that didn’t let us down, despite the hilly terrain and windy roads). On the way we stopped at one of the many local wineries for a spot of wine tasting – at this time of the year the number of tourists is quite low so we had the place to ourselves – the owner was just so sweet. The mountains were lovely, although noticeably cooler than the coast, the locals told us around 10 degrees cooler – it definitely felt like that (although on really hot day, quite a relief I would suspect!). The following day we drove north along the coast and stopped off at the glorious Coral beach. At this time of the year it is hard not to spend a bit of time in the sea here! We then headed to the Avakas Gorge – somewhere I had read about in the guidebook and appealed to my geeky geology-loving side. I was not disappointed – this place is a little off the beaten track (again the Fabia did us proud), and not at all commercialised - it is possible to trek the 1km to the start o the gorge and wind your way through it, spotting the mountain goats along the way clambering up the rocks. From here we headed further north to Polis and Latchi where we enjoyed a lovely late lunch at one of the beach tavernas – I felt so stuffed afterwards that I couldn’t quite fit in one of the amazing gelatos that were being sold nearby – gutted! In the evenings we chilled out at the hotel or strolled along the bustling promenade towards the harbour for dinner or drinks. This really is a great place for a summer break of course, but equally for a later autumn or late spring break to get a bit of warmth.