Larnaca Airport is the main gateway to Cyprus: one terminal on the coast about 5 km south-west of Larnaca town, beside the salt lake and minutes from the A3 and A5 motorways. Collect your car in arrivals and you are ten minutes from the Finikoudes seafront, about half an hour from Lefkara, three-quarters of an hour from Nicosia or Limassol, and under an hour from Ayia Napa and Cape Greco – driving on the left, in a right-hand-drive car.
Larnaca Airport is the main gateway to Cyprus: one terminal on the coast about 5 km south-west of Larnaca town, beside the salt lake and minutes from the A3 and A5 motorways. Collect your car in arrivals and you are ten minutes from the Finikoudes seafront, about half an hour from Lefkara, three-quarters of an hour from Nicosia or Limassol, and under an hour from Ayia Napa and Cape Greco – driving on the left, in a right-hand-drive car.
Larnaca car hire: debit card, not credit card
No credit card is needed to rent here. The refundable security deposit goes on your debit card at pick-up and is released after you return the car; each car shows the amount before you book.
Deposit and excess shown up front
Each car lists its insurance options, its excess and the refundable debit-card deposit before you book, so nothing about the cover is a surprise at the desk.
No airport surcharge
Direct prices from Cypriot partners. What you book is what you pay in arrivals, with no desk fee added at the terminal.
Where three motorways meet
The airport sits where the A3 to Ayia Napa meets the A5 towards Limassol, and the A2 to Nicosia branches off north of the town. Every corner of the Republic is a motorway drive away.
Built for a late landing
Plenty of flights into Larnaca land after dark. Add your flight number at booking and the desk follows the real arrival time, not the one printed on the voucher.
Larnaca is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Cyprus, and its best sights sit within a quarter of an hour of the terminal – one of them on the shore of the lake beside the runway.
A stone church built in the late 9th century over the tomb said to be that of Lazarus, with his empty sarcophagus in the crypt below the altar. The palm-lined Finikoudes promenade and the town beach are a short walk away.
The salt lake beside the airport fills in winter, and from about November to March thousands of flamingos feed in its shallows. On its western shore, among palms, stands Hala Sultan Tekke, one of the holiest shrines of Ottoman Islam.
A line of cut-stone arches on the western edge of town, built between 1747 and 1750 by the Ottoman governor Bekir Pasha at his own expense. It carried fresh water into Larnaca for nearly two centuries.
A ferry that capsized on her maiden voyage in 1980 and lies on her side about 1.5 km off Larnaca, between 16 and 42 m down, still loaded with her lorries. Dive boats leave from the town's marina and seafront.
From Larnaca the motorways fan out three ways: east to Ayia Napa and Cape Greco, north to Nicosia, and west into the hills towards Lefkara and Limassol.
25–40 min one way
West on the A5 and A1 to Choirokoitia, a UNESCO-listed Neolithic village of round stone houses on a hillside, then up a winding road to Lefkara, where the lace and silver the village is known for are still made and sold.
45–55 min one way
East on the A3 past the British base at Dhekelia, which you drive through freely. Nissi Beach and its sandbar come first, then Ayia Napa, then the sea caves and cliffs of Cape Greco at the island's south-eastern tip.
about 45 min one way
North on the A2 to the capital, ringed by its 16th-century Venetian walls. Park outside them and walk in: Ledra Street leads to the pedestrian crossing into the northern half of the city, open with a passport or ID card.
35–45 min one way
A monastery on a rocky peak about 750 m up, said to hold a fragment of the True Cross, with views to the sea on a clear day. The last climb is a narrow, winding road; only men may enter the monastery, so women visit the chapel outside.
Left side, right-hand drive
Traffic keeps to the left and the steering wheel is on the right. The airport road reaches its first roundabouts within minutes; they turn clockwise, and traffic already on them, from your right, has priority.
A3 east, A5 west, A2 north
From the terminal the A3 runs east to Ayia Napa, the A5 heads west to join the A1 for Limassol, and the A2 to Nicosia leaves the A3 north of the town. Pick the number before you start the engine.
Slower motorways, free motorways
The top limit is 100 km/h, lower than most of Europe, with 80 on other roads, 50 in towns and speed cameras on all of them. Not one motorway out of Larnaca charges a toll.
Parking on the seafront
Street spaces along Finikoudes fill fast in summer. Use the paid municipal car parks behind the promenade, and treat a yellow line along the kerb as a no-parking sign.
The Green Line is close here
From Larnaca the crossings at Pergamos and Dherynia are under an hour away, but rental cover from the Republic normally stops at the line. Do not drive across without the partner's written permission.
Walk into north Nicosia
You do not need the car to see both halves of the capital. Park in the south, outside the walls, and cross on foot at the end of Ledra Street with your passport or ID card.
Yes. A debit card is all you need. At pick-up a refundable security deposit is held on that card, and it is released once the car is back. Every car shows the amount before you book, so you know in advance what will be held.
The amount depends on the car and the cover you pick, and it is shown on each car before you book. It is held on your debit card when you collect and released after you return; your bank can take a few working days to show the money as available again.
In the arrivals hall on the ground floor of the single terminal, just after baggage reclaim and customs. There is no second terminal to get wrong, and your voucher names the desk and the pick-up time.
Yes, within the station's opening hours the car is held for an hour beyond your booked pick-up time. Add your flight number when you book and the desk will follow the actual landing, which matters for the many evening arrivals into Larnaca.
Only with the partner's written permission, which many partners refuse. Cover from the Republic normally ends at the Green Line, and the insurance sold at the crossings is third-party only, so any damage to the car in the north would be yours to pay.
About 45 minutes on the A3 motorway, a little more to the cliffs at Cape Greco. The road passes through the British base at Dhekelia, which is open to traffic and needs no papers, and Nissi Beach is the first stop on the way into town.
Driving takes about 45 minutes on the A2 and lets you combine the capital with Lefkara or Stavrovouni on the way back. Inside the walls the streets are narrow and partly pedestrian, so leave the car in a car park outside them and walk.
Twenty-one, and you need to have held your licence for at least a year. Larger or faster cars can ask for more; each car shows its own minimum next to the deposit before you book.
Arrivals hall – Larnaca Airport (LCA)
Book in minutes with a debit card, check the deposit on each car before you choose, and collect in arrivals when you land.
