Paphos Airport has one terminal, 15 km south-east of Paphos town, with the old coast road to the harbour on one side and the A6 motorway to Limassol on the other. Collect your car in arrivals and you are twenty-five minutes from the mosaics of Kato Paphos, half an hour from Coral Bay and Aphrodite's Rock, and an hour from Latchi and the Akamas coast – driving on the left, in a right-hand-drive car.
Paphos Airport has one terminal, 15 km south-east of Paphos town, with the old coast road to the harbour on one side and the A6 motorway to Limassol on the other. Collect your car in arrivals and you are twenty-five minutes from the mosaics of Kato Paphos, half an hour from Coral Bay and Aphrodite's Rock, and an hour from Latchi and the Akamas coast – driving on the left, in a right-hand-drive car.
Paphos car hire: debit card, not credit card
You can rent without a credit card. A refundable security deposit is taken on your debit card at pick-up and released after return; the amount is on each car 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 bolted on at the terminal.
Between the town and the motorway
The airport is on the coast just below the A6. Turn towards Paphos for the harbour and Coral Bay, or join the motorway east to Limassol within a few minutes.
Built for a late landing
Add your flight number at booking and the desk works to the real landing time, not the time on the voucher.
Paphos was the island's capital in Roman times, and most of what is left of it sits within half an hour of the terminal, along the same stretch of coast.
A UNESCO site by the harbour, where the floors of four Roman villas – the Houses of Dionysos, Theseus, Aion and Orpheus – are covered in mosaics of the Greek myths. The medieval fort stands at the end of the quay next to it.
Underground tombs cut from the solid rock on the shore north of the harbour, some ringed with Doric columns. No kings were buried here – Hellenistic and Roman officials were – but the scale earned the name.
The sea stack where the myth puts Aphrodite's birth from the foam, east along the coast road towards Limassol. There is a car park and an underpass to the pebble beach; come at sunset.
A sandy bay north of Paphos with calm, shallow water, and beyond it the Avakas Gorge, a limestone cleft you walk through. The last stretch to the gorge is a gravel track, so check your rental terms before driving it.
From the airport the island opens three ways: the wild Akamas to the north-west, the Troodos mountains inland and the A6 east along the coast.
about 1h to Latchi
North over the hills to Polis and the fishing harbour at Latchi, where the boats leave for the Blue Lagoon. The Baths of Aphrodite are just beyond; the tracks into Akamas itself are rough gravel, so take the boat instead.
about 1h one way
Inland into the Troodos foothills, where Omodos keeps a cobbled square, a monastery and an old wine press. The villages around it make the island's Commandaria and xynisteri, and most have a winery open to visitors.
about 2h one way
Up through pine forest on winding mountain roads to Kykkos, the island's richest monastery, its arcades covered in gold mosaics. Allow a full day, fill up before you climb, and expect snow on the high roads in January and February.
45–60 min one way
East on the A6 motorway, with no tolls to pay. Stop at Kourion, whose Greco-Roman theatre sits on a cliff above the sea, and Kolossi castle, then finish at Limassol's marina and old port.
Keep left from the car park
Cyprus drives on the left and the cars are right-hand drive. The first junction out of the airport is where habit takes over, so say "left" out loud until it stops feeling odd.
Roundabouts run clockwise
You give way to traffic already on the roundabout, which comes from your right. Take the first few slowly, and keep left as you leave each one.
Town one way, motorway the other
The airport road meets the old B6 coast road to Paphos, with the A6 motorway to Limassol a few minutes inland. Decide which before you leave the car park and you will not need to cross the town.
100 is the motorway limit
Not 120 or 130. Other roads are 80 and towns 50, with fixed and mobile speed cameras across the island. The good news is that no road in Cyprus charges a toll.
Stay on the tarmac in Akamas
The Blue Lagoon and most of the Akamas peninsula are reached on rough gravel tracks, and rental cover often excludes damage off sealed roads. Drive to Latchi and take a boat from the harbour.
The Green Line is a cover line
Rental cover from the Republic normally ends at the Green Line. Do not take the car into Northern Cyprus without the partner's written permission, which many partners do not give.
Yes – you rent with a debit card. A refundable security deposit is taken on that debit card at pick-up and released after you return the car. Its amount is shown on each car before you book, so you know exactly what will be held.
It depends on the car and the cover you choose, and it is shown on each car before you book. It is held on your debit card at pick-up and released after you return the car; your bank may take a few working days to show it.
Paphos Airport has a single passenger terminal, so there is nothing to choose and no shuttle to find. The desk is in the arrivals hall, and your voucher names it along with your pick-up time.
The car is held for an hour past your booked pick-up time, within the station's opening hours. Give us your flight number when you book and the desk can follow the actual arrival rather than the time on the voucher.
Most drivers settle in within the first hour. The cars are right-hand drive, so you sit next to the centre line, and roundabouts run clockwise. The A6 motorway is wide and well signed, which makes it an easy place to start.
Only with the partner's written permission, and many do not allow it. Rental cover from the Republic normally does not apply in the north, and the policies sold at the crossing points are third-party only, so damage there would be yours to pay.
Not sensibly in a hire car. The last stretch is a rough gravel track meant for 4x4s, and rental cover often excludes damage off sealed roads. Drive to Latchi, about an hour from the airport, and take one of the boats from the harbour.
Twenty-one, with at least a year of driving behind you. Some vehicle categories ask for more; each car shows its minimum next to the deposit before you book.
Arrivals hall – Paphos Airport (PFO)
Book in minutes with a debit card, see the deposit on each car before you choose, and collect at the terminal when you land.
