Kyrenia

Kyrenia is the north coast's best-known town, and its old harbour is the reason. Fishing boats and day-trip gulets tie up below stone warehouses that are now cafés and restaurants, and the castle closes the harbour on its eastern side. Behind the town the Kyrenia mountains rise steeply, so you are never far from either the sea or a view of it.

The harbour and the castle

Kyrenia Castle was built by the Byzantines and strengthened by the Lusignans and the Venetians. Inside is the Shipwreck Museum, home to the remains of a merchant ship that sank off the coast around 300 BC, one of the oldest hulls ever recovered. Walk the walls for the best view of the harbour, then come back after dark when the waterfront is lit.

Bellapais and St Hilarion

Bellapais Abbey, a 13th-century Gothic abbey in the village of the same name, sits on a terrace above the town with the coast spread out below. Its refectory and cloister are among the finest Gothic buildings in the eastern Mediterranean. Higher up, St Hilarion Castle climbs along a ridge of the Kyrenia range; the walk to the top is steep, and worth it.

Beaches and the mountains

Sandy beaches run east and west of the town, from busy hotel coves to quiet bays where loggerhead and green turtles nest in summer. Inland, the Five Finger mountains have marked walking trails, carob and olive groves, and villages that are noticeably cooler in August.