The Perfect 2 Days in the Troodos Mountains
The other Cyprus: pine forests and waterfalls at nearly 2,000 metres, frescoed medieval churches on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, stone wine villages and monasteries in the clouds — twenty degrees cooler than the beach in August.
Best time to go: April–June and September–October for hiking; July–August as the classic heat escape; snow (and a tiny ski season) in January–February. Getting around: a car is essential — the joy is the drive itself. About an hour from Limassol or Nicosia; fly into Larnaca (LCA) or Paphos (PFO). Once your dates are in, Tripwise can search car hire in one tap.
Day 1 — the summit, the trails & the wine villages
Morning — up to Troodos Square. Wind up to the little resort settlement at 1,700 m that serves as base camp for the whole range. From here the classic trails start: the Artemis trail circles Mount Olympus through ancient black pines, and the Caledonia trail drops through a green gorge to its waterfall.
Midday — Mount Olympus. At 1,952 m, Chionistra is the island’s roof — on a clear day you can see both coasts. In winter this is, improbably, a ski hill.
Lunch — trout in the pines. Drop to Pano Platres, the old colonial hill station, and eat at Psilo Dendro — a trout farm and restaurant in the trees that has fed generations of mountain walkers. Taverna stou Zoppi is the honest village alternative.
Afternoon — Omodos. The best-known of the wine villages: a cobbled square around the Timios Stavros monastery, tasting rooms pouring the local Xynisteri and Maratheftiko, and lokum and arkatena bread in the lanes. The whole Krasochoria (wine-village) drive west of it is lovely if you have daylight left.
Evening — sleep in the hills. Overnight in Platres or, prettier still, Kalopanayiotis — a restored spa village terraced down a green valley, with Lofou’s stone-house meze an option on the Limassol side.
Day 2 — Kykkos & the painted churches
Morning — Kykkos Monastery. The richest and most famous monastery in Cyprus, founded in 1100 and rebuilt in staggering splendour — gold mosaics down every corridor and a revered icon of the Virgin attributed to St Luke. Go early; coaches arrive by mid-morning.
Midday — the Marathasa valley. Wind down through Pedoulas, the cherry village, whose little 1474 church of Archangelos Michael is one of ten UNESCO-listed painted churches scattered through these mountains, and on to Agios Ioannis Lampadistis at Kalopanayiotis — three churches joined under one roof, frescoed across five centuries.
Lunch — Kakopetria. The most polished of the mountain villages: a preserved old quarter of stone-and-timber houses stacked above a rushing river. Just outside, Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis (“St Nicholas of the Roof”) hides 11th-century frescoes under its great second roof of timber.
Afternoon — one last church. If the fresco bug has bitten, detour to Panagia tis Asinou near Nikitari — alone in a valley and, for many, the most moving painted church of them all. Then coast back down to whichever sea you came from.
The villages worth your time
- Omodos — the cobbled wine village around the Timios Stavros monastery.
- Kakopetria — the preserved old quarter above the river, with St Nicholas of the Roof nearby.
- Kalopanayiotis — the restored spa village with sulphur springs and Lampadistis monastery.
- Pedoulas — cherry orchards at 1,100 m and a tiny UNESCO church.
- Pano Platres — the old British hill station, all cool air and faded elegance.
- Lofou — a golden-stone amphitheatre of a village on the Limassol slopes.
Where to eat
- Mountain classics: Psilo Dendro (the trout farm, Platres), Taverna stou Zoppi, Linari (meze).
- Village meze & wine: Lofou Tavern (Agrovino) — stone-house meze among the vines.
- A surprise up here: Nous (French bistro) and Loutraki (modern grill) in Kalopanayiotis’s restored quarter.
🏨 Where to stay
Platres has the hotels and the walking trails; Kalopanayiotis the boutique-restoration romance; Kakopetria the prettiest village evenings. All make a fine one-night base for the loop.
Find hotels in the Troodos →
🚗 Getting around
A car is non-negotiable up here — the mountain roads are good, the hairpins constant, and the villages strung out along them are the whole point. Cyprus drives on the left.
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