Panorama View

Location

The Karpas peninsula (or the panhandle) is the easternmost part of the island of Cyprus, where the land tapers into a thin strip which stretches out towards Turkey. The area boasts the finest countryside on the island. It is a nature reserve for turtles, birds, wild flowers and sea fossils, and is a national park for it’s stunning scenery with numerous picturesque beaches, (both sandy and rocky) which are the best on the whole island. Pine, cypress and maquis covered hills reach an altitude of 1,000 metres. The clear, warm waters off the coast of North Cyprus are very popular with scuba divers. There are some twenty sites, all providing excellent visibility to witness an abundance of coral and marine life: sting rays, amberjacks, scorpions, bream, grouper, octopus, moray eel and turtles. Few areas in the Mediterranean can be described as ‘unspoilt’, but North Cyprus certainly justifies the description. The landscape is stunning, with golden sandy beaches stretching for miles along the coast. The countryside in North Cyprus is home to many rare species of plants and wildlife and boasts excellent terrain for walkers. The island of Cyprus has a rich history that stretches back more than 9,000 years. Traces of this are to be found everywhere: the ruins of the Roman city of Salamis and the Byzantine castles at St Hilarion, Buffavento and Kantara are just three examples