Cyprus Events

The restored Greco-Roman theatre at the Kourion which occupies a spectacular hilltop site overlooking the Mediterranean is the setting for Shakespearean plays performed annually by the Performing Arts for Cyprus Charities. From Romeo and Juliet to Much Ado About Nothing, many of the great Bard’s works have been performed here.

All the coastal towns from Polis and Paphos to Larnaca and Protaras come alive to mark the annual festival of Kataklysmos (otherwise known as the Festival of the Flood). It is held 50 days after the Greek Orthodox Easter. Crowds throng the shore for boat races and watersports, processions and feasting.

August is a time of celebrations and festivals throughout the island, but especially in the villages of the Troodos Mountains. Every village hosts its own event with traditional Cypriot food, music and folk dancers; some even organise demonstrations of Greek dancing so that visitors can learn a few steps.

Agia Napa celebrates Cypriot traditions as part of its annual summer festival. Its programme includes demonstrations of folk dances, art exhibitions, free concerts and music recitals, which are held in and around its central square, next to its 16th century monastery . There is something on every Sunday during August.

A programme of concerts and theatrical performances, plus, of course, lots of wine tasting and feasting, form the basis for the ten-day Limassol Wine Festival held annually at the end of the grape harvest. The Limassol district is famous for producing one of the world’s oldest wines, the sweet Commandaria.

Carmen, Madame Butterfly, La Bohème and Aida have been among the most recent operatic productions to be staged in front of the medieval castle at Paphos harbour. An annual event, it is watched by locals and visitors, all dressed in their finest, and is the highlight of the Paphos cultural calendar.

Koilani is a pretty village between Ayios Amvrosios and Pera Pedi close to Limassol on the coast. Despite its small size, it is home to four wineries and wine and winemaking is very much a part of the region's cultural identity. And it's here that the Afamia Grape Festival takes place each year to celebrate the end of the harvest season. Like many such festivals in the wine-growing areas, the festival includes folk dancing, live music, a market as well as numerous food and wine exhibitions.

This public holiday marks the start of Lent and is the culmination of ten days of celebrations that in Limassol centres on its carnival and fancy dress balls. Green Monday, itself, is traditionally when families gather on the seafront or in a village park, fly kites and have a picnic.

Easter is the biggest celebration in Cyprus and marked by two weeks of festivals, religious ceremonies and flower parades. Family and friends gather for mouthwatering dishes that include flaounes (minty cheese cakes). In the rural villages, the whole community gathers for the procession of the holy icon on Good Friday.

The name-days of saints are big occasions in villages throughout Cyprus. Local churches and monasteries become a hive of activity with religious ceremonies and processions. Agia Irini Day is celebrated in the picturesque village of Perivolia, near Larnaca, and the day is marked with a procession and a great feast.