What To Do In Larnaca (2025): Best Beaches, Top Sights & Day Trips

What to Do in Larnaca (2025): Best Beaches, Top Sights & Day Trips

Alissa Walker

Travel writing based on first-hand experience

September 10, 2025

Do you want to know what to do in Larnaca? Explore Finikoudes & Mackenzie beaches, dive Zenobia, visit Hala Sultan Tekke & Salt Lake, meet camels in Mazotos, plus easy day trips.

Take a selfie at the Salt Lake

Take a little excursion to the Larnaca Salt Lake! It’s an important wetland protected under the Ramsar Convention and the NATURA 2000 network. You’ll find it southwest of the city, east of the villages of Meneou and Dromolaxia.

In fact, the “salt lake” is a cluster of four lakes, the largest of which you’ll pass on the way to/from Larnaka Airport. Here you can admire the pink flamingos that winter along the lake’s lovely shores.

Local lore says a vineyard once stood where the Salt Lake is now, right along the route St. Lazarus took upon arriving in Cyprus. One day, tired and passing by, he asked the owner for some grapes. She refused, and to punish her he turned the vineyard into a salt pan. For a touch of the East, head to the lake’s western bank, where Hala Sultan Tekke rises and lends an oriental note to the landscape. According to Muslim legend, during the first Arab raid against Cyprus, the Prophet Muhammad’s kinswoman, Umm Haram, fell from her horse and died on this very spot.

Follow history’s thread

Church of Saint Lazarus Larnaca — *Church of Saint Lazarus*

Don’t miss the historic Church of Saint Lazarus. Built in the late 9th century over the saint’s tomb, it’s one of just three Byzantine churches preserved in Cyprus today. The beautiful building has a rich history: it served as a Catholic church during the Venetian era (13th–16th century), a mosque for a short time after the fall of Constantinople, and then as both a Catholic and Orthodox church for approximately 200 years, before becoming purely Orthodox. Its long history is written into its architecture. The church holds a special place in the city’s religious life, culminating on Lazarus Saturday, when the saint’s icon is carried through the streets.

Keep your date with tradition at Stavrovouni Monastery, a striking monastery perched on rocky Stavrovouni Hill at 750 meters, where a relic of the True Cross is kept. And don’t overlook Panagia Faneromeni, a distinctive 1872 church you’ll come across while strolling the Old Town.

Wander the city’s picturesque lanes

The Palm Trees Promenade Larnaca — *The Palm Trees Promenade*

Set the guidebooks and maps aside. Lace up comfy shoes and wander the city’s pretty backstreets to find colorful corners at your own pace.

We love that the Larnaka Tourism Board offers two free guided cultural walks. The walks “Larnaka – Past and Present” and “Skala – Its Craftsmen” deserve your time.

The first runs every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., starts from Vasileos Pavlou Square, and includes: protected historic buildings from the colonial period; perhaps the island’s most beautiful seafront road—the Palm Trees Promenade; the Valsamakis House; Kleanthis Kalogera Street and the Old Market; the old craftsmen’s shops; major Byzantine monuments like the Church of Saint Lazarus; Bekir Pasha Street; Ermou—now with its own paved square full of all-day spots; the Armenian Church of Saint Stephen; Lord Byron and Zinonos Kitieos streets; plus a pass by the Pierides Museum and other historic buildings.
The second walk runs every Friday at 10:00 a.m. and focuses on the seafront area near the Medieval Castle and Saint Lazarus, with the traditional workshops of Skala’s craftsmen. The route includes a stroll through the old Turkish-Cypriot quarter of Skala, with traditional houses boasting handsome balconies, and the streets Eski Carsi, Buyuk Cami, and Said Mehment, where you’ll admire listed mansions of notable architecture, as well as Ak Deniz and Bozkurt streets, where the city’s artisan workshops will delight you.

Sports and activities

Choices overflow in Larnaka. Go water-skiing, wakeboarding, bodyboarding, jet skiing, windsurfing, canoeing, kayaking—or catch the wind kitesurfing—at pretty Faros Beach in Perivolia or at Mackenzie Beach. Pedal the gorgeous seafront (the Palm Trees Promenade) past photo-ready Finikoudes. And yes, dive the famed “Zenobia” wreck: a 172-meter Swedish Ro-Ro ferry that sank in 1980 with 108 trucks aboard—pure bliss for wreck divers.

Spend a nature-filled day at Camel Park

If diving feels a bit much, switch gears and plan a nature-filled day at Camel Park in the village of Mazotos, just 15 minutes from Larnaka Airport. Families love it. Kids can feed camels with carobs and meet donkeys, ponies, horses, deer, ostriches—even kangaroos. There’s a pool and pool bar, games, bumper cars, a trampoline, a small aquarium, a museum, and plenty of places to eat. Smiles guaranteed.

Marvel at The Petreon Sculpture Park

Petreon Sculpture Park Larnaca — *Petreon Sculpture Park*

Mazotos also hides the striking Petreon Sculpture Park. It’s an open-air exhibition set among cactus gardens, with stone works of all sizes by Savvas Koulendros. You’ll also find the Liasideio Amphitheatre and the Archontariki, which host occasional shows and exhibits, plus a small stone chapel. Don’t miss the 8.5-meter Petraios— a figure seeming to rise straight from rock. Unforgettable.

Visit Golden Donkeys Farm

Golden Donkeys Farm Larnaca — *Golden Donkeys Farm*

For a different kind of day, visit “Golden Donkeys Farm,” Cyprus’s largest donkey-breeding farm on the Georgiadis estate, where they even craft products from donkey milk. This themed park sits in Skarinou (Memila area), a small community in the Larnaka district right on the island’s main artery that links the city with Nicosia and Limassol.

A stroll along Finikoudes

Finikoudes, Larnaka’s central, bustling seafront promenade, runs parallel to Athinon Avenue and is the city’s classic “peratzada.” Palms lining both sides will give you a hint of Los Angeles—only with a Mediterranean soul. The city’s heartbeat is here, and this is where you’ll take your romantic walk, starting at the Medieval Castle and ending at the beautiful marina, where you can gaze at yachts and sailboats. Pause at the statue of the ancient philosopher and founder of the Stoic school, Zeno, born in Larnaka in 334 BC. Near City Hall Square you’ll also find the bust of another great, Cimon the Athenian, engraved with “Kαι νεκρός ενίκα.”

Get to know the Larnaca Marina

Late afternoon, after your promenade, head to the Marina to unwind, watch the yachts and sailboats, snap a keepsake photo, savor a romantic Larnaka memory.

Explore Europe Square

Europe Square got its name when Larnaka’s municipality chose to honor the united Europe. Here you’ll find some of the finest examples of 1881 British colonial architecture. The former customs warehouses and offices, now renovated, house the Municipal Art Gallery, the Museum of the Historical Archives of Larnaka, and the city’s Cultural Services. Fun fact: the colonial customs warehouses won the Europa Nostra Award in 1996.

A date with the city’s culture

Don’t skip Choirokoitia, one of the most representative Neolithic settlements. It lies in the valley of the Agios Minas River, at the foothills of the Troodos range, just 6 km from the sea. The circular houses will spark your curiosity to learn everything about this Neolithic site, brought to light in 1934 by archaeologist Porphyrios Dikaios. Another key Neolithic site is near the village of Kalavasos in Larnaka district: the famed settlement of Tenta.
Also visit Panagia tou Kampou, not far from the remains of Choirokoitia. The church once belonged to the Templars and later to the Knights of St. John.
Within modern Larnaca you’ll find the archaeological site of Kition, which includes the two locations of Kathari and Pampoula—ready to introduce you to ancient Kition’s history. Admission is just €2.50.

Larnaca Medieval Castle

The Medieval Castle—also known as Larnaka Fort—stands at the end of the Finikoudes seafront. This handsome fortress lends the shoreline a whiff of another era. Today it houses Larnaca’s small Medieval Museum, where three rooms display finds from the Early Christian period and the years of Ottoman rule.

A wander through the Kamares

Make time for the Old Aqueduct of Larnaca (part of it is visible from the Larnaka–Limassol road), known as Kamares, beautifully illuminated at night. Built in 1750 by the Ottoman governor Abu Bekir Pasha, the aqueduct operated until 1939 and consisted of 75 arches that carried water from the Tremithos River into Larnaka.