LARNAKA, Cyprus -- Travelers who want to help pick grapes, join in
harvesting oranges or chat over coffee with Cypriots in their
village squares represent the growing numbers of those seeking what
is known as "agrotourism" accommodations in restored, traditional
village houses.
Cyprus offers traditional tour packages, including a new
customized culinary itinerary.
Agrotourism accommodations are available in houses in villages
throughout Cyprus. The houses have been restored to their
traditional style, creating value-priced accommodations for 254
visitors at a given time.
Most of the villages have cobbled streets and public squares,
where residents traditionally meet to savor coffee and
conversation.
Agrotourism stays enable visitors to partake of the slow rhythm
of Cypriot village life and join local residents in their
traditions, tourism officials said. Nightly prices start at $20 in
winter and $32 in summer.
Some houses have been converted into small museums and cultural
centers in the villages of Kato Lefkara, Chirokitia, Lofou, Kato
Pachna, Phiti and Vouni. The Cyprus Tourism Organization also is
planning to create a series of nature trails and other facilities
in agrotourism villages. The tourism organization also plans to
create a central reservations system for the village
accommodations, forming the Cyprus Agrotourism Co. to administer
the program.
Packages featuring a one-bedroom apartment for a week, including
car rental and taxes, start at $200 per person, according to
tourism officials.
Tochni and Kalavassos in the Larnaka district have the most
tourism establishments, but others exist throughout the
countryside. Kakopetria, for instance, in the pine and cedar
forests of the Troodos Mountains, reveals the pastoral side of
Cyprus. Here, visitors can fish for trout in the streams that run
by the Byzantine church Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis -- one of nine
churches designated by Unesco as a World Heritage site.
Danae House in Tochni has a swimming pool, is about three miles
from a beach and is a 30-minute drive from Cyprus' three major
cities: Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca.
Cyprus villages has 25 apartments in traditional houses in
Tochni and 15 in Kalavasos and can be reached at (011) 357
433-2998.
The Kontoyiannis House has three one-bedroom cottages and a
two-bedroom apartment. It can be reached at (011) 357 535-9305.
Tour operators offer packages with more traditional types of
accommodations as well as air from New York. The following examples
are per person, double, prices.
Homeric Tours is offering 10-night trips starting at $1,499
with three nights in Limassol, four nights in Paphos and an
overnight cruise to Israel. All meals and shore excursions on the
cruise; a half-day tour of Paphos; a full day tour to Troodos and
the Kykko monastery; transfers, and hotel taxes and service charges
are covered.Sunnyland offers a 14-night archaeology cruise-tour to Greece,
Cyprus, Israel and Egypt, from $2,095, until March 2000. The
package includes a seaview hotel room in Cyprus, an outside
stateroom cabin on the two-night cruise to Israel and Egypt, meals
and shore excursions during the cruise, port taxes, superior hotel
in Greece, all transfers, tours and transportation.Amelia Tours of Hicks-ville, N.Y., which specializes in
cultural tours to Cyprus, is offering seven-night, land-only
packages priced from $688, including breakfast and dinner daily
from January through April 1, after which the price increases to
$912.Homeric Tours, Phone: (800) 223-5570, Fax: (212) 753-0319
Sunnyland Tours, Phone: (800) 783-7839
Amelia Tours, Phone: (800) 742-4591.
The Cyprus Tourism Organization, Phone: (212) 683-5280, Web:
www.cyprustourism.org