TOP 21 best attractions in Limassol

The south­ern­most city in Europe has some­thing to sur­prise tourists. The sights of Limas­sol are a fusion of arti­facts of ancient civ­i­liza­tions, beau­ti­ful nature and excel­lent cui­sine.

Who and why goes to Limassol

The wind­ing streets of the resort seem to lead into the past — they have not changed much over the past few cen­turies. The majes­tic ruins of palaces and tem­ples are an exam­ple of ref­er­ence archi­tec­ture, which is copied to this day. His­to­ry lovers and aes­thetes will want to enjoy this mon­u­men­tal beau­ty.

The city’s muse­ums fea­ture inter­est­ing and some­times quite unusu­al dis­plays — from col­lec­tions of ancient arti­facts to unique bot­tles of wine. Vis­it­ing exhi­bi­tions will def­i­nite­ly not be bor­ing and will be a wor­thy alter­na­tive to lazy lying on the beach.

Architecture

Church of the Holy Trinity

The tem­ple was built in 1919 on the site of a monastery destroyed by the Turks. The white build­ing with red tiles is buried in the shade of green trees. Unlike sim­i­lar struc­tures on the island, the church is replete with dec­o­ra­tive details inside and out.

The build­ing is made in the form of a cross, the roof is crowned with a large dome. Bell tow­ers rise on both sides of the entrance. The columns are dec­o­rat­ed with carv­ings depict­ing grapes, and the triple arched win­dows refer to the divine trin­i­ty.

The inte­ri­or walls of the church are lav­ish­ly paint­ed with scenes from the Bible and faces of saints. The main rel­ic of the tem­ple is the icon of the Holy Trin­i­ty in a sil­ver frame. It can be seen in the cen­tral part of the 3‑tier carved iconos­ta­sis.

Limassol Castle

The cas­tle was built in the 14th cen­tu­ry on the foun­da­tions of a ruined Byzan­tine fortress. Dur­ing the Ottoman rule, the build­ing under­went a major mod­ern­iza­tion, becom­ing an impreg­nable citadel. At the same time, the first prison cells appeared in it. They were active­ly used in the XIX-XX cen­turies to con­tain crim­i­nals of all stripes.

In 1950, the fort was trans­ferred to the Depart­ment of Antiq­ui­ties, which opened its own muse­um in it. Its expo­si­tion includes coins, weapons, jew­el­ry and ceram­ics. Tomb­stones of knights of the 14th cen­tu­ry are exhib­it­ed in a sep­a­rate room.

Monastery of Saint George Alamanu

In the sub­urbs of Limas­sol, there is a nun­nery found­ed in the 12th cen­tu­ry. It is named after a monk who lived in these places. The monk per­formed mir­a­cles, healed the sick and preached Chris­tian­i­ty among the inhab­i­tants who believed in ancient gods.

The monastery exist­ed until the Mid­dle Ages, and then fell into dis­re­pair. But at the end of the 19th cen­tu­ry it was revived. Today, about 20 novices live here. They pre­pare hon­ey, make jam and paint icons. The fruits of their labors can be pur­chased in a small shop at the monastery. There is also a spring on the ter­ri­to­ry of the monastery, the waters of which are con­sid­ered heal­ing.

Kolossi Castle

The cas­tle was built in the 13th cen­tu­ry under King Hugh I de Lusig­nan. Then Kolos­si went to the Tem­plars — they sig­nif­i­cant­ly rebuilt the build­ing, turn­ing it into an impreg­nable fortress. A small bridge across the moat leads to the ter­ri­to­ry of the citadel.

The key ele­ment of the archi­tec­tur­al group is a 3‑story tow­er 24 m high. Its facade is dec­o­rat­ed with the roy­al coat of arms and the coat of arms of Jerusalem, which was once owned by the Luisanov fam­i­ly.

Anoth­er attrac­tion is the ruins of a sug­ar cane pro­cess­ing fac­to­ry. The Tem­plars not only fought, but also farmed, they also “invent­ed” the wine “Com­man­daria”, pop­u­lar all over the world.

Cathedral of Agia Napa

The most vis­it­ed cathe­dral in Limas­sol was built in 1903 on the site of a destroyed church. The archi­tect Papadakis com­bined Greek and Byzan­tine church styles in the exter­nal appear­ance of the build­ing.

On both sides of the main entrance are mas­sive 4‑coal tow­ers. Stained-glass win­dows are insert­ed into open­work win­dows. Carved stone pat­terns com­plete the exte­ri­or. Inside, parish­ioners are greet­ed by lav­ish dec­o­ra­tion: murals, stuc­co, gild­ed columns.

The main val­ue of the tem­ple is an icon depict­ing Christ sur­round­ed by 12 apos­tles. The shrine is embroi­dered by hand with silk threads and dec­o­rat­ed with gold­en lace.

Sanctuary of Apollo Khilatsky

A few kilo­me­ters from the ruins of ancient Kou­ri­on lies a tem­ple com­plex glo­ri­fy­ing Apol­lo. Once the most impor­tant reli­gious build­ing, it has exist­ed since 700 BC. before 300 AD Pil­grims from all over the island flocked here to wor­ship the god of the forests.

It was pos­si­ble to enter the sanc­tu­ary through the east­ern or west­ern gates. In the cen­ter, sur­round­ed by cypress­es, stood a tem­ple. There was the main altar — only the high priest could approach it. Today, only frag­ments of columns, a por­ti­co and stairs remain from the build­ing.

Out­build­ings, rooms where pil­grims stayed, baths and a gym were locat­ed near the tem­ple. It host­ed com­pe­ti­tions in hon­or of Apol­lo.

Museums

Archaeological Museum

This small muse­um occu­pies only 3 rooms. It exhibits archae­o­log­i­cal finds dat­ing back to the Neolith­ic peri­od. You should def­i­nite­ly look at ceram­ics, house­hold items, jew­el­ry made by skilled ancient crafts­men, as well as amphoras, Greek and Roman stat­ues.

Some prod­ucts, such as glass bot­tles for essen­tial oils, look quite mod­ern — in fact, they are at least a thou­sand years old.

Wine Museum

The muse­um is locat­ed in the vil­lage of Emiri. Once upon a time, trade wine routes inter­sect­ed here — near­by is the old­est vine­yard and the Tem­plar cas­tle, in which Com­man­daria wine was first pre­pared.

The expo­si­tion is locat­ed in a pri­vate man­sion. The exhi­bi­tion tells about the his­to­ry of wine­mak­ing in the region. Here are ancient amphorae, as well as con­tain­ers of var­i­ous forms for stor­ing and serv­ing wine. The old­est jug is over 2000 years old.

Folk Art Museum

One of the most inter­est­ing muse­ums was opened in 1985 in an old 19th cen­tu­ry man­sion. The col­lec­tion con­sists of items and out­landish giz­mos made by Cypri­ots in the 19th and ear­ly 20th cen­turies.

The exhibits occu­py six halls. They con­tain hand­made home tex­tiles, fur­ni­ture, clothes, house­hold items and dec­o­ra­tions. We advise you to linger at the stands with bead­work and local porce­lain.

The muse­um fund is con­stant­ly replen­ished. In attics and mez­za­nines, Cypri­ots often find unusu­al things that belonged to their grand­par­ents. Con­scious cit­i­zens are in no hur­ry to throw it all away, but take it to the muse­um.

Theater Museum

The muse­um grew out of the pri­vate col­lec­tion of an ama­teur actor. He was pas­sion­ate­ly fond of the the­ater, so he col­lect­ed every­thing con­nect­ed with it. Expo­si­tions with posters, pho­tographs, cos­tumes and scenery ele­ments will acquaint you in detail with the evo­lu­tion of the­atri­cal art in Cyprus. The exhi­bi­tion cov­ers dif­fer­ent time peri­ods — from antiq­ui­ty to the present day.

Factory KEO

The largest win­ery in Cyprus opened in 1927. It is locat­ed in close prox­im­i­ty to the Old Port. Once a small pro­duc­tion, it grad­u­al­ly expand­ed and launched new prod­ucts. So, in 1951, the plant opened its own brew­ery, which now pro­duces more than 300 thou­sand liters of intox­i­cat­ing drink every month.

Most of all, KEO is famous for its Com­man­daria wine, which is made accord­ing to a ref­er­ence recipe. Sweet grapes and only nat­ur­al prod­ucts are used as raw mate­ri­als — no “chem­istry” to speed up the process.

Tourists are invit­ed to vis­it the work­shops, get acquaint­ed with the process of mak­ing wine, vis­it the cel­lars and taste the best drinks of the plant — from weak to strong.

Medieval Museum

The muse­um is locat­ed in Limas­sol Cas­tle. Despite the name “medieval”, the pre­sent­ed exhibits often go beyond the des­ig­nat­ed time frame.

Arti­facts date back to the III-XVIII cen­turies. These are tools, lamps, jew­el­ry, house­hold and reli­gious items, frag­ments of Byzan­tine build­ings, fres­coes made using the sgraf­fi­to tech­nique, as well as tomb­stones from tem­ples.

City Art Gallery

This is one of the largest gal­leries in Cyprus, which con­tains con­tem­po­rary art. The muse­um was solemn­ly opened in 1984 in the pres­ence of promi­nent state and cul­tur­al fig­ures.

The expo­si­tion presents the works of out­stand­ing local mas­ters. Among them are Vic­tor Ioan­nides, Tile­makhus Kan­tos, Takis Fran­goudes and oth­ers. Tourists can see paint­ings, graph­ics, sculp­tures and instal­la­tions.

Interesting places

Amathus

Also known as Amath­ous, the city of Amath­us is the old­est set­tle­ment in Cyprus. It was found­ed over 2000 years ago by Kinir, the first king of the island and the father of Ado­nis. Due to its con­ve­nient loca­tion, Amath­us played an impor­tant eco­nom­ic role. The port, built in a con­ve­nient har­bor, was vis­it­ed by mer­chant ships from all over the region.

Alas, the city was seri­ous­ly dam­aged after the con­quest by Alexan­der the Great. With the spread of Chris­tian­i­ty, the cult of Aphrodite (patron of Amath­us) and her beloved Ado­nis end­ed. The set­tle­ment grad­u­al­ly turned into ruins.

The first exca­va­tions were car­ried out here in the 19th cen­tu­ry. Sci­en­tists have dis­cov­ered the remains of tem­ples, the acrop­o­lis, port facil­i­ties and frag­ments of the fortress wall.

Seaside Park Molos

The pic­turesque prom­e­nade stretch­es from the Old Port to the zoo. It is always crowd­ed here, and a sim­ple walk, if desired, can turn into an inter­est­ing pas­time. There are cafes, restau­rants, attrac­tions, play­grounds for chil­dren and active sports in the park. Bicy­cles and scoot­ers are avail­able for rent.

There are bizarre sculp­tures on per­fect­ly even lawns. Numer­ous bench­es fac­ing the sea allow you to enjoy the majesty of the water ele­ment and stun­ning sun­sets.

Kourion

The city-state arose in the 12th cen­tu­ry BC. Dur­ing its long his­to­ry it has belonged to the Myce­naeans, Byzan­tines, Greeks and Romans. Dur­ing the peri­od of dom­i­na­tion of the lat­ter, it reached its eco­nom­ic and cul­tur­al hey­day. The ancient civ­i­liza­tion was destroyed by the strongest earth­quake of the 4th cen­tu­ry. The exca­va­tions of Kou­ri­on began in the 19th cen­tu­ry. and con­tin­ue to this day.

Guests of Limas­sol can now see the ruins of the main gate, the remains of the bish­op’s res­i­dence, as well as a build­ing called “Achilles Mosaics”. Mosa­ic pan­els on the walls and floor depict the exploits of the Greek hero. But the great­est impres­sion will leave a vis­it to the amphithe­ater. Its stands and stage have sur­vived to this day in good con­di­tion. They are often used for fes­ti­vals and cul­tur­al events.

Olive Park Oleastro

The theme park is locat­ed at the olive oil fac­to­ry. In addi­tion to walk­ing through olive groves, tourists are offered to get acquaint­ed with the stages of pro­duc­tion of this use­ful prod­uct.

Genre scenes from the recent past are recre­at­ed in spe­cial­ly equipped rooms: olive pick­ing, pro­cess­ing, oil bot­tling. Vis­it­ing exhi­bi­tions involves mov­ing around the pic­turesque ter­ri­to­ry of the farm.

Limassol Marina

The col­or­ful area, where elite hous­ing has been built, fash­ion­able restau­rants and expen­sive bou­tiques are locat­ed, will be a great place for an evening walk.

Snow-white yachts and boats will com­ple­ment the land­scape, and the pho­tos tak­en here promise to be orig­i­nal and mem­o­rable. Dur­ing the day, water ski­ing, wind­surf­ing and sail­ing are com­mon in the har­bor.

natural attractions

Grotto White Stones

This unusu­al place is locat­ed next to Ala­manos beach in the sub­urbs of Limas­sol. The rocks descend­ing to the sea are formed by lime­stone, which con­tains prac­ti­cal­ly no impu­ri­ties. Thanks to this rare geo­log­i­cal phe­nom­e­non, the rock has a pure white col­or that lit­er­al­ly shines against the blue water.

Time and wind cut the boul­ders into bizarre shapes, and the waves cut through the grot­toes and formed qui­et lagoons for swim­ming. The rocks change col­or depend­ing on the time of day: at dawn they turn pink, dur­ing the day they sparkle like snow, and when the sun goes below the hori­zon, they acquire a yel­low­ish tint.

Rock of Aphrodite

Accord­ing to ancient myths, it was here that the god­dess Aphrodite came ashore from the sea foam. Anoth­er name for the rock is Petra tou Romiou. Accord­ing to leg­end, a very real hero named Dige­nis Akri­tas dropped huge boul­ders from this rock on pirates, pre­vent­ing them from enter­ing the island. The defen­sive action was a suc­cess.

Salt Lake Akrotiri

Lake Akrotiri is locat­ed on the cape of the same name. Despite the rather large area of ​​the water mir­ror (about 11 sq. km), its depth does not exceed 1 m, or even 30 cm. Shal­low water has formed an ide­al habi­tat for birds.

There are espe­cial­ly a lot of them here in the win­ter months, when birds fly in to hide from bad weath­er and cold. Flocks of pink flamin­gos are espe­cial­ly impres­sive.