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Cyprus’s capital city is a mélange of medieval, colonial and modern influences. Within the brooding ramparts built by the Venetians are the narrow pedestrian streets and prettily restored buildings of the Laiki Geitonia pedestrianized district, full of souvenir shops and cafés. But the city also offers more than a day’s worth of museums and heritage sites celebrating every aspect of the Nicosia’s history, from its ancient past to its traditional crafts (see Nicosia Walled City).

A treasury of archaeological finds here, uncovered from sites all over Cyprus, wonderfully illustrate the island’s historic past and make this the most fascinating of all its many museums. Exhibits highlight the marvellous skills of sculptors, metalworkers, potters, painters and other craftsmen across more than four millennia (see Cyprus Museum, Nicosia).

Not so long ago, Aglandjia, which dates back as far as 3888 BC, was a village community in its own right, thriving on agriculture, stockbreeding and quarrying. Today, although it has become virtually a suburb of Nicosia, it still retains a village ambience, with a handful of pretty 18th-century churches. Among these is the one-domed, arch-roofed Agiou Georgiou church, which contains a woodcut iconostasis decorated with images of baskets and flowers.

The unique Pancyprian Geographical Museum – the only one of its kind in Cyprus – within an attractively restored traditional building is the main reason for visiting Strovolos. It is dedicated to the island’s geology, with displays of minerals, especially copper, which made Cyprus wealthy in pre-Christian times, and semiprecious stones. The town itself is built around the 18th-century church of Agios Georgios (one of half a dozen churches named after St George in this part of Cyprus). Like Aglandjia, Strovolos is now on the verge of becoming a suburb of Nicosia.

The pretty, late 17th-century church of Agios Dometios is the main attraction of this village community, quite unchanged by time. Although it’s on the outskirts of the capital, Agios Dometios still moves at its own leisurely pace, and it’s a nice spot to stop for a coffee or a cold drink.

Two pretty churches are the jewels of this village. Although they are not that old by Cypriot standards – the Church of the Archangel dates from the 18th century and the church of Agia Barbara is a mere late 19th-century addition – they are worth seeing nonetheless for the riot of ornate carving, silver-framed icons and votive candles that are so typical of the Orthodox faith.

Plunging through rugged scenery, the Kakaristra Gorge at Latsia is this hillside village’s most important landmark. It can be explored alone, or with a local guide. Incongruously but entertainingly, the nearby Carlsberg Brewery (see Carslberg), just outside the village, is open for visits and houses the Photos Photiades Foundation’s natural history museum, an exotic glory-hole of stuffed, fossilized and pickled snakes, birds, mammals and marine creatures.

Located some 25 km (15 miles) south of Nicosia, this village is best known for its olive groves (Lythrodontas claims to have more olive trees than any other village in Cyprus) and “Avli”, a beautifully restored complex of traditional buildings offering accommodation. The nearby abandoned Monastery of Prophitis Elias is worth a visit.

A lively farming village that comprises not much more than a main street lined with shops and a scattering of traditional cafés and a village church, Dali offers a taste of Cypriot life largely untainted by tourism. It takes its name from one of Cyprus’s most ancient city states, Idalion, which archaeologists are continuing to explore nearby. Also nearby are the much ruined, but still haunting, remains of a Gothic church and summer palace of the Lusignan kings, who came here to escape the heat of summer on the coasts (see Ancient Idalion).

If you want to see the effects of the division of the island since 1974 on a rural community, Potamia is a good place to start. Until 1974, it was approximately half Greek and half Turkish Cypriot, but today only a handful of Turkish Cypriots remain, while exiled Greek Cypriots have moved into properties abandoned by those who left. The village overlooks the “buffer zone” that divides the south of the island from the occupied North. Potamia was also the site of a fortified royal villa, built in the 14th century for the Lusignan King James I but destroyed by Ottoman invaders 1426. A ruined shell on the outskirts of the modern village is all that now remains.