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Although the summit of Mount Olympus can be reached by car, hiking to the peak on foot offers a greater sense of achievement. Start from the Troodos resort car park and follow the signposted Atalante Trail, which is waymarked by strategically positioned red dots. Following the 1,750-m (5,750-ft) contour, this is an undemanding walk for most of the way, through pine and juniper woods, where birds and butterflies flit and with glimpses of the sea and the plains far below. Covering a little over 16 km (10 miles) and only 200 m (650 ft) in altitude, this walk can be completed in a morning by anyone of reasonable fitness, but comfortable trainers or walking boots, water and – especially in summer – a hat and sunblock are musts.

After around three hours, the so-called Atalante Trail connects with the Artemis Trail (see Artemis Trail) and a detour upward to the summit (you can’t miss the giant radar masts and telecom towers) then loops back down to the Troodos resort. En route you will pass mineral formations and information markers supplied by the tourist office that point out the indigenous plants and wildlife of the region.

At the summit are the ruins of a 16th-century Venetian fortress, built in a vain attempt to defend the island against the invading Ottomans.

Your walk completed, enjoy a lunch of fresh trout in Pano Platres.

This traditional taverna is an ideal year-round choice: in warm weather there are tables outside under a shady terrace, and in the cooler months there is a large, cosy indoor dining room. The menu runs the gamut of Cypriot dishes to grilled trout and international favourites.

Unique among the island’s monasteries because it has changed little since its foundation some time during the 11th century, Agios Ioannis Lampadistis is set beside a sacred spring and is incredibly well preserved. A riot of colourful 13th- to 15th-century frescoes, covering the walls of the three chapels that nestle together under one pitched roof, depicts much of the gospel (see Agios Ioannis Lampadistis).

The focal point of this hillside spot is a giant juniper tree, said to be the oldest tree on the island.

This arched stone bridge – one of many in the area – crossing a stream bed is testament to the skills of the Venetians who drove a highway through these hills. Mule trains carried copper ore from the Troodos mines to the harbour at Pafos.

Fini is famous for its pottery and the highlight of the village is its Pottery Museum, with jars, oil lamps and old kilns.

A British expat’s home from home, with a nostalgic 1970s-style menu of prawn cocktail, chicken Kiev and Black Forest Gâteau.

The precarious-looking balconies of handsome old village houses overhang the narrow main street of this old-fashioned community, which is about 2 km (1 mile) above Kakopetria. The village is located above a fast-flowing mountain stream. An ideal base from which to explore the nearby Troodos churches.