DK Travel : Cyprus : Northern Cyprus : Editor's choice

Northern Cyprus : Editor's choice

Antifonitis Monastery

A painted Pantokrator (Christ) gazes down from the dome of this 12th-century church.
Encomi-Alasia

The best-preserved Bronze Age settlement on the island.
Iskele

This town’s Byzantine church is decorated with fluid frescoes.
Kyrenia Castle

Within Kyrenia Castle is the Shipwreck Museum, housing the world’s oldest wrecked ship – sunk around 300 BC and salvaged in 1967 – complete with its ancient cargo of wine-jars and grindstones. Also here is the fascinating Tomb-Finds Gallery, which displays Neolithic, Bronze Age and Hellenistic treasures.
Kyrenia Decorative Arts Museum

This collection of Ottoman furniture, Oriental vases and prints of old Kyrenia is housed in a colonial villa.
Kyrenia Folk Art Museum

Traditional implements such as the wooden olive-oil press on display here were in use only a generation ago.
Lefka

Lefka has the feel of a desert oasis town, heightened by its mosque standing alone in a grove of palm trees.
Royal Tombs

These Bronze Age graves have revealed gold, ivory and bronze objects that were meant to accompany kings into the afterlife. Most are now in the Cyprus Museum (see Cyprus Museum, Nicosia) but replicas are on-site.
Soloi

Mosaics of birds and animals can be seen in the basilica of this ruined 5th-century BC town.
Vouni

Built around 480 BC, the royal palace’s design in this village shows clear Persian influences.