Private tours of Cyprus

Getting to know a new country and its people is one of the reasons we travel abroad.

The unknown, the new and the intriguing have always held a fascination for romantics and travellers alike. Many ‘seasoned travellers’ prefer to hire a car and explore an unfamiliar resort on their own; however, not everyone wants to act as both driver and tour guide at the same time.

You may not fancy getting behind the wheel in an unfamiliar country, nor do you want to pore over guidebooks on your own; instead, you’d like a pleasant companion to take you by the hand, show you the most interesting sights and tell you fascinating stories about the country.

In this sense, a private tour is an excellent alternative to both independent travel and group tours.

Group vs private tours

Some tourists avoid group tours for a number of reasons:

• Not everyone likes getting up too early and then travelling round the tourist area by coach, picking up tourists from other hotels.
• On a group tour, we’re forced to be disciplined and stick to the itinerary, but sometimes you just want to linger a bit longer at a place you’ve really enjoyed!
• Inappropriate jokes and laughter, as well as the boisterous behaviour of fellow travellers, are often a source of irritation. To be honest, when abroad we often prefer to find ourselves amongst foreigners rather than our own compatriots.
• The tour guide is forced to divide their attention between several dozen tourists, whilst we’d love to ask them so many questions.

A private tour is free from all the drawbacks described above. We can enjoy the journey in a comfortable car with a polite and knowledgeable guide-driver.

The itinerary and schedule are entirely up to us: at the very start of the trip, we agree on a route with the guide, which can easily be adjusted as we go along. We can stop wherever we like, sit on a bench in the shade of a cypress tree and admire the picturesque mountain valley, or pop into a mountain tavern for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.

Seasickness won’t be a major problem, and the guide is always on hand, ready to answer any questions.

Some people opt out of private tours purely for financial reasons. It is often thought that such trips are unreasonably expensive. Is this really the case?

Prices for private tours in Cyprus

The base price for a private tour from Cyprus Inform is €280. This covers an 8-hour trip from Limassol for 2–4 people.

It is easy to compare this price with the cost

of a group tour. The popular ‘Grand Kykkos’ tour for a family of four (two adults and two children) costs an average of €200.

More specifically, the price of a private tour is calculated based on the number of participants, the city from which the tour departs, and the chosen car class (see below for details).

Features of private tours in Cyprus

Cyprus is a developed country and a member of the European Union, and in the vast majority of areas of daily life, European standards prevail here. The tourism sector is regulated by legislation and licensing requirements. It is virtually impossible to go on a group tour in a faulty coach with an unlicensed guide.

The situation is quite different when it comes to private tours. In theory, a tourist can travel around the island with a friend or take a taxi: it is extremely difficult to regulate the market for private tours. As a result, there is no shortage of malpractice in this sector.

Illegal ‘tour guides’ are often very pushy: they solicit tourists for tours on the promenade, at café tables and even out at sea, either by sailing closer to the shore or by waiting on the beach. Any taxi driver will offer to ‘take you on a tour of the island for a small fee’.

Such offers have one advantage: the price is lower than the market average for private tours. Everything else is open to criticism. That said, the ‘guide’s’ low level of education, as well as their often poor command of Russian, is not the worst of it. Far more dangerous are the poor condition of the vehicle, the lack of passenger insurance and insufficient experience of driving on Cyprus’s mountain roads.

Official companies organising tours in Cyprus are licensed, and their operations are monitored by regulatory bodies.

Operating actively under a consistent brand name means it is impossible to avoid critical comments online, whilst positive reviews of the company’s services serve as the best recommendation.

Private tours from Cyprus Inform

At your service is a team of qualified tour guides with higher education in the humanities and Russian as their native language.

Guides from Cyprus Inform are professional drivers and tour guides working legally in the tourism sector. For example, as you approach Kykkos Monastery, you won’t be asked to ‘say you’re visiting a relative if necessary’, and once inside the monastery, your guide won’t pretend that you’re strangers.

A standard tour lasts 8 hours, however, you decide the start time of the tour, as well as its route and duration, together with your guide, based on your personal preferences: the history of Cyprus, the island’s natural beauty, Orthodox holy sites, archaeological attractions and much more.

The descriptions of the group tours can serve as a guide: any of these tours can be used as a basis and adapted to suit your wishes.

‘Cyprus Inform’ has its own fleet of new cars:

• Nissan Qashqai
• Mercedes E-Class
• Nissan NV200 (up to 6 people)
• Mercedes S-Class
• BMW 520
• Mercedes Viano (up to 6 people)

Have a safe journey!

We wish you pleasant journeys and exciting trips! We are sincerely grateful for your comments and constructive feedback. We take your feedback on our work very seriously, as it helps us improve our service.

To book a tour, you can fill in the online booking form, email us at: orShow email call us on: +357 25 310 692.