Cyprus on €18/Day: How I Slept in an €8 Rental Car

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE

Cyprus is home to Nicosia – the last divided capital in Europe:

ITEM	COST (2P)	NOTES
Car Rental	€54.29	€7.76/day via DiscoverCars, 7 days, €3/Day Rental Car Guide.
Fuel	€56.00	€8/day. ~650 km
Stay	€0.00	Slept in the rental car.
Food	€116.00	€8.29/day per person. Shopped at Lidl.
Sights	€23.00	Per person: €4.50 Nea Paphos, €4.50 Kourion, €2.50 Tombs of the Kings.
TOTAL	€249.29	7 days at €17.81/day per person

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Getting There

Larnaca (LCA) and Paphos (PFO) are the two main airports in Cyprus. Ryanair and Wizz Air cover both – flights under €30 are possible to Italy, Poland, Greece, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and others. Check the flexible date search on Skyscanner if your dates are open.

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Car Rental at Larnaca Airport

• Cost: We paid €54.29 for 7 days (€7.76/day) via DiscoverCars (my review).
• Current Prices: Kia Picanto from €52.30/week (€7.47/day) at the time of writing. Larnaca is the cheapest pickup point – Paphos is close. Full European Rental Comparison.
• Provider: AutoRent MC. 5/5. Larnaca branch. Quick process, smooth return, friendly service.
• Vehicle: Škoda Fabia (booked: Economy – Škoda Fabia or similar).
• Excess: €1,000. Deposit: €1,000. Debit cards accepted. We were covered by Cover4Rentals and declined rental desk coverage. Full process: €3/Day Rental Car Guide.
• Tolls: No toll roads in Cyprus.
• Fuel: Google Maps doesn’t show real-time fuel prices. Use cyprusfuelguide.com to find the cheapest station nearby.

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Sleeping in a Rental Car in Cyprus

Škoda Fabia. 4/5. Compact. The model was older and the rear seats didn’t fold easily – we ended up removing the seat bases entirely and stacking them behind the front passenger seats to fill the gap. With inflatable mats it turned out surprisingly comfortable for two people. Full sleeping audit: Best Rental Cars to Sleep In.

• Legality: Unclear, generally tolerated. Don’t draw attention. Full guide: Sleeping in Rental Cars.
• Facilities: Public toilets are sparse – mainly in cities and towns.
• Overnight Spots: Search park4night app for marked spots. I’ve also linked our actual sleeping spots in the Route section below. Full setup guide: Sleeping in Rental Cars.
• Backup Accommodation: Booking.com generally has the widest selection and lowest prices, but you need to manually sort by lowest price. I recommend filtering to 7.0+.

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Food

Lidl was our main base throughout – stocked up there for most meals. It’s by far the cheapest supermarket in Cyprus. We also had some vegetarian gyros for under €5.

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Route

We flew in from Warsaw and picked up the car at Larnaca Airport. It was pretty late, we shopped at Lidl and headed to our first sleeping spot – a dirt road pullover not far from the airport, just by the sea. Totally quiet night.

Day 1 – Larnaca, Limassol

We saw some flamingos while driving to our first stop of the day – Hala Sultan Tekke mosque with a bunch of friendly cats hanging out at the parking lot. The mosque is well kept, with only a handful of visitors around.

Afterwards, we visited Larnaca with its Holy Church of Saint Lazarus, which was unfortunately already closed for the day – check its hours, it sometimes closes early.

There are plenty of Orthodox churches full of art around. We visited a couple while on our way to Limassol where we spent the evening. We drove back 10km east of Limassol to sleep, in a place right by the sea near a restaurant that looked closed for the off season. At night there was some car that parked next to us, which was a bit awkward, but nobody ever bothered us – I don’t think they realized we were inside. Another peaceful night. There were toilets a little further, 5 minutes walk down the coast.

Day 2 – Kourion, Petra tou Romiou

We started the next day by driving to the Salt Lake area in Akrotiri, within the British-controlled Sovereign Base Area.

Heading on we quickly checked out Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates before stopping in Pissouri where we spent a couple of hours hiking on the coastal cliffs and Avdimou Beach – beautiful area and nobody around. We also went for a swim.

The day also included a visit to Kolossi Castle (exterior only, free) and Kourion Ancient Amphitheater (€4.50), which is heavily reconstructed but still impressive.

Before arriving in Paphos we stopped at a big landmark – Petra tou Romiou (Aphrodite’s Rock) – birthplace of Aphrodite according to Greek mythology. We went to a Paphos bar in the evening to watch some football. For the night we drove back around 10km east to sleep at a picnic site we found on park4night.

Day 3 – Paphos

We started off by visiting the Archaeological Site of Nea Paphos (€4.50) – one of the most significant ancient sites on the island. We spent a few hours walking around and checking out its mosaics before heading over to the Tombs of the Kings (€2.50), another archaeological site, much smaller, but particularly memorable as we could go underground into the tombs.

We spent the evening and had supper close to The Edro III Shipwreck – a picturesque shipwreck close to the coast, free to access. Then we headed north and found a parking lot next to a church where we spent a very peaceful night.

Day 4 – Avakas Gorge, Akamas Peninsula

Very close to our sleeping spot was Avakas Gorge – a beautiful place. We walked through it and looped back to the car. It took us a couple of hours. The dirt road to the parking lot was tricky to navigate with big ruts and potholes, but we took it very slow and were fine. We saw many smaller rentals like ours give up though.

The other trail we did that day was the Aphrodite Nature Trail in Akamas National Forest Park in the north-west – another 10km and quite a climb up. Coastal views and far fewer people than at Avakas Gorge.

We found our sleeping spot for the night without using the app, by driving on a dirt road next to the beach close to Polis Chrysochous town.

Day 5 – Troodos Mountains, Nicosia

Most of the day was spent crossing the Troodos Mountains. We drove up 2 hours before arriving at Kykkos Monastery, high up in the mountains. Entry is free, although there’s a small museum for €5 – we skipped it.

We kept driving – some of the mountain roads were very narrow, fortunately also very empty. We did the Artemis Trail that took us around Mount Olympus, there was still some snow there. It took us around 2 hours. Afterwards we drove up Mount Olympus, but couldn’t go all the way up. The exact summit (1,952m) is off-limits due to a British military installation, but we got close enough for expansive views.

On the drive down we stopped at the Holy Church of Panagia of Asinou, one of the churches forming the Painted Churches in the Troodos Region UNESCO Site, but couldn’t get inside because it was already closed despite the hours listed on Google Maps. It’s a pretty remote place and I don’t think its opening hours are reliable. Still – a beautiful site. We managed to visit another church from the list – Church of Saint Nicholas of the Roof.

In the afternoon we arrived in Nicosia (locally known as Lefkosia) and spent a late evening there. We also crossed over to the Turkish side (our EU IDs were enough – don’t take pictures at the border) and it felt like a totally different world. The contrast was immediately noticeable – from language and currency to shops and architecture (Büyük Han being the main landmark). No problems crossing the border and back, barely any waiting, no questions asked.

We spent the night next to a dirt road in Athalassa National Forest Park, just outside Nicosia.

Day 6 – Nicosia, Cavo Greco

We spent most of the next day in Nicosia – a really lively place. We visited the free Cyprus Museum with plenty of archaeological artifacts and the Leventis Municipal Museum – a history of the city, also free. We also crossed once again to the Turkish side and walked the city walls back on the Greek side.

In the evening we drove to the eastern tip of Greek Cyprus – Cavo Greco, where we spent a night in a beautiful spot just by a cliff. Nobody there, totally peaceful. That was our last night in Cyprus and we hadn’t seen anybody else sleeping in cars, nor did we have any issues whatsoever. The only problem was the lack of public toilets.

Day 7 – Cavo Greco, Larnaca

Our last day we started with a swim next to our sleeping spot. We visited the sea caves – one of the most picturesque spots we visited in Cyprus. You can descend a bit under a cliff and look through a sort of half-cave back onto the sea.

On the way back to Larnaca we stopped at the Sculpture Open Park in Ayia Napa – modern and surprisingly interesting, you can easily spend an hour there. We got back to Larnaca and still had some time before giving back the car, so we had another walk in the city. This time we managed to get into the Holy Church of Saint Lazarus (free entry) with what is believed to be the second and final tomb of Saint Lazarus, the biblical saint raised from the dead by Jesus. We had a vegetarian gyro for under €5.

No trouble returning the car. In the evening, we flew on to Rome with Wizz Air.

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Season

We went in January and it worked well. Kind of like a Central European spring. Mostly sunny, barely any rain, temperatures around 13–18°C during the day. Nights dropped to around 8°C, which was fine for sleeping in the car, although at times chilly. We consciously avoided sleeping in the mountains, where it gets colder – Troodos had snow in late January.

No crowds at any of the major sights. Car rentals are at their cheapest. It wasn’t beach weather, but we managed to swim a couple of times.

Summer is a different story. Rental costs increase. Heat gets intense. Major sights will be packed.

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Practical

Currency

Euro (€). Cards are widely accepted, but carry some cash for local food stalls and smaller spots. If you’re coming from a non-Euro country, Revolut works well – note the 1% weekend markup on currency exchange.

SIM

Cyprus is in the EU – Roam Like at Home applies. If you have an EU-based SIM card, there won’t be extra roaming charges.

If you don’t, check eSIMDB, filter by data needed, trip length, and sort by price.

Language

Greek and Turkish are the official languages of Cyprus, but English is widely understood, as it is a former British colony.

Greek uses its own script, but it’s not a practical issue – all road signs are in both Greek and English. A few phrases:

• kaliméra (καλημέρα) – good morning/good day
• kalispéra (καλησπέρα) – good evening
• efcharistó (ευχαριστώ) – thank you

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Tips Summary

• Car Rental: Larnaca (LCA) is the cheapest pickup point in Cyprus. Book through DiscoverCars and check the weekly rate – 7-day rentals often work out cheaper than shorter periods even if you don’t need the full week.
• Car Sleeping: No specific law against it – generally tolerated. Use park4night to find quiet spots, avoid lingering too long in one place, and stay out of the mountains in January because of the cold.

• January Travel: No crowds, cheapest rentals, mild weather. The single best reason to visit off-season.
• Turkish Side Crossing: Cross in Nicosia’s old town. EU ID is enough – no passport needed. Don’t take pictures at the border. Watch your roaming charges – if your phone connects to a Turkish network, you may be billed more. Switch to airplane mode to be safe.
• Saint Lazarus Church: Check opening hours before going – it closes early and the hours aren’t always reliable online.
• Mount Olympus: The exact summit (1,952m) is a British military zone – you can’t reach it. Don’t drive up expecting to stand at the top.
• Fuel: Google Maps doesn’t show real-time fuel prices in Cyprus. Use cyprusfuelguide.com.
• Lidl: Cheapest supermarket on the island.

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