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Neither cold nor expensive: the nearest and cheap Christmas destination that Israelis have not yet discovered - voila! tourism

2022-12-08T15:52:10.327Z


Less than an hour's flight away, you can tailor yourself a magical Christmas vacation in Cyprus, with decorated Christmas villages and comfortable weather for families with children. Details here! tourism


The pool and beach of the Alexos Hotel, North Cyprus (photo: Erez Michaeli)

A new destination on your map for a winter holiday in the Christmas atmosphere.

Santa Claus in the Christmas village of Darinia in Cyprus (Photo: Walla! System, Meiter Schleider Putschnik)

Another moment and your feed on Instagram and Facebook will be flooded with pictures of European Christmas destinations finely decorated with fir trees and green-red decorations on a magical snowy white background.

Just before you kick yourself for not booking a winter vacation this year in advance and at a relatively reasonable price, and once again you have no plans with the children for Hanukkah, pay attention to a new and surprising winter destination - Cyprus.



The Cypriot island - the closest flight destination to Israel (a total of 40-45 minutes you are in the air. On duty you wasted more time than that), well known to Israelis as a summer destination for all-inclusive family vacations, but this year in Cyprus they decided to try and position themselves as a winter vacation destination as well, and for that Launched a new tourism venture of "Christmas Villages" (full details on all the villages can be found right here).

small, primary and not commercialized.

The official launch ceremony of the Christmas village project in Cyprus, in the village of Darinia (photo: Walla! system, Miter Schleider Potchnik)

The Christmas markets come to life starting in the afternoon, every day from the end of November to the middle of January (photo: Walla! system, Schleider Potchnik string)

Small stalls with local produce and a pleasant holiday atmosphere (photo: Walla! system, Schleider Potchnik string)

The majority of Cypriots are Orthodox Christians, and they celebrate Christmas on the date we all know, the 25th of December (unlike other Orthodox Christian countries that celebrate it later).

So in the big cities of Cyprus - Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos, you can see Christmas decorations from the end of November to the beginning of December.

Not only the streets are decorated, also the shops and the big hotels, they will all wrap you in spectacular decorations that include tall fir trees, colored lights and figures of reindeer, Santa Claus and snowmen from all sides.

A magical and non-commercialized Christmas experience

The Cyprus Christmas Village project brings together seven villages scattered throughout the island, all within a short drive from the cities and tourist centers of Cyprus (which is not a big country anyway and it is easy to get from place to place by car).

In these villages, a Christmas market with food stalls and local produce is held every day (from November 26 to January 15), starting after midnight.

The small streets of the villages are decorated with Christmas lights and fir trees and at the stalls you can find handmade decorations, local sweets, warm and spicy wine and more.



This is not the familiar experience of the big Christmas markets of European capitals, everything here is on a smaller and more primitive scale.

But this is also the relative advantage.

Although this is a project organized by the Ministry of Tourism, the atmosphere in the villages, at least the ones we visited (and we visited three - Deryneia, Kalavasos and Kalopanagiotis) was authentic, pleasant and not commercialized.

Spending a few hours in such a village in the afternoon-evening of one or more of your days in Cyprus will provide you with a pleasant and exhausting experience of Christmas atmosphere, and also quite a few beautiful photos with which you can flood your feed. As per the best tradition. It is recommended to try and combine a visit to more than one village , since each of the villages has its own local uniqueness - whether it is the local produce, specialization in a specific handicraft or different and interesting landscapes in which the village rests.

The weather is very similar to Israel, which means that you will not freeze here even in December.

Cafe in Lefkare (photo: Walla! system, Meiter Schleider Putschnik)

The experience of wandering through the stone alleys of the villages is the most unique (photo: Walla! system, Meiter Schleider Putschnik)

And you'll probably also be the most photogenic on your trip (photo: Walla! system, Miter Schleider Potchnik)

The roads leading to the villages will also provide you with a refreshing change from the view of the Cypriot cities (photo: Walla! system, Miter Schleider Potchnik)

The Cypriot winter is as hot as the Israeli one

The Christmas villages and other villages in Cyprus offer the possibility of a slightly different experience than what we are used to getting from Cyprus, beyond the always magical option of belly-back.

From experience, the leisurely walk through the narrow stone streets, between colorful wooden shutters and doors yields the most pleasant memories of the trip (and also the most photogenic photos).

Here and there you will find a cafe (one or two in each village, no more), some shops or businesses dealing with local crafts - in the village of Lefkara it is the famous white lace, and in other villages it will be silver embroidery, local wine or handmade sweets ( Lace cookies, excellent lokum smell).

In each such village you can spend at least a few pleasant hours and enjoy a meal in a local tavern.

The roads to the villages, especially those located up the Troodos mountain range, will also provide you with a change from the urban landscape of the Cypriot cities, and a view of mountainous landscapes here and there interspersed with warm fall colors.



The weather in Cyprus is very similar to that in Israel, which means that the Cypriot winter does not require wrapping in countless layers and bulky coats.

Your Uniqlo compact coat will definitely be enough here in December as well.

This is especially advantageous for those who suffer from a cold and are afraid of frozen destinations such as those of the Christmas markets in Germany or France, for example.

The weather is also an advantage for those who wish to fly for a family winter vacation in a group that includes small children, for whom the winter logistics in dealing with them on a trip abroad is an obstacle for quite a few families.

A local woman decorates traditional Christmas lace cookies.

The village of Lefkare (photo: Walla! system, Miter Schleider Potchnik)

The village of Lafakra is famous mainly for the local lace that the local women have been embroidering for hundreds of years (photo: Walla! system, Miter Schleider Potchnik)

Less than 40 dollars for a plane ticket, even during the Hanukkah holiday

And if there are barriers, then here is an important one - money.

Cyprus is one of the cheapest destinations for vacations abroad for those leaving Israel, this is true in general and even more so in the winter. Even now you can find plane tickets to the island for less than 40 dollars per person, even for dates that coincide with the Hanukkah vacation in educational institutions.



Accommodation options are varied and range from five-star luxury hotels to simpler hotels. Since the winter months are the off-season of Cyprus, this can be a good opportunity to book a few nights in a luxurious and luxurious hotel. In terms of accommodation destinations - Larnaca, Nicosia, Limassol and Paphos all come into consideration, and of all One of them you can go to visit one or more of the Christmas villages that are nearby. Usually it will be a journey of between half an hour and an hour. The recommendation is to rent a car, the roads in Cyprus are comfortable and the journeys are not long. However, it should be taken into account that in Cyprus you drive on the left side of the road And it can be a bit confusing at first.

Halloumi cheese made from goat's milk, traditionally prepared, in the village of Latimbo (photo: Walla! system, Miter Schleider Potchnik)

Cypriot bread baked in a tabon (Photo: Walla! system, Meither Schleider Potchnik)

The Cypriot Ministry of Tourism encourages and preserves the traditions and traditional crafts in the villages (Photo: Walla! System, Miter Schleider Potchnik)

Pool, sea and a perfect view - an opportunity to take advantage of the off-season prices while staying in a luxurious hotel.

Columbia Resort in the village of Pissouri, not far from Paphos (photo: Walla! system, Meither Schleider Putschnik)

They came because of the snakes, stayed because of the conditions.

Cats live well at the Columbia Resort (photo: Walla! system, Miter Schleider Putschnik)

Cat friendly hotel?

There is such a thing

One of the nicest hotels we stayed at during our winter visit to Cyprus is the Columbia Resort located in Kfar Pissouri, about half an hour's drive from Paphos, where some of the flights departing from Israel land (you can also find flights that land in Larnaca).

The hotel buildings try to adhere to the local architecture of the villages and offer very spacious rooms suitable for families whose interior design is also rustic - stone tiles, antique-looking wooden furniture, colorful carpets and wooden blinds).

The hotel has a private beach (pebble beach, not sand - if that's important to you) and it also has a large pool, an expensive and very pampering spa.

One of the cutest features we encountered is the fact that this is a cat-friendly hotel.

All over Cyprus, in cities and villages alike, you can see many cats (the cats were brought to the island hundreds of years ago to help deal with the problem of snakes on the island, and have been there ever since, living in coexistence with the human islanders).

At Columbia Resort they have increased their efforts and they not only tolerate the presence of the cats,



Another and recommended option is to combine a one-night stay in one of the small B&Bs or boutique hotels, which are located in the Christmas villages themselves.

In this way, you can absorb the refreshing rural landscape and the Christmas atmosphere of the villages in an exhaustive way, and perhaps even expand the experience and visit one of the local wineries, or stay in one of the houses that offer authentic rural hospitality, under another initiative of the Ministry of Tourism, called Heartland of Legends, which coordinates and maintains projects Local cooking, dream production and traditional handicrafts in the Cypriot countryside.

In the village of Klopaniotis, located in the Troodos Mountains and included under the Cyprus Christmas Villages initiative, there is a charming boutique hotel called Casalepanayiotis, which actually consists of several of the village houses joined together to form an accommodation complex.

In the village there are also several restaurants/taverns where you can taste Cypriot food (which is very reminiscent of Greek cuisine).



The writer was a guest of the Cyprus Tourist Board.

  • tourism

  • Travels in the world

  • Europe

  • Cyprus

Tags

  • Cyprus

  • winter vacation

  • Christmas

  • Christmas

  • Paphos

  • Larnaca

  • Limassol

Source: walla

All life articles on 2022-12-08

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