It's possible to travel by
train + ferry from the UK (or anywhere in Europe) to Cyprus,
an exciting journey across Europe and the Mediterranean,
although expect it to take at least 5 days. There are
three options, each explained here:
Thanks to a daily ferry from
southern Turkey to northern Cyprus, it's possible to travel from
the UK or anywhere in Europe to Cyprus via Istanbul,
year-round, without flying. With virtually all ferries
between Greece and Cyprus suspended since 2001, this is now
the only practical year-round route to either north or
south Cyprus.
Travel from London to Istanbul by
train as shown on the
London to Turkey page. The
journey from London takes 3 nights and departures from London
are daily.
Travel from Istanbul (Haydarpasa
station on the Asian side) to Karaman by the overnight 'Içanadolou
Mavi Train', leaving Istanbul at 23:50 and arriving in Karaman
at 13:57 next day (please check times on the
train
travel in Turkey page). This train has modern air-conditioned
4-berth couchettes and reclining seats. It's a
comfortable and scenic journey, see the
train
travel in Turkey page for more information about this
train and photos of what the couchettes and seats are like.
The fare is around 25 YTL (£10 or $17) one-way, including
couchette. Karaman is the nearest station to the port at
Taşucu. Alternatively, take the Meram Express with
sleeping-car, couchettes & restaurant car overnight from
Istanbul Haydarpasa to Konya, see the
train
travel in Turkey page.
Take a local bus or taxi from Karaman
(or Konya)
to Sifke and a taxi onwards to Taşucu.
Sifke is the main town in the area, Taşucu is its port nearby.
Karaman to Sifke by bus costs around 18 YTL (£7 or $13) and
takes just over 3 hours. A dolmus taxi from Sifke to the
ferry terminal at Taşucu costs about 1.5 YTL (less than
£1).
Take a fast ferry (daily
departure at 11:30, crossing time 2 hours) or a conventional ferry (5
sailings a week, crossing time 4-5 hours) from Taşucu to Girne (Kyrenia)
in northern (Turkish) Cyprus, just north of Nicosia. The fare is about 54
YTL (£22 or $40) one-way, 108 YTL return. The
return fast ferry leaves Girne daily at 09:30. See
www.fergun.net
to confirm sailing times & fares.
Note that you arrive in northern
(Turkish) Cyprus. The traveller's report below might help
explain arrival formalities and the crossing into southern
Cyprus.
Feedback from
travellers on this route is always appreciated.
You should arrange tickets for the London-Istanbul train
journey as shown on the
London to Turkey page. You can
book the Istanbul-Karaman train at the station when you get to
Istanbul, or pre-book it via one of the agencies
recommended on the train
travel in Turkey page. You can book the ferry at the
port when you get there, or book in advance via the ferry
operator's website,
www.fergun.net.
It may seem a bit daunting to plan a train + ferry journey
from the UK to Cyprus this way, so
you may find this planning technique helpful.
Traveller's
reports:
Traveller
Philip Bignell reports from a London-Cyprus trip by train and
ferry in 2007: "In
Tasucu we were advised to arrive 90
minutes before ferry departure to buy tickets and clear
security (10am for 11.30am departure). A return ferry
ticket is TRY 92, including TRY 12 departure tax. The
departures hall has a till to issue a receipt for the
departure tax, and there is much waiting, queuing, several
examinations of passports and or boarding cards, scanning of
luggage and persons. Having cleared all this there are two
or three tax free shops, then a catamaran to board in the
harbour. Luggage, substantial and various, is placed on
deck and covered with a tarpaulin for the voyage, with
passengers taking a seat in the one large saloon, three
steps down. This room has about twenty five rows of seating
in all, with two aisles front to back and each row has about
six seats either side and eight seats in the centre block.
A group of rows in the very centre of the saloon is replaced
with a small cubicle forming a shop. There are several
television screens dotted around tuned to a local station in
port or playing a film at sea. The ferry left about half an
hour late, and the journey is around two and a half to three
hours. Leaving the port the saloon doors are secured
closed and passengers have to be seated, but they may go on
the deck at sea, especially to enjoy smoking, after the doors
are unlocked around five minutes into the voyage. It can be
quite a bumpy ride, and I noticed it was particularly choppy
when having generally followed the coast for about forty
minutes we struck out past a headland over the open sea
towards Cyprus. Poor sailors should consider taking the
air. On the way out, around quarter of the passenger
complement was manifestly queasy.
Cyprus is unhappily partitioned. Broadly, the
northern third forms the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus, TRNC, a state recognised only by Turkey; the
currency is Turkish Lira (TRY). The places in the north have both Turkish
and Greek names. The southern part is Greek Cyprus, a
member of EU and from January 2008 the currency is the euro
- the Cyprus pound for the few remaining days of this year.
In the last three years there has been free movement
between the north and the south, through a very small number
of crossing points on the green line, which is still
supervised by United Nations armed forces. The ferry lands at Girne (Kyrenia
in Greek) in TRNC and passengers arriving go through passport
control. A TRNC visa is required, which is free of
charge on entry. This can be
provided on a separate piece of paper, postcard sized, which
is stamped on arrival and again on departure and UK passport
bearers should specifically ask for this. We had been
categorically informed that TRAVELLERS WISHING TO
VISIT SOUTHERN CYPRUS MUST NOT HAVE THEIR PASSPORTS STAMPED
ON ARRIVAL IN THE NORTH - evidence in a passport would
demonstrate that the traveller arrived on the island at an
unrecognised port of entry and could be denied entry to the
south.
Taxis and cars hired in the north cannot cross the
green line to the south.
The ferry port is east of the
town centre of Girne, the main tourist resort in TRNC, with
plenty of hotels shops and restaurants, and its old castle
and pretty yacht harbour. From the port there are taxis or
dolmus available, or it is about twenty minutes walk to the
main town. Our destination was in the south. The dolmus
from Girne to Lefkosa (Lefkosia in Greek, Nicosia in English) was TRY 3
per person for a 20 km journey, just over half an hour,
ending at the north walls of the old city by the Kyrenia
gate.
The green line bisects the old
city of Nicosia. There are no signposts either side
indicating where or how to cross to the other, indeed it
seems that each side disregards the existence of the other.
There is a crossing at the Ledra Palace, outside the western
walls of the old city. From the dolmus stop it is about
seven minutes walk to the Ledra Palace, following the
exterior of the city walls west or anti clockwise. Having
completed the exit formalities of TRNC, including the
stamping of the visa, it is necessary to walk about 200m
south along a street between the city walls on one side
and boarded property on the other to reach the entry point
at the south.
Once entry formalities are
completed at the south, then it is a further fifteen minutes
walk continuing anti clock wise around the walls, to reach
Eleftheria Square, a transport hub of southern Nicosia.
The return journey
is the
reverse of the outward, with the following observations.
For the return ferry, holding a
return ticket, arrive one hour before departure (8.30am for
9.30 departure) and go to a first floor office in a side
building to obtain boarding card and pay a further sum
of TRY 20 for TRNC departure tax. In the departures hall,
similar to the way out, passport, visa and boarding card
documents are inspected several times, luggage and persons
are scanned, a further cash payment of TRY 5 has to be made,
luggage is deposited, taken to the harbour side then
collected again for boarding the ferry.
On landing at
Tasucu, be prepared for a thorough customs inspection of
luggage.
We had more time on the return
journey so had lunch in Tasucu after landing, then took a
dolmus for TRY 1.25 to Selifke otogar, which is on the west
side of the town. There is competition between coach
companies and travellers will be greeted by several
representatives each stressing the merits of their
appointed coach company. We travelled on an Ozkaymak coach
to Karaman, only waiting for a few minutes for the 1.45pm
departure: each ticket cost TRY 17.5, and the coach arrived
about 5pm, when it was getting dark. We stayed in the centre
of Karaman, then the following morning took a dolmus TRY 1
from the centre to the otogar - this dolmus went via the
railway station. With the same company, the coach to Konya
was TRY 10 and took an hour and a half. From Karaman this
company runs twenty coaches a day to Konya (from 7am to
midnight), and seven to Adana (via Selifke), six between 8am
and 7.30pm and one leaving at 3am. The dolmus from the
otogar at Konya to the centre cost TRY 1.25 for a forty
minute journey.
Regular ferries Piraeus-Cyprus:
Still suspended...
It used to be
easy to travel to Cyprus by train and ferry via Athens, using
one of three regular all-year shipping lines (Poseidon
Lines, Salamis Lines or Access Ferries) from Piraeus to Limassol. However,
all three services stopped running
indefinitely in 2001 because of unrest in Israel, which
was the ships'
ultimate destination. There is no sign of any ferry
service resuming, indeed the lack of any ferry between
Cyprus and mainland Europe is something of a Cypriot
political issue! You can check the latest situation at
www.viamare.com, their UK agents.
Cruises
Rhodes/Crete to Cyprus (summer only)...
In 2008, regular
weekly cruises started running in summer (June to October) between Rhodes and Limassol on Cyprus,
on which one-way tickets can allegedly be booked, at least in
theory - one report suggests in practice requests for one-way
bookings have been rejected, but by all means see what the
booking agent says.
Feedback would
be appreciated. Ships sail at least weekly, usually leaving Rhodes in the
afternoon and arriving in Cyprus next morning. Some
cruises also operate from Crete to Cyprus, but far less
frequently. See
www.varianostravel.com/Cruises/ferry_service.htm for
sailing dates, sailing times & prices.
To reach Rhodes,
travel from the UK to Athens as shown on the London to
Greece page, then take one of the several overnight
ferries from Piraeus (port of Athens) to Rhodes.
www.ferries.gr
will help with the Piraeus-Rhodes ferry. The total
journey London-Cyprus will therefore take at least 5 nights,
including a night & free day in Athens (as you will probably
arrive in Athens from London via Bari too late to catch a ship
to Rhodes the same day). It may seem a bit daunting to
plan a multi-stage train + ferry journey from the UK to Cyprus
via Athens, Piraeus & Rhodes, but
you may find this planning technique helpful.
Grimaldi
Freighter cruises (www.grimaldi-freightercruises.com)
sail to Cyprus from Southampton calling at Salerno in Italy.
Reckon on 13 days for the voyage from Southampton to Limassol,
4 days for Salerno to Limassol. They are freight ships which carry
just 10-15
passengers, their schedule can change at short notice as
freight is the priority. It's easier to travel all the
way from the UK to Cyprus than to take the train to Salerno
and pick up the ship there, because Grimaldi will only take
bookings for the shorter Salerno-Cyprus journey a maximum of 10 days before each sailing
date, whereas they will take bookings for the whole UK-Cyprus
run months ahead.
