About North Cyprus: geography, history, places and everyday life

Where it is and what you will find

North Cyprus covers the northern part of the island. The capital Nicosia (Lefkoşa) is a walled city divided by the UN buffer zone. Kyrenia (Girne) has a harbour and a castle; Famagusta (Gazimağusa) has Venetian walls and the Gothic former cathedral of St Nicholas; the İskele area and the Karpas Peninsula in the east offer long beaches and a sparsely built coast; Güzelyurt and Lefke in the west are citrus and valley country with ancient Soli and Vouni nearby.

• Castles of North Cyprus: Kyrenia, Saint Hilarion, Buffavento and Kantara.
• Salamis and Famagusta: ancient city, walls, cathedral and Varosha.
• History timeline, 1571 to today: the Ottoman conquest to the 2004 referendums.
• Area guides: the places people live, with distances and everyday services.

History and status in short

Ottoman forces took Nicosia in 1570 and Famagusta in 1571; British administration began in 1878 and the Republic of Cyprus was founded in 1960. After intercommunal violence from 1963 and the 1974 coup and Turkish intervention, the island was divided. The Turkish Federated State of Cyprus was declared in 1975 and the TRNC in 1983. Positions differ: the Turkish Cypriot side calls the 1983 declaration an act of self-determination, the Republic of Cyprus calls it secessionist, and the UN calls it legally invalid. Details, dates and sources are on the timeline page.

Museums

Museums listed by the TRNC Department of Antiquities and Museums, district by district. Opening hours and fees change, so they are not repeated here; check with each museum before you go.

Lefkoşa

• Derviş Paşa Konağı Etnoğrafya Müzesi: A two-storey mansion in the Arabahmet quarter inside the walls. According to the Department, its main door bears the date 1219 AH (1807), and its rooms are arranged with household objects of daily life. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)
• Taş Eserler Müzesi: Standing east of the Selimiye Mosque, this two-storey Venetian-style stone building holds medieval carved stonework, including a Dampierre family sarcophagus. The Department states the Lapidary Museum was renovated and opened in 2003. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)
• Mevlevi Müzesi: The former Mevlevi lodge stands inside the walled city just beyond the Kyrenia Gate. The Department dates it to the early 17th century, on land donated by Emine Hatun, and names 1607 for the arrival of its first sheikh from Konya. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)

Girne

• Harup Ambarı ve Kıbrıs Evi Müzesi: On the Kyrenia harbour front road, this two-storey house museum opened in 1974. The Department lists farm tools, an oil mill, needlework, kitchen ware and clothing among its displays of rural Cypriot life. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)
• Archangelos Mihail İkon Müzesi: Located in the Old Harbour area of Kyrenia, this 1860 single-nave church was restored and opened as an icon museum on 11 June 1990. The Department notes the earliest displayed icon is dated 1714. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)

Gazimağusa

• Canbulat Müzesi: Housed in the tomb beneath the Canbulat bastion (originally called Arsenal, Venetian period) in Famagusta, the museum shows archaeological finds and Ottoman-era objects such as weapons, plates and wall tiles. The Department states the present marble tomb dates from 1968. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)

İskele and Karpaz

• İskele Arkeoloji Müzesi: Opened in 2018 in a British colonial-period market building known as Bandabuliya, the museum displays objects from eight periods, from the Neolithic to the Roman era. The Department says the collection was selected from its storage depots. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)

Güzelyurt

• Güzelyurt Arkeoloji ve Doğa Müzesi: The building served as the Metropolitan's residence before 1974. The ground floor shows natural-history specimens; the upper floor shows archaeology in chronological order, including finds from Toumba tou Skourou excavated in 1971-1974 by a Harvard and Boston Museum of Fine Arts team. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)
• Güzelyurt Tren İstasyonu Müzesi (Demiryolu Müzesi): The Morphou station operated from 31 March 1907 to 1951 on the Cyprus Government Railway. Its restored goods shed opened as a railway museum on 18 May 2022 and displays Cyprus Mines Corporation steam locomotive No. 3. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)

Lefke

• Lefke Maden Müzesi: Opened on 24 May 2025 in the restored cinema part of the 1930s Vasıf Palas building, the museum has archaeology, geology and Cyprus Mines Corporation sections. Its archaeology display includes a Late Bronze Age oxhide-shaped copper ingot. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)

Historic sites and heritage

Monasteries, churches, markets and ruins described by the Department or by Visit North Cyprus. Castles, Salamis and the history timeline have their own pages (linked under Related).

Lefkoşa

• Büyük Han: Visit North Cyprus states the Ottomans built this square caravanserai inside Nicosia's walls in 1572, with 68 rooms on two floors. After restoration in the 1990s it now operates as an arts centre with galleries and workshops. (Visit North Cyprus)
• Bedesten: Visit North Cyprus describes a building in the Selimiye quarter that began as a Byzantine church of about the 6th century, gained Gothic elements under the Lusignans and served as an Ottoman covered market. It reopened in November 2009 after restoration. (Visit North Cyprus)
• Walls of Nicosia (Lefkoşa): Visit North Cyprus describes the 16th-century Venetian city wall as 4.5 km long, with eleven bastions and three gates, encircling the old town of North Nicosia. (Visit North Cyprus)

Girne

• Bellapais Manastırı (Bellapais Abbey): The Department states the first monastery building dates to 1198-1205, with much of the surviving structure built under Hugh III (1267-1284), and the cloister and refectory under Hugh IV (1324-1359). It stands on a rock at the foot of the Beşparmak range. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)
• Antiphonitis Kilisesi (Antifonitis Manastırı): The Department describes a domed church whose dome rests on eight round columns. The narthex and south arcade were added in the 14th or 15th century, and surviving frescoes are assigned to the 12th-13th and 14th-15th centuries. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)
• Sourp Magar Monastery (Magaravank): Visit North Cyprus places this monastery at 530 m in the Alevkaya range. It states the monastery was founded in the early 11th century as a Coptic house, came under Armenian control around the 15th century, and is now close to ruin. (Visit North Cyprus)

Gazimağusa

• Ganchvor Monastery: Visit North Cyprus states Armenian refugees from Cilicia built this small Armenian Apostolic church inside the walled city of Famagusta in 1346. It fell out of use after the 1571 siege and was re-consecrated on 14 January 1945. (Visit North Cyprus)

İskele and Karpaz

• Apostolos Andreas Monastery: Visit North Cyprus places this Orthodox monastery on the Karpaz Peninsula, long a resting place for pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land. A small chapel near the shore dates to the 15th century, and its waters are associated with St Andrew. (Visit North Cyprus)
• Ay Trias Bazilikası (Sipahi): Found by chance in 1957 at Sipahi village on the Karpaz Peninsula, this three-aisled basilica has mosaic floors the Department dates to the late 5th or early 6th century, before 535. A mosaic inscription names the maker as Heracleos. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)

Güzelyurt

• Soli: The Department traces Soli back to the 11th century BC and notes the city appears in an Assyrian tribute list as Si-il-lu. Swedish excavations began in 1927, and the Department states the city was destroyed during 7th-century Arab raids. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)

Lefke

• Vuni Sarayı (Vouni Palace): The Department states the palace stands on a hill at 250 m and was first built around 500 BC under Persian rule to watch the city of Soli. Swedish archaeologists excavated it in 1928-1929, and Soli destroyed it in 380 BC. (Department of Antiquities and Museums)

Interesting places and natural curiosities

Trees, caves, coasts and wildlife that visitors can see, each tied to a named public source.

Girne

• Carob trade at Kyrenia Harbour: Visit North Cyprus says carob has been grown in Cyprus since the 1st century AD, and that Kyrenia Harbour was the centre of the pod trade, with harbour-front buildings used as warehouses until the trade declined in the 1960s. (Visit North Cyprus)

Gazimağusa

• Cumbez Tree: A sycamore fig (Ficus sycomorus) known locally as Cumbez grows in the courtyard outside the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque in Famagusta. Visit North Cyprus says it is on the Department of Culture's National Heritage List. (Visit North Cyprus)

İskele and Karpaz

• Wild donkeys of the Karpaz Peninsula: Visit North Cyprus says wild donkeys roam the Karpaz Peninsula, within a protected national park area. It notes they once carried olives and cereals to mills, and that tractors and trucks replaced working donkeys from the 1970s. (Visit North Cyprus)
• Karpaz Peninsula: Visit North Cyprus describes the peninsula as about 80 km long and sparsely populated, with sand beaches, maquis and pine cover, and an area it says is designated a national reserve. Loggerhead and green turtles are said to nest on its shores. (Visit North Cyprus)
• İncirli Cave: A gypsum cave about 2 km northeast of Çınarlı village. Visit North Cyprus gives its length as about 250 m, of which roughly 70 m is open to visitors, with stalactites, stalagmites and columns inside. (Visit North Cyprus)
• Turtle nesting beaches (Golden Beach and Ronnas Beach): Visit North Cyprus names Golden Beach and Ronnas Beach on the Karpaz Peninsula as nesting sites for loggerhead and green turtles. It gives the nesting season as late May to the end of September, with hatching from late August. (Visit North Cyprus)

Lefke

• Petra tou Limnidi: A small rocky islet offshore, visible from the Palace of Vouni. Visit North Cyprus says Swedish archaeologists excavated it in 1929 and found pre-pottery Neolithic remains; it is now a nesting site for the yellow-legged gull. (Visit North Cyprus)

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