Things To Do in Limassol

Around five minutes’ drive east of the town centre is this Blue Flag-winning sand and pebble beach that hums with activities all summer long. Young children can splash about in the shallow water, then switch to the playground behind the beach. Teenagers make the most of the watersports on offer, like water-skis and parasailing. Plus, you’ve got a floating volleyball court and inflatable water slides bobbing in the sea.

Take one cool crowd, add classy cocktails, shake it all up with an ultra-modern decor – and you get this sophisticated waterfront bar. Outside looks like a chessboard with black and white flooring and minimalist tables. Inside there’s more of the same plus shiny banquettes and chandelier-style lighting. During the week, resident DJs spin chillout tunes, while weekends pick up the pace with a clubbier sound.

This 100-year-old listed building is home to one of Cyprus’ most prestigious restaurants. It has half a dozen tables on the terrace overlooking the sea, and more seating in the main dining room. The menu puts a fresh spin on Greek classics, so instead of stifado or kleftiko, you’ll find 3-mustard beef and lamb with mint and cranberry. It’s worth booking ahead as it can get very busy.

The chalky ruins at Amathus, just behind the seafront, are a fitting backdrop for this celebration of Cypriot culture. The programme lines up string quartets, contemporary dance troupes and some virtuosic guitar-plucking folk singers who perform at night under a canopy of stars. The event is popular with the locals, too, and the atmosphere is electrifying.

Lining the seafront are a handful of authentic Greek tavernas – think blue-and-white check tablecloths and bottles of ouzo lined up behind the counter. You can’t go wrong with meze – a selection of bite-sized Cypriot dishes like halloumi, olives, stuffed vine leaves, barbecued chicken and meatballs. Between courses you might get serenaded by a bouzouki player. And if you’re wondering what to drink, have a brandy sour – it’s Cyprus’ national drink.

As the name suggests, this seafront bar has a taste for the high life. The terrace has wooden decking, white poufs, designer sofas, and soft mood lighting, and the staff dress in immaculate sailors’ uniforms. As well as getting exotic summer cocktails here, check out the 500-euro bottles of Cristal in the fridge.

The clothes shops and department stores between Makarios Avenue and Anexartisias Avenue wouldn’t look out of place in Milan’s fashion district. You’ve got all the top labels, from Marc Jacobs to Jill Sander, at boutiques like Cara, Mple and Splash. Or if you’re after something you can wear every day, you’ll find high-street favourites such as Karen Millen, Mango and Debenhams.

Limassol is known as the city that never sleeps. Along the seafront, you’ve got a parade of nightclubs like Basement, where you’ll get to hear R&B, and Barraonda, a hotspot for live Greek music. But you don’t have to put on your dancing shoes if you don’t want to. In the old town, locals burn the midnight oil in the cafés and late-night ice-cream parlours. Plus, there are plenty of pubs and karaoke bars along Potamos Yermasoyia.

Limassol doesn’t go in for early nights. It’s the kind of place where you can hang around a coffee shop in the old town chatting ’til the early hours. If you want lively bars, head for the beachfront where many have beanbags right on the sand. As for clubs, they spin everything from Seventies to R’n’B and Greek pop – they really get going when the locals show up around 2am.

Legend has it that Richard the Lionheart made an honest woman of Queen Berengaria of Navarre at Limassol Castle in 1191. These days the place is more tourist hotspot than wedding venue, and though it looks diddy from the outside there’s plenty to see inside. You get dark dungeons, winding staircases and a museum crammed with weapons, pottery and suits of armour.

You’ll find an international cast of restaurants dotted around the city, but if you want traditional Cypriot food head for the town centre or eastern side. A good way to try a bit of everything is with the meze – you’ll get about 20 dishes of bite-sized goodies. Along with familiar dishes like houmous and fried haloumi, there’s spetsofani – garlic sausages – and prawn saganaki, which comes in a feta and ouzo sauce.

At this family-run taverna, you get a starring cast of traditional Greek Cypriot food. You can always go for the meze – you’ll get around 20 hot and cold dishes to try. Or you could tuck into popular classics like spanahopitta – filo pastry stuffed with feta and spinach, or papoutsakia – aubergine stuffed with minced pork. You might want to finish with chef Kicoulla’s fried ice-cream – though she’s not giving away the recipe.

Over at the port end of Limassol – about 15 minutes’ drive away – you’ve got the local’s favourite, Lady’s Mile Beach. One end is pebbly with water that gets deep quite quickly, the other is white sand with a gentler incline into the sea. You’ll find lots of watersports here and a couple of eating places, too. Or take a bus to Governors Beach – its tiny coves are top snorkelling territory.

Close to the new port in the Zakaki area, you’ve got MYMALL. Billed as the biggest shopping centre in Cyprus, it packs in 150 big-name favourites like Mango and Marks & Spencer. They’ve got pretty much everything covered, with shoes, beauty, watches and jewellery – and they’ve thrown in an ice rink and bowling alley, too. Elsewhere, you can get your shopping kicks at Aneksartisias Street, Makarios Avenue and St Andrews Street.

A 15-minute drive from the town centre is Cyprus’ number-one waterpark. It’s a Polynesian-themed affair, so you can say aloha to corkscrews, racers, and a lazy river. If you feel like pampering yourself, you can either get a temporary tattoo, exfoliate your feet at the Garra fish spa, or just sip a cocktail on a sunlounger.