The Cyprus festival calendar: a year in celebrations

Cyprus marks the year in festivals, and planning a visit around one is the quickest way to feel the island's pulse. The calendar blends Orthodox tradition, agricultural rhythm and sheer love of a gathering.

Spring and early summer

The pre-Lenten Carnival, at its liveliest in Limassol, fills the streets with parades and costume. Fifty days after Orthodox Easter comes Kataklysmos, the Festival of the Flood, celebrated along the coast with water, music and fairs — a distinctly Cypriot tradition. Spring also brings the Anthestiria flower festivals.

Autumn and the villages

Autumn belongs to the harvest: wine festivals, the grape and the olive, and above all the village panigyria — saint's-day fairs with food, music and dancing that welcome anyone who wanders in. Wherever you are, ask locally; there is almost always something on.

Timings shift each year with the Orthodox calendar and the harvest. Tell our concierge your dates and we will tell you what is happening while you are here — and how to be part of it.