Holidays with a child are mostly about logistics. Get the flight, the travel and the sleep right and everything else tends to look after itself, which is why we ended up choosing Protaras, on the east coast of Cyprus, for our first proper family trip abroad in a while. The deciding factor was the journey from the airport to our lodgings.
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Protaras is roughly 65 kilometres from Larnaca by road, which works out at around an hour in the car. After a flight with a fidgety daughter, the last thing we wanted was a coach stopping at every hotel on the way, so we booked a private transfer from Larnaca Airport to Protaras before we left. The driver was waiting at arrivals and she was asleep before we reached the motorway. The daughter, not the driver.
Fig Tree Bay Is Made for Families
Most of our days started and finished at Fig Tree Bay. It is about 500 metres worth of soft sand, holding a Blue Flag for its water quality and staying shallow to a good distance out, which meant I could sit down for once instead of hovering at the water’s edge, constantly on lookout.
A little islet sits just offshore and helps keep the sea calm, plus you can hire sunbeds and parasols right along the beach. If you fancy somewhere quieter, it’s worth having a look at this rundown of the beaches in Protaras, because plenty of the smaller coves have a Blue Flag too.
Cape Greco Is Worth a Morning
We aren’t big hikers, to put it mildly, but Cape Greco National Forest Park sits between Protaras and Ayia Napa, so it was too close for us to skip. The park protects around 385 hectares of coastline, with pale limestone cliffs and sea caves that the waves have hollowed out over centuries.
We walked a short stretch of the coastal path to look down on the caves, which was plenty for little legs in the heat. Guides to Cape Greco cover the trails properly, if you want to go further than we did, but my advice would be to go early and take more water than you think you’ll need.
Planning Your Own Trip
Before we went, I followed Visit Cyprus on Instagram for ideas. The account is run by the island’s Deputy Ministry of Tourism and is full of beaches and villages that we had never heard of, so it’s a nice way to build a wish list of things to do without having to wade through endless travel sites.
My main advice is to sort the airport journey before anything else, though. Once you’re there, Protaras is easy going. Arriving tired, with bags and a child in tow, is where our holidays have usually started to go wrong in the past, so having that part booked made the whole trip feel calmer and got us off to the perfect start.