Ayia Napa has become somewhat renowned for its nightlife. Brits flock to the resort every summer to enjoy all night parties with world-class DJs. While the wild ways of Brits abroad may grab the headlines, but put your beer down and take a look around, you’ll find there’s a lot more to this once-fishing village than meets the eye.

Take the Ayia Napa festival for starters. Located in a Venetian-style monastery in a charming location, it gives holidaymakers an insight into Cypriot folklore with theatrical performances, concerts and dancing. First held in 1985, it’s a free event and eagerly-awaited every year until it kicks off in the tourist season.

If you’re looking for something that will get your adrenaline pumping a little bit more, then you should really tap into the watersports available in Ayia Napa. Whether it’s water skiing, speed boating, canoeing, windsurfing or scuba-diving there’s something for each and every water baby. Clean, safe, well-marshalled beaches are the norm, and it’s quite likely you won’t have snorkelled in such stunning surroundings.

For those craving culture, Ayia Napa doesn’t disappoint. A number of museums aim to educate, impress and stress the importance of preserving the beautiful environment of Ayia Napa. The Tornartis – located in the Town Hall – exhibits Marine life of past and present. Exhibitions of note include at reconstruction of a sea-bed during prehistoric times, fish fossils from the Mesozoic period (up to 60 million years old) and vast aquariums of beautiful Cypriot fish species.

One can’t visit the Cypriot hotspot without sampling the wonderful food. While the town centre may be littered with fast-food joints and kebab shops to cater for the partygoer, venture a few minutes out of town to find some enchanting treats. You can probably guess the local speciality – seafood. But don’t confuse this with your generic European dish. Think fresh Red Snapper, Calamari, and Octopus combined with delicious dips such as tzatziki, taramosalata and tahini, throw in some Middle-Eastern
influence and you’re on the right lines.

For the thrill-seeking holidaymaker, take a ten-minute trip out to Cape Greco, where dwells the alleged Ayia Napa Sea Monster. Spotted only a dozen or so times and described as porpoise-dragon cross, legend has it, it’s a direct descendent from prehistoric times.

Travel to Ayia Napa is direct and frequent. Flights from the UK typically travel to the International Airport of Larnaca, just a thirty minute drive away from the centre of Ayia Napa. With the Cypriot winter months just December and January, avoid the peak British summer months for cheaper travel and more reasonable rates.

So if you’ve always dismissed Ayia Napa for it’s party-town reputation, or perhaps you’re a regular visitor guilty of not venturing out of the bar, open your eyes and see the undoubted charm on offer. Just watch out for the Sea Monster!

The sandy Nissi beach stretches for 500m with clear blue waters.

Do you have a favourite picture of Cyprus? Send them to me and i’ll publish them

I’d read beforehand that places had to show dual pricing, Cypriot Pounds and the new Euro rate so I didn’t think they would be able to profiteer.

It appeared though that instead of converting the old Cypriot pound to the new Euro amount, it was the other way round, deciding on a euro rate and working backwards to give the Cyprus pound figure.

A pint of local beer, KEO, Carlsberg or Leon was around 3 euros at most places in Napa which at the 1.18 rate worked out at £2.54 a pint, compared to last year when a lot of places were charging CYP1.50, approx £1.80.

I think the main influence on it seeming expensive is the fact the euro rate is rubbish at the moment, the same time in April 2007 the rate was 1.47, so there you see that lovely local pint would have still been more expensive (£2.04) but not as much as 40%!

It will be interesting to see how the euro affects Cyprus by way of Tourism considering over 3m people visit the island from the UK alone, I can imagine those living on a UK pension in Cyprus are feeling the pinch a bit with the rate as it is.

It could be that it’s just expensive like this in Ayia Napa, I will be visiting again in September so will have to venture out and see.

8 nights, mainly because the flight going out is late Saturday night, staying at Anthea Hotel Apartments in Ayia Napa, we were just looking for a very cheap break to get away from the English weather and get some sun, and at £162 this is a bargain considering some of the cheapest flights we looked at were around this price!

Now I just can’t wait to go, it will be interesting to see how the Euro has affected prices out there but with the Euro rate having dropped so much against the English Pound then it’s bound to seem expensive anyway, so maybe that cheap bottle of KEO or LEON isn’t going to be so cheap anymore

The hotel has 221 rooms and as the official site says it is built around a magnificent courtyard. The outdoor lagoon style swimming pool lies in the centre of this courtyard amidst richly Mediterranean landscaped gardens with palm trees, olive and citrus trees.

The hotel is very clean throughout and the rooms are of a great standard, I couldn’t actually fault the hotel.

Attached to the hotel is the very popular Pepper Bar, which became my favorite bar in Ayia Napa, playing some great funky house music as the nights went on and they serve some fantastic cocktails.