Cost of Budget Travel in Cyprus in 2020
All said and done, my visit to Cyprus cost me considerably more than I’d expected and certainly much more than countries in Eastern Europe that I visited just prior to Cyprus. Countries including Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and most Balkan countries were much cheaper for me to explore than Cyprus.
Before heading to Cyprus, I’d already secured nearly half of my accommodation online at rates of $10-11 US per night. Based on that and the fact that I can usually eat for $6-8 US per day in most countries of the world, I was hoping to stick pretty close to my usual monthly budget of $600 US / $20 US per day, inclusive.
So I was quite surprised when I added up my total January expenses and discovered that I spent $800 US for the month! That works out to $25.80 US per day and 35% more than my usual $600 US comfortable monthly budget.
If I add the cost of flying to Cyprus from Sophia, Bulgaria ( $180 US) that bumps up the total to $980 US, which is getting pretty darn close to $1000 US per month! Eek.
I actually stayed in Cyprus a total of 5 ½ weeks, so my total expenditures were even higher. However, the monthly January total gives an accurate picture of the daily, weekly and monthly costs, since my expenses were pretty steady every week I was there.
I’m still rather surprised that the monthly total ran so high, especially considering that my average room rate over the whole course of my visit was a normal $10.32 per day and my food & drink costs were $10 US per day on average.
Most of my other expenses were for transportation around the island. I relied on various public buses to get between cities and to most of the amazing destinations I visited. I spent little on entry fees since I spent most of my time hiking along Cyprus’ gorgeous coastlines and wandering around small historic city centers. I only visited a few key museums and historic/archaeological sites where I had to pay.
Here are the details of my costs in Cyprus for one month:
Total Monthly Expenses = $800 US
Total Accommodation = $320 US
Average nightly accommodation = $10.32
Total Food/Drinks = $310 US
Average daily food/drinks = $10 US
Total Transportation = $107 US
Miscellaneous expenses = $63 US
========================================================
one of my lovely private rooms in Cyprus for under $10 US per day
Details on Budget Accommodation Costs in Cyprus
I’m very happy to report that during 5 1/5 weeks in Cyprus I only stayed one night in a dorm room! Yeah!
Yes, every night except my very first night, I stayed in a nice private room, booked through AirBnB or Booking. I managed to find really good prices, no doubt due to the fact that I was visiting in the super-low ‘ghost-town’ winter season. (I’m sure prices are considerably higher in other seasons, especially July and August).
My room prices ranged from $9.50-$12.50 per night, throughout my entire stay. About half f the rooms were in a private home or apartment, while the others were at a hostel. In fact, at two hostels I actually booked myself into a dorm room, but to my great luck, both hosts bumped me up to my very own private room!
One hostel owner gave me a private room just because he liked me. The other owner had decided to give solo traveler a private rooms because she had so few visitors that the rooms were empty anyhow. She figured it was nicer for everyone if they didn’t have to share a dorm room!
Do keep in mind, as I mentioned above, that I visited Cyprus in the winter ‘dead’ season. I didn’t know before my visit, but many tourist areas in Cyprus become practically like ghost towns in winter, with nearly every hotel and about 80% of all stores, restaurants, cafes & bars competely closed up!
So take note that anyone planning to visit Cyprus in other seasons will probably run into higher costs for accommodations. On the other hand, food, entry fees and transportation costs will remain the same.
Details on Food & Drink Costs in Cyprus
Cyprus uses Euro for its currency. Restaurants are expensive, probably as a result of using the Euro and maybe the fact that nearly all tourists are from England and Europe.
Therefore, during my entire 5 ½ week visit to Cyprus, I bought groceries and cooked for myself. I did occasionally buy moussaka or other delicious local meals at bakeries or take-out places. But over all, I cooked for myself.
Doing so, I still ended up spending $10 US per day eating in Cyprus, which is actually more than I spend cooking & eating in the USA when visiting family! It’s about the same cost for cooking & eating in the expensive countries of Australia and New Zealand.
Therefore, we can see that groceries are not cheap in Cyprus. But they’re not outrageously priced either.
I will confess to regularly buying rather pricey fruits like berries, good quality chocolate and some other more or less gourmet food items. I’m sure travelers could purchase less expensive groceries and reduce their food costs considerably. In my case, I never skimp on eating good quality, healthy food!
Public Transportation Costs in Cyprus
While there, I considered the bus costs quite reasonable. One bus ride, short or long, costs 1.50 Euro / $1.65 US. For a quite 10-minute ride within a city, that’s rather steep, but for an over-land 1-1.5 hour trip, that’s quite reasonable.
Buses between major cities cost 4 Euro / $5 US one way or 7 Euro / $7.75 US return on Intercity Bus. That’s also quite reasonable.
Obviously, however, the total transportation costs really add up over a month!
My total cost for January was $107.52 US.
The remaining expenses included a few entry fees and several personal items I had to buy there, including another bag of Starbucks espresso, new shoes, new reading glasses and a new phone cable.
It seemed like everything I owned decided to break while I was in Cyprus! Lol (My rolling suitcase, computer bag, shoulder bag lining and other things also broke…to be repaired or replaced some time soon).
visiting the cat sanctuary in Cyprus
Summary
So there are the full details on my costs to explore Cyprus on as a budget traveler.
Putting things in a broader perspective, Cyprus is probably considerably cheaper than major western European countries, like France or Germany. But it’s much more expensive than traveling around many Eastern European and Balkan countries.
Travelers on a tighter budget could probably eat much cheaper than I did by buying more basic groceries and cooking. They also might be able to save money on accommodation by staying with Couch Surfing hosts in some places.
On the other hand, as I noted above, traveling to Cyprus in busier tourist seasons will probably cost more.
I hope this article will help other budget travelers considering a visit to Cyprus.
You might also like:
18 Surprsing Facts about Cyprus
17 Best Places to Visit in Cyprus
==============================
Hi! I'm Lash, an American nomadic world traveler who's been traveling solo since 1998. I’m passionate about traveling the world nomadically and then sharing it all with you. I hope to inspire you to travel the world, to entertain you with tales from the road, and to help you reach your travel dreams. Welcome! 
