Tours to Cyprus from Odesa — Last-Minute Deals

While Odesa airport remains closed to passenger flights, people from Odesa fly to Cyprus from Chisinau. A bus from Starosinna bus station takes you right to the airport in 4.5–5 hours, and the plane reaches Larnaca in roughly 2.5 hours. The island's swimming season lasts from May to mid-November: white sand and turquoise water in the east, ancient mosaics and rocky coves in the west.

Your package includes air tickets both ways, a shared transfer, accommodation on your chosen board basis and medical cover; the bus to Chisinau and back is the only extra cost. The tour search lists hotels with free rooms for the dates you need, while our manager can suggest a resort to suit your holiday style: family, party or sightseeing.

Odesa to Chisinau Airport by Bus or Car

The airport is about 190 km from Odesa. Buses and cars cross the border at the Maiaky–Palanca checkpoint and then continue through Moldova via Căușeni.

Morning buses reach the airport by 10–11 am, so you can travel on the same day for an afternoon or evening flight. If your flight leaves early in the morning, come the evening before and book a night in Chisinau: nobody can predict the border queue, and it is wise to reach the terminal two hours before take-off. For the airport layout and parking options, see tours to Egypt from Chisinau.

Flights: Chisinau or Bucharest

From Chisinau, flights to Cyprus land in Larnaca (LCA), the island's main airport. They do not operate every day, so the length of a tour follows the timetable; ask our manager for the nearest departure dates.

The backup option is Bucharest, which also has scheduled flights to Larnaca, about 2 h 15 min in the air. However, the bus from Odesa to the Romanian capital takes 11–15 hours, and Romania is a Schengen member: travellers are entered into the EES system at its border, and the days spent there count towards the Schengen limit.

Cyprus Resorts and Transfer Times

• Ayia Napa, about 45 minutes from the airport. White-sand beaches at Nissi and Makronissos, the cliffs and sea caves of Cape Greco National Park, and the WaterWorld water park themed on Greek myths. After sunset the centre fills with bars and clubs, which makes the resort a favourite with young people.
• Protaras, about an hour. Ayia Napa's quiet neighbour, where the water deepens gently. Fig Tree Bay is shallow and clear, with a small islet not far from the shore, and in the evening a fountain show with music and lights runs on the seafront. A good choice for a holiday with toddlers.
• Larnaca, 10–20 minutes. A town right by the airport: the palm-lined Finikoudes promenade, the 9th-century Church of St Lazarus and the Salt Lake, where flamingos spend the winter. Divers come for the Zenobia, a ferry that sank near the port and now ranks among the Mediterranean's top wreck dives.
• Limassol, about 50 minutes. The island's largest resort town, with a long seafront, a yacht marina and a medieval castle in the Old Town. Close by is the ancient theatre of Kourion on a cliff above the sea, and a wine festival is held at the turn of summer and autumn. The beaches are grey sand mixed with pebbles.
• Paphos, roughly 90 minutes by motorway. The Roman mosaics of the Archaeological Park and the Tombs of the Kings are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, Aphrodite's Rock (Petra tou Romiou) rises beside the road from Limassol, and the Blue Lagoon hides on the Akamas peninsula. The coast here is mostly rocky; for sand, head to Coral Bay.

A group transfer that stops at several hotels usually takes longer than these times. From any resort you can join an excursion to the Troodos Mountains and Kykkos Monastery, or to Nicosia, Europe's last divided capital. To see where each resort lies, check our article Cyprus on the world map.

Season and Weather

Swimming in Cyprus starts in May and ends in mid-November, one of the longest beach seasons in the Mediterranean. Midsummer days in July and August top +33 °C, the sea warms up to +28 °C and it hardly ever rains. June, September and October are the gentlest months. In summer Paphos, on the west coast, is a couple of degrees cooler than Ayia Napa and Protaras.

Long-term averages for Larnaca.

Hotels and Prices

Cypriot hotels more often offer breakfast or half board, and there are fewer all-inclusive resorts here than in Turkey or Egypt. Cost is driven by the resort, hotel class, meal plan and month: July, August and school holidays cost the most, while May, October and early booking are better value. The best offers for the coming weeks are gathered on our page of last-minute tours to Cyprus, while hotels with kids' clubs, pools and entertainment are in the article on family hotels in Cyprus.

Entry Requirements

• Passport. Cyprus is in the EU but outside the Schengen area. With a biometric passport, Ukrainian citizens can holiday here visa-free for a maximum of 90 days per 180, counted separately from Schengen days. Your passport needs at least three months of validity left after the date you fly home.
• No EES. Cyprus is not connected to the new electronic border registration system, so the border officer simply stamps your passport. ETIAS, once launched, will also apply to Cyprus, but for now no such authorisation is needed.
• ID card. It will get you across the Moldovan border, but the flight to Cyprus requires an international passport.
• Paperwork from the operator. Your hotel voucher, air tickets and insurance policy arrive by email in the last few days before the trip.
• Border. Conscription-age men and under-18s should check the wartime exit rules that apply to them before booking.

Good to Know

• Money. Cyprus uses the euro; cards are accepted almost everywhere, but cash comes in handy in village tavernas.
• Roads. Traffic keeps to the left, as in the UK, so a hire car has its steering wheel on the right.
• Sockets are the British type G with three flat pins, so pack an adapter.
• Northern part of the island. You can make a day trip there through the crossing points in Nicosia; take your passport with you.

Other destinations from Odesa: tours to Bulgaria by bus, with no flight, and, with departures from Chisinau, Turkey, Egypt and Greece.