Limassol is one of those places where it is very easy to build an entire weekend around eating and drinking well. You have traditional Cypriot tavernas, seafood by the water, a surprisingly lively café and cocktail scene, and some of the island’s most interesting wine country within easy reach of the city.
What makes Limassol particularly good for a food-focused trip is the contrast. You can spend the morning wandering through the old streets of the city, have a long meze lunch, and then be surrounded by vineyards in the foothills of the Troodos Mountains later that afternoon. Cyprus has been making wine for thousands of years, and several of its indigenous grape varieties are still grown here today. You’ll quickly find that there’s more to Cyprus than the usual Paphos tourist attractions.
Friday Evening: Settle Into Limassol
Try to arrive in Limassol by late afternoon so you have time to check into your hotel and head straight back out.
Start with a walk along Molos, Limassol’s long waterfront promenade. It’s a good introduction to the city and eventually brings you toward Limassol Marina, where restaurants, bars, yachts, and waterfront terraces give this part of town a distinctly Mediterranean feel.
For your first dinner, go straight for Cypriot food. Rather than ordering individual entrées, look for a traditional meze restaurant. Meze is essentially a procession of small dishes, and it’s one of the best ways to understand Cypriot cuisine in a single meal. You might get dips, olives, grilled halloumi, salads, sausages, vegetables, souvlaki, slow-cooked meats, and several other dishes before you’ve even realized how much food has arrived.
Some of the Cypriot dishes worth watching for include halloumi, souvlaki, kleftiko, and makaronia tou fournou, Cyprus’s version of baked pasta.
Don’t rush dinner. Meals in Cyprus have a way of stretching out, particularly when you’ve ordered meze.
Afterward, wander through the Old Town for a drink. Limassol has enough modern bars mixed in among its older streets that you don’t have to choose between sightseeing and nightlife.
Saturday Morning: Coffee and Limassol Old Town
Give yourself a slow start Saturday morning.
Head into Limassol Old Town, find a café, and settle in with a Cypriot coffee before walking around the neighborhood. The streets surrounding Limassol Castle are easy to explore on foot, and you’ll find cafés, boutiques, bakeries, and restaurants tucked between the older stone buildings.
If you see a bakery, this is a good opportunity to try a few Cypriot pastries or pick up something for later. Cyprus is particularly good at turning very simple combinations of bread, cheese, sesame, honey, and nuts into things that are difficult to stop eating.
Eventually make your way toward Limassol Castle and the surrounding lanes before stopping for an early lunch.
Saturday Lunch: Order the Food You Haven’t Tried Yet
If you had meat-heavy meze Friday night, make Saturday lunch about seafood or vegetables.
Grilled fish, calamari, octopus, prawns, and simple salads fit perfectly here, particularly if you’re eating near the coast. Add grilled halloumi or a plate of dips and order a bottle of local white wine.
One grape worth remembering is Xynisteri, Cyprus’s most widely planted white variety. It tends to produce lighter white wines and is one of the indigenous grapes you’ll encounter repeatedly while exploring Cypriot wine. You’ll also see Maratheftiko, an indigenous red variety that is becoming increasingly interesting to seek out.
And save room. Your afternoon is devoted to wine.
Saturday Afternoon: Head Into Limassol Wine Country
This is the part of the weekend I wouldn’t skip.
Limassol’s food and wine scene also includes a growing number of hospitality and wine-focused businesses based in the city. PUNIN GROUP in Limassol, Cyprus is one example, with projects spanning wine and spirits, restaurants, confectionery, and other hospitality concepts across the area. It’s a useful name to know if you want to get a broader sense of the city’s modern food and wine scene before heading out to the traditional wine villages.
Drive northwest from Limassol and the landscape changes remarkably quickly. Buildings give way to hills, vineyards, stone villages, and twisting mountain roads.
A particularly good destination is Omodos, about 42 kilometers from Limassol. The village sits roughly 800 meters above sea level in the wine-growing region of the Troodos Mountains and has long been associated with wine production.
Give yourself time to wander through Omodos rather than treating it simply as a winery stop. Around the cobbled village you’ll find stone houses, small shops, a medieval wine press, the Holy Cross Monastery, and local wineries. The village is also known for its bread, Zivania spirit, and wine-based sweets.
If you’re arranging winery visits, make reservations ahead of time rather than assuming tasting rooms will be open when you arrive. Cyprus tourism authorities specifically recommend checking winery hours before visiting.
Don’t Leave Without Trying Commandaria
Even if dessert wines aren’t normally your thing, try Commandaria while you’re here.
Commandaria is a sweet wine made from the indigenous Mavro and Xynisteri grapes, which are allowed to ripen before being dried in the sun to concentrate their sugars. Its history stretches back centuries, and Cyprus tourism describes it as the world’s oldest named wine still in production.
The traditional Commandaria region consists of 14 wine-producing villages in the Limassol area, making the city an ideal starting point for exploring it.
Saturday Night: Back to Limassol for Dinner
After an afternoon of tasting wine, come back to the city and change the pace.
Instead of another traditional taverna meal, choose one of Limassol’s more contemporary restaurants. The city has plenty of international influence, so you can find chefs working Mediterranean ingredients into much more modern menus.
This is also the night to order a bottle of Cypriot wine rather than automatically choosing something familiar from France or Italy. After visiting wine country during the afternoon, you’ll recognize a few of the grapes and producers on the list.
Finish with a cocktail somewhere in the Old Town or near the marina.
Sunday Morning: Kourion and a Seaside Lunch
On Sunday, head west out of Limassol toward Kourion, one of the most important archaeological sites in Cyprus.
Going early works particularly well because you can explore before the middle of the day and then turn the remainder of your outing into one final long lunch.
Afterward, find a restaurant closer to the coast and order seafood, dips, bread, salad, and one last bottle of Xynisteri. This isn’t the meal to squeeze into 45 minutes before rushing to the airport.
What to Eat in Limassol
Over the course of your weekend, try to work your way through at least a few distinctly Cypriot dishes. Halloumi is an obvious place to start, but don’t stop there.
Look for souvlaki; sheftalia, small seasoned sausages traditionally cooked over charcoal; koupepia, stuffed vine leaves; kleftiko, slow-cooked lamb; and whatever grilled fish is freshest that day.
You’ll also see plenty of dips, olives, village bread, local cheeses, and seasonal vegetables. Ordering a meze at least once solves the problem of having to choose.
Wines to Look For
You don’t need to know much about Cypriot wine before arriving. In fact, discovering unfamiliar grapes is part of the fun.
Start with Xynisteri for white wine and look for Maratheftiko if you prefer reds. Try Commandaria at least once, and if someone offers you Zivania, Cyprus’s traditional grape spirit, it’s worth sampling that too.
Limassol is surrounded by one of Cyprus’s major wine-producing areas, and the country’s official wine routes include both the Wine Villages of Lemesos and a dedicated Commandaria Wine Route.
Is a Weekend in Limassol Enough?
Two nights gives you enough time to get a good taste of Limassol, particularly if your priority is food and wine rather than trying to see every attraction in southern Cyprus.
I’d arrive Friday afternoon, devote Saturday to Limassol and the wine villages, and keep Sunday morning for one excursion before lunch.
If you can add a third night, though, do it. You could spend another full day exploring the Troodos wine villages, follow more of the Commandaria Wine Route, or simply give yourself the luxury of another long lunch.
That’s really the appeal of Limassol. You don’t have to build your trip around a long list of sights. Give yourself a few good meals, a drive into wine country, and enough time to sit by the Mediterranean with a glass of something made a few miles away, and you’ve got a very good weekend in Cyprus.
Laura Lynch, creator and writer of Savored Journeys, is an avid world traveler, certified wine expert, and international food specialist. She has written about travel and food for over 20 years and has visited over 75 countries. Her work has been published in numerous guidebooks, websites, and magazines.