US to Cyprus Flights
 

I'm traveling to Cyprus at the end of August for a conference. My location here in the US is such that we have several options for airports: PIT would be the easiest, but PHL and IAD (and other DC airports) would be almost equally convenient.

The flights to Cyprus (LCA and PFO) were pretty expensive, and many suggested outrageous layovers (~48 hours?!). I was wondering a couple of things:

Based on any past experiences, is there any chance that flights will go DOWN between now and then? Or just up? Or is there no way to guess?

Are there any creative (less expensive) options for getting there other than flying? I'll need to be in Limassol, but could potentially spend a couple days before the conference flying into another city/country and boating in. I plan to add a couple days on one end of the trip to do more touristy things.

Any obvious suggestions or feedback would be appreciated.

Perhaps you're actually planning to go to Cyprus.

Otherwise, the Lone Cypress would be the iconic tree on the Seventeen Mile Drive on California's Monterey Peninsula.

Try US to ATH, and then an ATH-LCA flight with A3; or
US to GB and then an LCC to LCA or PFO.

Forget the boats: too expensive and not many weekly journeys (one or two max).

You can check a couple of options:

Look at flying into Istanbul, and then flying on to the Turkish side of Cyprus. The main airport in Turkish Cyprus is Ercan (ECN). Turkish Air, and some low cost Turkish carriers such as Pegasus, Atlas Jet, Onur Air, and I think Sun Express fly the route.

Ferriers into Cyprus come from Alanya and Mersin Turkey, and those options would be no cheaper than flying from Istanbul.

Wizz Air has some fairly inexpensive flights into Larnaca from Budapest. Ryan Air flies into Paphos. And, EasyJet flies into both Paphos and Larnaca.

Unfortunately, you're flying in August, and it's prime tourist season. You'll love Cyprus, it's a great place.

I live in Cyprus so I can offer some suggestions. Try looking at Etihad or Emirates to fly into LCA. You may have to overnight in AUH (that's the route I fly to/from JFK) but I like the schedule. I used to fly through AMS but since Cyprus Airways went bust, I'm not sure what that routing looks like. I wouldn't fly into Ercan if I was going to Limassol - that's just too much driving and hassle if you've never been to cyprus and don't know how the border crossings work.

You are coming to Cyprus during peak season and the hottest and most humid time of the year so prepare yourself. Temps can be in the low 90s.

Another option is US from PHL to TLV and El Al, Arkia or Aegean to Larnaca.

Thank you all for your feedback. I have basically narrowed it down to two options:

1) IAD to SVO to LCA -RT Cost is just under a grand. Downfall is a 10/15 hour/overnight layover on the way home. Extra vacation time will be spent on Cypruss.

2) IAD to ATH (2 days in ATH) ATH to LCA then back with a long layover in ATH - It seems that tickets need to be purchased separately IAD to ATH is about $1300 and the ATH to LCA is about $200. Extra vacation time will be spent in Greece. Downfall is cost, and potential for disruption since tickets are purchased separately.

Going to look more into Aeroflot (#1) and Blue Air (#2) to see if airline will factor in to my decision.

STBCypriot: can a non-resident even legally cross into (Greek) Southern Cyprus after entering the country in (Turkish) Northern Cyprus? Note 4 in this document implies it's illegal:

http://www.mfa.gov.cy/mfa/mfa2006.ns...E?OpenDocument

In case it makes a difference for #2 -- Aegean flies ATH-LCA much more often than Blue Air (6x daily) and their prices are pretty much the same.

I am also going to LCA for a conference in April and faced the same problem (albeit leaving from Canada). I played with a bunch of itineraries but the cheapest option was always through ATH, either as a r/t or as an open jaw (YQB-??? then ATH-YQB) with separate ???-LCA-ATH ticket(s). I will end up staying a few days in Istanbul on the way there + IST-ATH-LCA + conference/Cyprus travel + LCA-ATH + a few more days in Athens on the way back for cheaper airfare than a YQB-LCA r/t. Istanbul, Rome, Paris and London were all pretty much the same price as part of that open jaw and they either have direct flights or 1-stop flights with short connections to LCA on A3 (Aegean, which is part of *A), at least on some days. BA also flies LHR-LCA twice a day, as does Austrian (from Vienna). YMMV as you will be there in peak season.

Interesting part from your link, clearer than the official link I posted above:

Yes, techically it is illegal. The ROC considers Ercan an illegal airport. Additionally, if you flew into Ercan, crossed into the ROC, and then tried to fly out of LCA, you would have a problem because there would be no record of your entry into the ROC. Your passport is not stamped when you cross the green line. And there would be no record of you ever leaving the TRNC. It's a bit tricky.

If you did fly into the TRNC and then cross to the ROC with plans to leave via Ercan but had sone kind of problem in the ROC, you'd have no stamp in your passport indicating you entered the ROC legally and could have issues with the authorities because you would be viewed as entering the country illegally.

Yes, I can see that for a non-EU citizen there would be a real problem. However as the EU doesn't allow member states to stamp each others passports, and indeed it is possible for those EU citizens who have National Identity Cards to use them as travel documents I can also see why the ROC government doesn't actually enforce the rules.

They obviously could enforce them on non-EU citizens quite easily, but it would be very difficult to do so for EU citizens unless they kept detailed records of people crossing at the Green Line checkpoint, and since people are (legally speaking) just moving about within the ROC, as the TRNC doesn't exist in international law, the EU free movement regulations come into play. Much better to reserve the right to enforce and keep the moral high ground by not actually doing so.

It's a good policy, otherwise there would be "Wanted Dead or Alive" posters of me all over the ROC.