Flying into Cyprus (Ercan) & Options
 

I am flying into Northern Cyprus and Ercan with TK via Istanbul.

I arrive late into Ercan and need to stay the night in a half decent hotel not too far away and hopefully not too far from the airport.

My final destination is Paphos on the West Coast.

Where can I find somewhere to stay? Are there any decent options?

What is Ercan airport like and what is the closest major city i see Nicosia, how far is this and how long would a taxi take to get here?

Ooops ... you're likely to be in trouble. At least officially, you are not allowed to enter the Republic of Cyprus (the southern part) coming from Ercan.

Technically, you can take a taxi from Ercan to the demarkation line, then walk trough the demilitarized zone controlled by UN and enter the Republic of Cyprus (if they let you in, but they are not supposed to ...). Then you could hail a taxi to a hotel or to Paphos (which is a long distance and likely to be expensive). Obviously, you take the same (high) risk of not being let through on the way back.

Bottom line: Not a good idea to fly to Ercan if your final destination is Paphos.:td:

I'd strongly recommend to travel via LCA (and thus not via IST).

In reality you won't encounter many problems if any at all. I fly do a lot of business in Limassol and regularly fly in via Ercan because I don't have the time to waste going to LCA via another country. Never once have I had a problem. I travel on an American passport

As for the hotel, the nearest city is Nicosia. I would recommend taking a taxi from Ercan to the Ledra Palace checkpoint and crossing on foot there. Once you pass the checkpoint there are a number of hotels within about five minutes walking, including a Holiday Inn. I don't particullarly recommend staying the night on the Turkish Cypriot side as the hotels are not of the best standard and many are part of casinos.

Hope that helps

Meant to add that you should make sure to have the authorities at Ercan stamp the visa paper they have at passport control and not stamp in your actual passport. keep that paper as it will be stamped again at the checkpoint by the Turkish Cypriot authorities. The Greek Cypriot authorities don't care about this paper and don't want to see it. You'll be lucky if they even do a cursory glance at your passport.

You're absolutely right. I've entered Cyprus "illegally" via Turkey on multiple occasions, and had no problem exiting via LCA. They don't care anymore.

I would recommend that the OP spend some time visiting the ancient Venetian harbor, castle and old town of Kyrenia (Turkish name is Girne).

Here's the website for the Ercan airport.

http://www.ercanairportnorthcyprus.com/

My flight arrives into Ercan 00:50 which is not an ideal time.

Can a taxi not take me from Ercan to the the Holiday Inn Cyprus directly?

How about if I book transportation directly with the hotel?

The last thing I want it to get out in the middle of the night to cross a border by foot with my luggage.

I am a British Passport Holder and would fly back via Paphos.

The Holiday Inn is not likely to pick you up given the politics involved. Therefore if you do think it best to stay on the Turkish Cypriot side then I would recommend the Merit Lefkose hotel. It is one of the newest hotels in Lefkose (Nicosia) and I've stayed there a couple of times myself. www.merithotels.com

The problem is i need to hire a car to get from Nicosia to Paphos, I understand you cant do this from Ercan to Paphos.

What I need is some sort of transportation option from Ercan to the Nicosia in Southern Cyprus, then pick up a car and continue my journey from there.

What are the valid and best options for my situation?

You have been given the best options. A few years ago the answers would have been akin to what swiss global said and you would not have had any possibility of crossing the border.

The Merit hotel looks ok and as im arriving at 1am it seems best to stay there.

Is the best option to get a taxi from the Merit hotel to cross the border, also when booking a car to hire from Southern Cyprus where is the best place to get one from?

Is all this safe to do for a british passport holder who is travelling with his wife with wife?

Taxi from Merit to the Ledra Palace crossing would be easiest. Should cost maybe 15 lira at most. You could then tell your hired car to pick you up at the Ledra Palace check point as well. There is a traffic circle and a taxi stand on the Greek Cypriot side of the checkpoint. Pretty much any driver would be familiar with where to get you. You should not have a problem at all on a British passport

Hi there,

Does a British passport holder need a Visa for Turkish Northen Cyprus?

TRNC issues their own "visas" on arrival to anyone and everyone. Just make sure you have them stamp it on a separate piece of paper that they have at passport control as opposed to directly in your passport (obviously make sure you keep the paper with you as you'll need it when you go to cross the checkpoint).

For those that travel from the north to the south, do you have any taxi company recommendations for a transfer?

Looking to get from ECN to Aiya Napa area...

Ask Pacific Rentals to do it - http://pacific-rentals.com/

I've used them from Ercan on a number of occasions, they are very helpful and even if it's not something they usually do I'm sure they will find a way to help you.

Please note that you're entering Schengen via an "unofficial route", so in case you're not an EU national make sure you exit the same way or might find trouble exiting.

There is considerable misinformation in this thread. The Republic of Cyprus treats ECN as an illegal entry point to the island. While there is nothing the authorities can do to prevent EU citizens crossing the border, they frequently deny entry to non-EU passport holders. For sure, anyone who is black, Arab or is Turkish without a TRNC identity card will be turned back. If you need to do business in the RoC and are not an EU citizen, do not tempt fate - fly in through PFO or LCA!

The Republic of Cyprus is not and probably never will be a member of Schengen. Non-EU nationals are asking for trouble trying to enter the Republic of Cyprus via ECN. Exiting via ECN is absolutely no problem.

Yeah sorry, I relied on a erroneous source. Your message is exactly what I meant to say.

Americans are fine. Its just a pain in the ... figuring how to get a car over.

Having lived in Cyprus before and travelled between North and South on several occasions, I would strongly recommend you against trying to find a direct transfer/taxi from ECN to Ayia Napa.

Not only is it illegal for taxis from either side to cross the border to the other side, your taxi ride would be extremely expensive as crossing the border with a car requires the driver to purchase additional one-off insurance, which needless to say would be added to your final bill.

Instead, I'd recommend you to take a taxi from ECN to Nicosia, cross the border on foot and then take another taxi from there to Ayia Napa. It sounds complex - I know - but in reality it's a piece of cake and will save you not only money and headache but likely even time.

I would recommend Pacific Rentals in Kyrenia as detailed above. They are always helpful.

If you are an EU citizen ignore the scaremongering about flying in to Ercan and crossing the border. IME the Greeks rarely take any notice at all.

Any update on the border crossing situation? I'm looking at flying into LCA from LHR, and then on to HTY from ECN; and then doing the reverse on the return (assuming I'm able to get a Turkish visa on a US passport in advance of the trip). How much time do I need between flights? Is a special visa needed for the TRNC?

Provided you have a record of arrival at LCA your intermediate journey shouldn't be a problem as you will depart from and arrive back to ECN and then make an internal border crossing back to leave the island through LCA.

Look here for the Turkish visa - you'll soon know whether you can get one or not: https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/

Thanks, I won't be getting an eVisa for this trip, I have an appointment at the Turkish consulate next month. How about the border crossings; any difficulty going from Roc > TRNC > Turkey > TNRC > Roc?

You really shouldn't have a problem with the border crossings. These days many people cross it every day. They vary a bit in formality - Ledra Street in the middle of Nicosia is probably the busiest with tourists just wandering between parts of the city. In a car I usually use Metehan/Agios Dometios (same place but everywhere has a Turkish and Greek name) there's little formality there either but as above provided you initially entered the island through Larnaca there should be no problem.

I disagree with this advice. If you initially enter Cyprus with a US passport through LCA and then travel to the TRNC, the permission to re-enter the ROC is annulled by then travelling to Turkey. There is a strong risk of being denied entry to the ROC at the Nicosia checkpoint.

That's not my experience.

There is a 'risk' of being turned back at any border however it almost never happens and a US citizen in Cyprus is on pretty safe ground.

You are unfortunately not correct. The Foreign Ministry of Cyprus has recently tightened up checks and groups of tourists from Lebanon, Israel and Russia have been denied entry to the ROC when it became evident that they were intending to travel to the TRNC. Passport checks at the Green Line in Nicosia have also been tightened recently and the ROC police are even examining the identity documents of passengers in Cyprus-registered cars which was not done previously. Anyone not holding an EU passport is subject to special checks and, if the police find recent Turkish entry stamps, the result will be certain denial of entry. As someone who has crossed the border around 500 times to visit relatives, I know what I am talking about.

I agree with @johnirvine. I visited Cyprus in May and crossed over to the TRNC - definitely more than just a cursory view of my passport and they were definitely on the look out for questionable visas. If you must do this trip, I would head to Turkey via ATH because the RoC authorities would definitely flag the lack of an exit visa.

Thanks for the feedback. Based on the feedback I received, I decided to travel from HTY to ATH (via IST) on my return so that I wouldn't have to cross back into the RoC over land once I've left via Ercan airport. From what you're saying though, it seems there may be a risk in entering Larnaca airport with a Turkish visa in my passport? The US Dept of State says that Americans can enter the TRNC, but may have difficulty if they are trying to enter the RoC from TRNC without having originally arrived in Cyprus through Larnaca or Paphos.

Would it be unwise to say I have plans to leave the island via the TRNC? I suppose worst case scenario, I would be denied entry and sent back to London? Thanks.

The problem for you is the fact that you are leaving the island from an unrecognized point of entry/departure. You are going to have issues on your reentry even if you try to return via Athens; when you land again in RoC they will see you don't have an exit stamp and questions will arise. It sucks, but I don't think there is anyway around this issue in your case. You will need to find a way to make the trip in a proper way, as inconvenient as it is.

Thanks, but to clarify, I've changed my plans so I wouldn't have to reenter the RoC. My new itinerary is as follows:

SFO-LHR-LCA//ECN-HTY-IST-ATH-LHR-SFO

So I won't be reentering the RoC anytime soon, but foresee the following risks:

1) Being questioned about a Turkish visa in my passport.

2) Being asked to show a return flight. I can show my flight leaving the EU from ATH via LHR, and suppose I could say I hadn't yet decided when I'm leaving Cyprus? I could also book a refundable ticket to ATH if need be.

Thanks for letting know if you believe the above itinerary poses any risk.

For me, your new itinerary is fine and should not cause you any difficulties within Europe. You will probably, however, receive an SSSS on your return to the US. Hatay is an airport used frequently by Islamic fighters and the US authorities may well view your travel schedule with some scepticism.

An experience that I had awhile ago, so is probably not valid:

Having arrived in Larnaca and passing the border with the intent of flying Ercan-IST.

Immigration official: How will you be leaving Cyprus?
Me: From Ercan
I.O.: If you do that you will not be allowed to enter Cyprus again.
Me: That's o.k. I do not intend on coming back.

I was let through.

The next year, when I entered Cyprus again, no problems whatsoever.