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Biblical Cyprus · 14 days for church groups · Lapta, North Cyprus
In the footsteps of
Paul and Barnabas
The island they crossed, walked end to end over a fortnight — with three days of rest built in.
Salamis to Paphos, in 2:32
The story from Acts 13, the fortnight that follows it, and where you stay.
- 14days
- 24places
- 3rest days
- 11 + 2nights · Lapta, Paphos
- 5.0 ★24 Google reviews
Licensed to take church groups across the Green Line — which is why this fortnight reaches both Salamis, where Paul first preached, and Paphos, where the proconsul believed. Most tours reach only one.
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 13
“So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews… When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos… the proconsul believed.”
Church of St LazarusRaised by Jesus; made Bishop of Kition by Barnabas and Paul. His tomb is under the altar.
St Paul's PillarActs 13:6–12 — where the proconsul believed. The summit of the tour.
St Barnabas MonasteryActs 4:36 — the Cypriot apostle. His tomb lies beside the monastery.
SalamisActs 13:5 — where Paul, Barnabas and Mark first preached.
A retreat with a difference
A Journey to Health, Wholeness & Faith
Rest. Renew. Discover. Go Deeper.
Come away to the beautiful island of Cyprus for a unique retreat combining health, wholeness, spiritual renewal, and biblical discovery. Set against the backdrop of crystal-clear waters, ancient landscapes and centuries of Christian heritage, this retreat offers space to slow down, breathe deeply and reconnect — with God, with yourself and with others.
Nourish Body, Mind & Spirit
Through a blend of teaching, reflection, fellowship, healthy living and time to rest, we will explore what it means to pursue wholeness in every area of life. There will be opportunities to step away from the pressures of everyday life, restore your energy and create space to listen, reflect and be renewed.
Walk in the Footsteps of Scripture
Cyprus has a remarkable place in the story of the early Church. Paul and Barnabas travelled across the island, proclaiming the message of Christ, and Cyprus became part of the unfolding story of Christianity in the Mediterranean. Together, we will explore the island’s biblical and Christian heritage, visiting places connected with Scripture and the early Church while considering what these stories can teach us about faith, courage, calling and transformation today.
- Health & wellbeing — practical encouragement for living a healthier, more balanced life
- Spiritual renewal — time for prayer, worship, reflection and deeper connection with God
- Biblical exploration — discovering Cyprus through the lens of Scripture and early Christianity
- Rest & restoration — space to slow down and enjoy the beauty of the island
- Community & fellowship — meaningful conversations and shared experiences
- History & discovery — exploring ancient sites and the remarkable Christian story of Cyprus
Whether you are seeking physical renewal, spiritual refreshment, deeper biblical understanding, or simply time away to breathe and reflect, this retreat invites you to experience Cyprus in a whole new way.
Come and journey with us.
Discover the island. Explore its biblical story. Invest in your wellbeing. And make space for God to renew you — body, mind and spirit.
Request the itineraryThe route
Twenty-four places, on both sides of the line
Choose a day to see where it goes, what happens and where you sleep.
Every stop, north to south
Choose a day above, or open any place in the list below. Gold ring = named in Acts.
In the north15
The home of the tour. A former monastery building in Lapta — ancient Lapithos — converted into eight villas sleeping thirty or more. Eleven of your thirteen nights are here.
One of the ten ancient city-kingdoms of Cyprus. Legend gives its founding to Praxandros of Sparta after the Trojan War; under Rome it was a harbour town known for its abundant water and terraced gardens. You are staying inside it.
Hellenistic and Roman burial chambers cut into the rock — a layered necropolis used and reused over centuries.
Roman piscinae carved into the coastal rock, designed so the tide would flush them — an ancient fish farm, still legible in the stone.
One of several Byzantine-era religious buildings around Lapta — the trace of an unbroken Christian presence on the island.
Seven hundred and thirty metres up the Kyrenia range. Named for the monk who withdrew here, it began as a tenth-century Byzantine watchtower and became a Lusignan palace. It is said to have inspired the castle in Disney’s Snow White.
Byzantine in origin, rebuilt by the Venetians in the sixteenth century. Inside is the Kyrenia Shipwreck — a fourth-century BC merchant vessel, one of the oldest ever recovered. Serhan was its keeper.
An Augustinian abbey founded around 1200; its cloister and refectory still stand roofed. Lawrence Durrell wrote Bitter Lemons in the village below it.
Founded in the fifth century; the building you walk into is eighteenth-century. An icon museum stands inside, and the tomb held to be Barnabas’s own lies beside it.
In the Book of ActsBarnabas was Cypriot — Acts 4:36 introduces him as “a Levite, a native of Cyprus”. After parting from Paul he took Mark and returned to the island (15:39), and tradition has him martyred at Salamis around AD 61.
When his tomb was found in 478, a copy of the Gospel of Matthew is said to have been lying on his chest. That discovery won the Church of Cyprus its independence, which it holds to this day.
The largest ancient city on the island: a theatre for fifteen thousand, a gymnasium, baths and a colonnaded court, all still standing. Legend credits its founding to Teucer, the archer of Troy.
In the Book of ActsWhen Paul, Barnabas and Mark landed in Cyprus, Salamis was the first place they stopped — “they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews” (Acts 13:5). The journey begins here and reaches its summit at Paphos. These two ruins are the two ends of your fortnight.
A harbour city inside Venetian walls. The Lusignan kings were crowned kings of Jerusalem in St Nicholas Cathedral. Othello’s Tower takes its name from Shakespeare’s play, set in Venetian Cyprus.
A twelfth-century Byzantine church, its dome and surviving frescoes among the most striking on the island. Antiphonitis means “He who responds” — Christ answering.
The easternmost of the three Kyrenia-range castles, guarding the entrance to the Karpaz peninsula. On a clear day you can see the Taurus Mountains of Turkey. It was one of the last places to hold out against Richard the Lionheart in 1191.
The highest of the three castles, at nearly 950 metres. A Byzantine lookout, then a Lusignan prison. The climb is steep — and from the top you see both coasts of the island at once.
A morning on the water along the Kyrenia shore: the Kyrenia range seen from the sea, the old harbour, and the coves between.
The crossing1
The main crossing point between north and south. A passport or national ID is enough, and the group walks or drives through together.
Under the 2026 rules, land crossings by groups larger than four can require a Turkish-Cypriot accredited guide and a TRNC or Turkish agency of record. Serhan and The Old Monastery satisfy both — southern operators cannot. Vehicles are handled separately: northern plates do not cross, so the southern legs run on a southern-plated coach arranged in advance.In the south8
The new gateway for this tour. Direct flights arrive from across Europe, where every flight to Ercan connects through Turkey — so both the fare and the travelling day fall sharply. The Church of St Lazarus is ten minutes from the terminal.
A ninth-century church built over the tomb of Lazarus, which lies beneath the altar. Larnaca itself stands on ancient Kition.
In the Book of ActsLazarus, whom Jesus raised (John 11), is held to have come to Cyprus, where Barnabas and Paul appointed him Bishop of Kition. He lived thirty years more, and was buried here.
A man from inside the Gospels, in a tomb you can stand beside — ten minutes from the airport, on your first afternoon.
Seven hundred metres up, on a peak visible for miles. Counted among the oldest monasteries in the world: tradition holds that St Helena, mother of Constantine, founded it in AD 327 and left behind a fragment of the True Cross.
Men only inside the monastery. This is a standing rule of the community, not a preference — please tell a mixed congregation before you travel. Women in the group visit the courtyard and the view, and we plan an alternative for that hour.A single column standing inside the ruins of a fourth-century basilica in Kato Paphos. Next to it lies the UNESCO-listed Paphos Archaeological Park, whose Roman floor mosaics cover some 10,000 square metres.
In the Book of ActsThe summit of the tour. In Acts 13:6–12 Paul and Barnabas cross the whole island to Paphos, confront the sorcerer Elymas, and the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus believes.
Cyprus became the first country in the world governed by a Christian ruler. Tradition places Paul at this pillar, bound and given thirty-nine lashes.
North of Paphos. The hermit Neophytos carved his own cell — the Enkleistra — out of the rock face in 1159, and painted it; the frescoes on those walls have been there since the twelfth century.
A Greco-Roman theatre cut into a hillside above the sea, the mosaics of the House of Eustolios, and an early Christian basilica — the fifth-century bishop’s church. Archaeology of the island’s conversion, in one place.
Founded around 1100 and still the richest monastery on the island. It holds an icon of the Virgin ascribed by tradition to Luke the Evangelist, and gold mosaic covers the walls from floor to dome.
From the outside, a modest stone barn. Inside, every surface is covered in frescoes painted between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. One of the ten painted churches of the Troodos on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and the most praised of them.
Where you’ll stay
Eleven of the thirteen nights, here
The Old Monastery is a converted monastery building in Lapta — ancient Lapithos — with eight villas, room for thirty or more, a pool and a walled garden. Groups eat together and the evenings are quiet.
Your guide
Serhan — licensed for both sides
An accredited Turkish-Cypriot guide of fifteen years, educated in English in Famagusta, and for years the keeper of the fourth-century BC shipwreck in Kyrenia Castle — the oldest trading vessel ever recovered.
He is also why this tour can cross the line at all: under the 2026 rules, groups larger than four need a Turkish-Cypriot accredited guide under a local agency. We hold both. Operators in the south do not — which is why most “biblical Cyprus” tours show you only half the island.
Fully licensed for cross-border group travel
What’s included
In the price
We quote per person, and three things move the number: how many of you travel, which month, and whether you want single rooms. Everything below is inside the quote — there is no separate excursion or entrance-fee bill at the end.
- Thirteen nights’ accommodation — eleven at The Old Monastery, two in Paphos
- All transfers, including airport pick-up and drop-off at Larnaca
- Every entrance fee on the itinerary
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner each day (drinks not included)
- All activities, including the boat trip along the Kyrenia coast
- An accredited Turkish-Cypriot guide throughout, and the agency cover the border crossings require
Before you book
Three things to know before you book
- Stavrovouni admits men only
- The monastery community does not admit women inside the church. This is their rule, not ours, and we would rather you heard it now than at the gate. Women in the group visit the courtyard and the view from the summit, and we plan an alternative for that hour.
- Day 11 is a long day
- Paphos to the Troodos to Lapta, with an early start. It is the one day of the fortnight that asks something of the group — and it comes just before a rest day.
- Two border crossings
- A passport or national ID is enough; we handle the paperwork and the vehicles on both sides.
Bring your congregation
Dates are arranged with each group. Tell us roughly when you would travel and how many of you there are, and we will send the full itinerary and a quote. WhatsApp reaches us fastest; by email we answer within two working days.
Photographs and licences
- Salamis op Turks Cyprus — Dickelbers · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Church of Agia Kyriaki Chrysopolitissa and St. Paul’s Pillar — Viaggiamocela · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ancient Roman theatre Kourion Cyprus — Radosław Botev · CC BY 3.0 pl
- St. Barnabas Monastery, Occupied Cyprus (5785273361) — George M. Groutas from Dali, Nicosia, Cyprus · CC BY 2.0
- Chypre Larnaca Eglise Saint Lazare Chevet - panoramio — rene boulay · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Bellapais Abbey 11 — Jorge-11 · CC BY 2.0
- Kyrenia - Girne Festung Kyrenia 03 — Zairon · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Saint Hilarion Castle, Northern Cyprus - panoramio (1) — Maris Teteris · CC BY 3.0
- Buffavento Castle, Cyprus — Alehladutska · CC0
- Kloster Kykkos BW 2023-09-20 10-56-59 — Berthold Werner · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Asinou - Kirche Narthex 4 Kuppel — Xenophon · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Cyprus - walk to Stavrovouni Monastery (4) — Mike Finn · CC BY 2.0
Photographs of the sites are from Wikimedia Commons under the licences shown. Photographs of The Old Monastery are our own.