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Biblical Cyprus · 14 days · The Old Monastery, Lapta
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.
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.”
Paul, Barnabas and Mark landed at Salamis and crossed Cyprus on foot. At Paphos they met the sorcerer Elymas and the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus — who believed. Cyprus became the first country in the world governed by a Christian ruler.
Both ends of that journey still stand, and this tour walks between them. The eight-day version told only the first half of the story: Salamis is in the north, Paphos in the south, and the summit was missing. At fourteen days, with the southern crossing included, the story finishes where the book finishes.
Church of St Lazarus
Lazarus, 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.
St Paul's Pillar
The 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.
St Barnabas Monastery
Barnabas 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.
Salamis
When 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.
The route
Twenty-four places, fourteen days
Choose a day to see where it goes and what happens. The four places named in Acts carry a gold ring.
Every stop, north to south
Choose a day above, or open any place in the list below.
In the north15
The crossing1
In the south8
Day by day
Eleven days out, three days still
The shape of the fortnight at a glance. For what happens on any day, open it on the map above.
- 1
Arrival — and the first tomb
Larnaca → St Lazarus → Green Line → Lapta · night in Lapta
- 2
Lapta — the town you are staying in
Rock tombs → Roman fish ponds → Byzantine chapel · night in Lapta
- ☾
Rest day
Pool, garden, free time · night in Lapta
Rest day — pool, garden, free time. These days are deliberate: on a fourteen-day itinerary, back-to-back touring wears a group down, and older congregations feel it first.
- 4
Kyrenia and Bellapais
Kyrenia Castle → the shipwreck → Bellapais Abbey · night in Lapta
- 5
St Hilarion and the coast
St Hilarion Castle → the northern shore · night in Lapta
- 6
The journey begins
St Barnabas → Salamis → Famagusta · night in Lapta
- ☾
Rest day
Pool, garden, free time · night in Lapta
The second deliberate pause, placed before the long stretch that follows.
- 8
The eastern ridge
Antiphonitis → Kantara Castle · night in Lapta
- 9
Crossing south
Green Line → Stavrovouni → Kourion → Paphos · night in Paphos
- 10
Paphos — where the proconsul believed
St Paul's Pillar → Agios Neophytos · night in Paphos
The summit of the fortnight. St Paul’s Pillar and the fourth-century basilica around it, the Roman mosaics next door, and the rock-cut hermitage of Neophytos in the afternoon. Acts 13:6–12 happened here.
- 11
Troodos and the return
Kykkos → Asinou → Green Line → Lapta · night in Lapta
- ☾
Rest day
Pool, garden, free time · night in Lapta
The last pause, and the one groups thank us for — it follows the longest day.
- 13
Buffavento and farewell
Buffavento Castle → boat along the Kyrenia coast · night in Lapta
- 14
Departure
Lapta → Green Line → Larnaca
Where you’ll stay
Eleven of the fourteen 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
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 the reason this tour can cross the line at all. Under the 2026 rules, groups larger than four crossing by land can be required to travel with a Turkish-Cypriot accredited guide under a TRNC or Turkish agency. The Old Monastery and Serhan hold both.
Operators based in the south do not — which is why most “biblical Cyprus” tours show you only one half of the island.
Fully licensed for cross-border group travel
What’s included
In the price
- Fourteen 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
- 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, and we handle the paperwork and the vehicles on both sides. Northern-plated vehicles do not cross, so the southern legs run on a coach arranged in the south.
Bring your congregation
Dates are arranged with each group, and the price depends on numbers and season. Tell us roughly when you would travel and how many of you there are, and we will send the full itinerary and a quote.
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.