Ferry Piraeus-Limassol
 

Hi there,
we are a couple travelling in our own FWD from Spain all over the world. We have already visited the six continentes (2011-2018); now, recently retired we plan a 3-months trip to Cyprus. We would like to go Piraeus-Limassol and back, skipping the turquish part of the island, since it seems the crossing of the border North-South might be difficult (is that so?). For what I've seen in the Hubb and in the Net the ferry was discontinued in 2019. Does any one know wether these ferries are working again or not?

Hope you could give us some info on this.


Should you like to see us and/or our beloved rig (called Canelo), you may want to visit this:https://vueltaalmundo.es.tl/AUSTRALI...L-DESIERTO.htm


See you on the road!:thumbup1:

It depends. You are allowed to enter the island of Cyprus on the northern side and cross into the southern part only in the case you've got a European Union passport.

The reason being that the Republic of Cyprus sees the whole island as its territory and entering it (the island area) in the north would be entering via an illegal border crossing. It's only legal to enter the island from the part the government of the Republic of Cyprus has control over, from where you then can cross into the northern part and back. But since EU citizens can enter the southern part with their national ID card, there's no stamp that would tell where you enter first.

I did exactly that last year. I took the ferry with my motorcycle from Tasucu to Girne, spent my time in the Greek part and left the same way back to Türkiye.

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Hello Pakohan!
Thanks a lot for your answer.

I understand what you say. The problem is there is no way to legally entering the south part of the island via ferry, since there are none. Of course, we have a European passport, son that's ok. From what you say I gather that we would have to be extremely cautious with the stamp in the passport and persuade the agents at the border crossing in the Northern part not to stamp it. But, supposing they don't want to comply with that requirement and get into the Southern part with a stamped passport, what happens? Would we be kind of blocked in the Southern part or have no other option than leaving the car behind in Cyprus? Obviously, we absolutely wnat to avoid anything like that…


Thanks again,


CM

With a European passport it's legal to enter the island in the North, so it doesn't matter if you've got a stamp from the northern part.

But the North doesn't stamp the passport anyways, they give you an extra paper.

The southern part can't deny your entry since you're an EU citizen. The North won't deny your entry since they want to be recognized and thus don't want to cause any trouble. From my perspective it's safe to do what I did: Turkey -> northern Cyprus -> southern Cyprus -> northern Cyprus -> Turkey.

Sometimes I crossed the border twice a day by foot inside Nicosia, just to get some food. I felt weird doing it the first day but I got used to it. You can cross for five minutes, get a coffee and go back. It's the easiest border you can imagine. People live on one side and work on the other. Cross border traffic can be annoying at rush hour. But it's almost like between the Schengen and non Schengen EU member states, pure formality.

Hi Pakohan,
I'am really sorry about that long delay; for justification sake, just think we are in the middle of a move, and you can imagine what a mess is to swap houses, emptying 66 years of stuff and all that…:eek3:


That's real info I must say! I can't find enough words of gratitude, mate; that solve all our fears (provided the tensions in Middle East don't escalate —as we all hope). It is a YES to the trip, while we were on the brink to limit it to Greece, which is great, but trodden already, and more than once.


Take care, Pakohan… We wish you the best of luck. :)