Well as this is likely to be my 5000th post as an Expat.com member - I thought it was fitting to make my thoughts known of my experiences so far in Cyprus.
We have been living here in Peyia in the Paphos district of Cyprus for one year having lived in Malta for 6 yrs. Despite it still being early days for us, so far, we have been more than pleasantly surprised at almost everything we have experienced so far, and can safely say we will be here for quite some time we think its a lovely place to live - maybe that will change over time, who knows. But in the meantime we love it, live it and enjoy every second of it now that we are here... My only regret is that we didnt do it earlier - but having said that maybe that was just lucky for us as we may have had a different view of life considering the financial aspects of troubles here in the previous years.
Am not saying its perfect nor am i saying its a paradise either.. but despite this we have found the bits of Cyprus we have seen to be stunningly beautiful, the people we have met so far have been lovely. Customer service we have experienced has been fabulous and so refreshing in comparison to Malta.
We were lucky to have settled in so quickly with the help of friends who had already made the jump from Malta and others who have recently done the same with a few more to come soon. All our visitors so far have sad the same thing - its amazing, we want to come too.
The weather and overall climate throughout the year is superb. Well maybe not all year July and August would appear to be very very hot and can be a little oppressive but with a pool and local beaches at your disposal its not so bad. Winters are very very mild in comparison to Maltas too so we love it even more.
Food and drink is comparible with our old Malta home to a degree - sometimes cheaper sometimes more expensive but for us it has proved to be approx 10-15% cheaper over all....
The administrative side of things - yellow slip, banking, electric, water, accommodation etc have all proved to be more than satisfactory and amazingly easy.
Driving style and standards here - yes i know - it leaves a lot to be desired some would say - but honestly its fantastic in comparison to our last island home..... so much so my missus actually drives here, she refused to do so in Malta. Roads are far better too, the level of traffic is far less as well and couple that with the open spaces pollution seems to be much less and much lower humidity makes for a great atmosphere to live in.
The choice of shops, bars beach bars cafes restaurants and the sheer volume and variety of entertainment available makes this a really great place to live, work and retire to.
So all in all we love it.
Thanks to my missus for having the balls to say "come on lets go for it, we have enjoyed but outlived Malta and need to move on to pastures new, lets do it now before we are too old to do it"...
and so here we are
Cyprus - one year on
Congrats Toon for your 5,000th post !
Thanks for sharing your experience with us 
Congrats Toon!
Good to hear that you're happy with your decision to move. We're going to be visiting Cyprus early next year to try and choose our next destination... this time for at least 5-10 years. We're split between Malta and Spain at the moment but each has serious drawbacks - Cyprus might just be it for us too lol!
to be fair as much as we liked Malta, we never really loved it..... we knew within 2 years it was never ever going to be our last resting place - -and as much as we made a lot of good friends of many nationalities and had a fab time (6yrs and wouldnt have missed it) it was an eye opener indeed and enlightened us in many ways - so we feel richer for having had that experience....... we are very pleased we left it behind us with good fond memories - - and spookily we went back for a week to see some friends and knew within 12 hrs that we had made the right decision to move on....
No regrets here.... Cyprus and Paphos ..Peyia especially is just a wonderful area...
NB it must be said that Mellieha in Malta will always have a special place in our hearts but it was time for us to leave...
so should you need any answers then just drop us a line
I arrived almost one month ago and have no regrets. Thanks for your good advice, Toon !
Im staying at a friends place in Paphos initially. Bought a e1000 old car and going to Polis area everyday looking for a long term rental i can afford and like.
best find so far is a little e250 apt right in the village of Neo Chorio, in the far northwest corner of the island. I will spend a weekend there before committing myself to a one year lease.
I wonder if anyone reading this has any experience with that part of Cyprus ?
I was an active hiker when living in San Francisco, but years in too-hot cambodia got me out of the habit, i am hoping that living within walking distance of the Akamas will revive me.
am sure it will - go for it mate the Akamas is wonderful
Hi Toon
Just wondering if your thoughts have changed now you have been in Cyprus for 8 years?
Cheers
Good morning Bamboozler... No regrets at all .. Peyia isn't everyone's cup of tea but it is for us.... I do get the odd urge to want to be in a truly Cypriot village but my better half needs to have the social life that Peyia offers with a blend of both. Still very happy where we are .. I guess that we must be as we've bought a property here now, after almost 14 years renting in both Malta and here ...., very pleased with it and happy to be centrally located in the village that we love.... We have some good Cypriot friends who I have nicknamed the "bad boys" as I know "what they Gonna do when they come for me" usually the pub....they keep us informed of whats going on and are extremely helpful when it comes all things Cyprus...whether it be social cultural political etc .. and we find it interesting to get their view of life and the future they want for Cyprus.. as they are much younger than us by close on 30 + years ... And it's refreshing always, rather than the usual "little Britain craic"... If I want that I know where to go for it.... But tend to avoid it ...
Don't be fooled by comments about mild winters. You need to experience a winter here to fully understand how miserable it can be. Houses are not well built to deal with cold weather and heating the house can cost alot. On wet and cold days it can be really unpleasant. Luckily such days are only really late December, most of January and some of Feb; but time does seem to go very slowly while here for that period.
We get a lot of cold wet and horrible weather in the uk and are also experiencing huge hike in heating bills ! At least you know that from March onwards your weather in Cyprus is superb. We are hopefully coming out to Cyprus to look at some properties in the spring to purchase, can't wait!
Richard I don't disagree with your comments regarding winter however a lot depends on where you live.... It is much colder the further inland and higher you are ..... For example there can be difference of 5-7 degrees between us and the higher locations ... Even between here and paphos and its harbour can be a few degrees difference . Still better than my homeland by a long way
Great to hear, Toon. Thanks for your reply.
I have been doing a fair bit of reading on Cyprus and hope to come over in June to scope the place out. Loose plan is to move there from Hong Kong in 2024.
Good luck and best wishes for your move and hope you will enjoy Cyprus as much as we do
Sorry to sound too negative but better to be real about all this. The weather from March is not superb as such! True; April-June and Sep-Nov are mostly fabulous and make being here amazing. The only bad thing during that time might be the odd very windy/dusty day. However; July-August is extremely humid and hot. Those months result in it being all but impossible to be active outside and even a simple manual task in the garden will require a change of clothes afterwards. I very much prefer those conditions to the misery of January cold and wet, but many foreigners disappear back to their home country in July if they are lucky enough to have retained a home there. We walk the dogs at around 5am in July; any later and the dogs refuse to go, preferring to find shade around the house!
Its not too negative just your experience and we all have our own experiences of winter and summer .. but as I said it depends where you are. .. .. we prefer April to June and late sept to mid November.. ..as a change to seering heat ...... .but in all fairness I don't mind the colder wetter periods of Dec to march as the sun still shines 50% of the time ..... I know my friends in other areas have differing experiences to mine... Buy hey that's what it's all about .... Experiences
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