Famagusta Viewpoint
Famagusta Viewpoint
4.5
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4.5
76 reviews
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36
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Deborah M
2 contributions
Apr 2024 • Couples
Very interesting cultural centre. A short film explains what happened in this area in 1974 and then you can take binoculars up onto the viewing platform.
We were also given a personal explanation from a guide. Well worth the visit.
There is a small cafe and toilets at the centre.
Easily reached by bus from Paralimni
We were also given a personal explanation from a guide. Well worth the visit.
There is a small cafe and toilets at the centre.
Easily reached by bus from Paralimni
Written April 21, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kate P
London, UK276 contributions
Nov 2018 • Family
My family is originally from Famagusta. They were forced to leave during the invasion and we now have homes and businesses left derelict in the abandoned and restricted areas of Famagusta. My dad always wanted to return to his home town and would cry every time we visited the view point. I highly recommend visiting this view point to fully appreciate the atmosphere of what has happened to many families, like my own. This is representational for all people who have lost their homes through war and is important to see and to learn so we can fully empathise how war can affect people’s lives. War isn’t just someone we see on tv, it’s something you can feel when you visit somewhere like this viewpoint.
Written March 15, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BrakiWorldTraveler
Belgrade, Serbia19,450 contributions
Jul 2015 • Family
This viewpoint is an interesting excursion from the beach area to see something that's "forbidden" - at least, it was, for so many years.
To reach the viewpoint follow the signs to a small town of Deryneia. When there, ask someone to show you the direction.
The viewpoint is actually a private house which happened to be the last before the green line of the UN.
The clever owner made a good business of it, building a roof terrace equipped with binoculars to watch the other side. Apart from that, he made a small museum consisting mainly of newspapers articles and photographs.
When arriving, you have several options to visit the museum and the viewpoint. You choose between entrance only, entrance with a drink (best money value option), or entrance with a light meal. Every ticket includes an introductory short movie on the Turkish invasion and Famagusta pre and after the invasion.
From above you see the deserted Famagusta town, and the UN watchtowers, nothing special, but you have that feeling....
As the owner is a Greek Cypriot, I fully understand his point of view, but here you only learn one side of the story. Being from Serbia (former Yugoslavia region) we had same issues here, and unfortunately still have, but there's always the other side of story. To make myself clear, by NO means I justify the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, just wonder what's the other side of story.
Today, you can cross the border and enter Famagusta (not here, but at a designated checkpoint) but no Cypriot rental agency covers you for anything that might happen to the vehicle on the northern side, so I didn't want to gamble. We did that on foot, in Nicosia, and got a small impression of it.
To reach the viewpoint follow the signs to a small town of Deryneia. When there, ask someone to show you the direction.
The viewpoint is actually a private house which happened to be the last before the green line of the UN.
The clever owner made a good business of it, building a roof terrace equipped with binoculars to watch the other side. Apart from that, he made a small museum consisting mainly of newspapers articles and photographs.
When arriving, you have several options to visit the museum and the viewpoint. You choose between entrance only, entrance with a drink (best money value option), or entrance with a light meal. Every ticket includes an introductory short movie on the Turkish invasion and Famagusta pre and after the invasion.
From above you see the deserted Famagusta town, and the UN watchtowers, nothing special, but you have that feeling....
As the owner is a Greek Cypriot, I fully understand his point of view, but here you only learn one side of the story. Being from Serbia (former Yugoslavia region) we had same issues here, and unfortunately still have, but there's always the other side of story. To make myself clear, by NO means I justify the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, just wonder what's the other side of story.
Today, you can cross the border and enter Famagusta (not here, but at a designated checkpoint) but no Cypriot rental agency covers you for anything that might happen to the vehicle on the northern side, so I didn't want to gamble. We did that on foot, in Nicosia, and got a small impression of it.
Written August 3, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
activeedge
Leeds, UK30 contributions
Oct 2013 • Friends
Its well worth a trip out to the viewpoint. Its so small... just a little cafe... where you pay about 3 pounds each, for a cold drink, and a film about the whole story of what happened here. Then you go up to the viewpoint, where there are free telescopes.... you can see Famagusta.... still the same as the day the horrors happened. Leaves you to really think about it all.
Written September 18, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
katharyn c
Petersfield, UK4 contributions
Jun 2013 • Friends
what an experience,you get to speak to the owner who lived and worked in Famagusta at the time of the invasion of 1974,a lovely old man and his wife and 2 sons fled for their llives,leaving everything they had behind, He has a brilliant viewpoint with binoculars and telescopes on the top of his property which is a resturant/coffee shop and museum and after chatting with him we were very sad for him,please visit him right on the border of NO MANs LAND.Its the best 2 euros we have ever spent, see for yourself.
Written June 28, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
kal_sidhu64
Wolverhampton, UK18 contributions
Oct 2012 • Couples
very weird/ depressing to see areas fenced off and out of bounds,whole apartment blocks left to ruin. forbidden to take photos
Written November 5, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
GarryDSheffield
Aston, UK70 contributions
We visited the Viewpoint and Mini Zoo during our stay in Paralimni recently and we were very intrigued with the story of the 1974 invasion by Turkey. The Mini Zoo is doing a good job rescuing animals but they are in real need of a cash injection to allow the animals to live in better conditions, they have some lovely species but I was concerned especially for the two gibbons they have as they didn't look happy at all. The viewpoint of the Ghost Town of Varosha was a good insight but I was left dissapointed and frustrated about how far away the town was some 4 kilometres, they had a pay telescope for 1€ which helped but I still felt wanting. We left the viewpoint quite dissapointed.
Due to our thirst for more information we booked an organised trip into the North to Famagusta with a local taxi driver who was a former resident, I can highly reccomend this trip as we got within 20ft of the bombed hotels of Verosha the Ghost Town. I took a few photo's which you do at your own risk as this is prohibited by the Turkish Army, we had a thoroughly informative trip and learnt a lot about the invasion and current illegal occupation of the 1974 groundbreaking resort which is crumbling before your eyes after 38 years of neglect.
Due to our thirst for more information we booked an organised trip into the North to Famagusta with a local taxi driver who was a former resident, I can highly reccomend this trip as we got within 20ft of the bombed hotels of Verosha the Ghost Town. I took a few photo's which you do at your own risk as this is prohibited by the Turkish Army, we had a thoroughly informative trip and learnt a lot about the invasion and current illegal occupation of the 1974 groundbreaking resort which is crumbling before your eyes after 38 years of neglect.
Written September 16, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SteveCr0w
Leeds, England, United Kingdom1 contribution
Jul 2012 • Family
We went with the girls to visit the viewing point having been there a couple of years ago. It's quite different to what you'd normally expect from these kind of places but it's very "outback" kind of style. It's literally at the end of a dirt track, with all of the signs being hand painted on bits of wood and the lookout point being on top of an old house which is now a "bar and museum". Having said that there's a real charm to the place and the value is really good. It's €3 per person and with that you get a drink and to you can spend as much time as you like on the view point look g through telescopes and binoculars (provided) to gaze at Famagusta (The Ghost Town). There's also a video to watch explaining how it all came about and a little room with pictures and things looking back at Famagusta before the Turkish Invasion happened.
Written July 27, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mattywhi
London, UK31 contributions
Sep 2018 • Couples
This was my second visit to the cultural centre of occupied Famagusta. The drive from Pissouri is tedious but once there the experience is good.
Standing on the roof of the cultural center you can see into the DMZ and the homes and holiday resorts that were abandoned when the Turkish forces invaded Cyprus. The buildings are still standing but the contents of the homes has long since been looted.
Through the rest of the building you can see various artefacts about the city and what it was like before the invasion. The highlight has to be the short (~20 minute) documentary about the thriving city and how the invasion displaced ~45,000 refugees and what has happened to their homes. The video is incredibly one sided but does demonstrate how the country was divided and remains divided to this day.
If you are able to, take the time to watch the footage, see what the city now looks like and make your own opinion on what has happened
Standing on the roof of the cultural center you can see into the DMZ and the homes and holiday resorts that were abandoned when the Turkish forces invaded Cyprus. The buildings are still standing but the contents of the homes has long since been looted.
Through the rest of the building you can see various artefacts about the city and what it was like before the invasion. The highlight has to be the short (~20 minute) documentary about the thriving city and how the invasion displaced ~45,000 refugees and what has happened to their homes. The video is incredibly one sided but does demonstrate how the country was divided and remains divided to this day.
If you are able to, take the time to watch the footage, see what the city now looks like and make your own opinion on what has happened
Written September 24, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kerryman92
Dublin, Ireland202 contributions
Sep 2017
This is a house that has been converted into a cafe and a museum. You can climb upstairs and use the free binoculars to look at no-man's land. Take the time to watch the short documentary and visit the small museum. They also sell catfood at the counter so make sure to buy some and feed the cats.
Written September 20, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi
Do Jet2 do excursions here? Or are there any companies in Ayia Napa you can recommend?
Thank you
Written June 8, 2019
Not sure about Jet2 sorry. This is just a house with a cafeteria/bar that over looks the "no go" zone. All you need to do is google Famagusta Viewpoint and follow the directions.
Written June 9, 2019
Not sure, though as it will be Orthodox Easter my guess would be no.
Written April 27, 2019
What is the address, how do i drive there
Written May 10, 2018
Anyone have an idea of What time are they open ? Me and my husband came at 15:40 and they were closed.
Written September 27, 2017
Hi it may well depend on the season or on week days. Possibly September is considered low season, and therefore less people working in.
Written September 28, 2017
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