The Best Beaches in North Cyprus: 10 Places Worth the Drive

One of the quiet pleasures of a North Cyprus holiday is that you can still find a beach with nobody on it. These are the ten stretches of sand we send guests to, roughly west to east.

1. Alagadi (Turtle Beach)

A protected nesting site for loggerhead and green turtles, about 20 minutes east of Kyrenia. Long, golden and undeveloped, with a simple beach restaurant at one end. Between May and October the nests are marked off and volunteers run evening watches — arriving at dusk in hatching season is unforgettable. Closest to our Esentepe villas.

2. Escape Beach (Yavuz Cikarma)

The most social beach near Kyrenia: sunbeds, watersports, music and a beach bar. Best if you want a day out with facilities rather than solitude.

3. Camelot Beach

Next door to Escape, quieter, with soft sand and shallow entry. A good family choice within 15 minutes of Kyrenia town.

4. Acapulco

A large hotel beach open to day visitors, with the best facilities on the north coast and a genuinely gentle slope into the water. Worth it if you are travelling with small children.

5. Lara Beach, Esentepe

Small, local and almost never busy. A short drive from most of our Esentepe holiday homes, so it is the default "we cannot be bothered to drive" beach for guests staying in the village.

6. Turtle Bay / Sea Bird, Bahceli

A string of low-key beach clubs between Esentepe and Kyrenia, each with a restaurant, loungers and safe swimming. Perfect for a long lunch that turns into an afternoon.

7. Glapsides Beach, Famagusta

Wide, shallow and sandy, on the east coast near the ruins of Salamis. Combine a morning at Salamis with an afternoon here.

8. Long Beach, Iskele

Several kilometres of pale sand and warm, shallow water — the biggest beach in North Cyprus and the reason Iskele has grown so fast. Plenty of beach clubs, but also long empty stretches if you walk.

9. Bafra Beach

Beyond Iskele, where the hotels thin out and the sand keeps going. Windier than the north coast, which makes it popular with kitesurfers.

10. Golden Beach (Altinkum), Karpaz

The wild one. Two hours from Kyrenia at the tip of the Karpaz peninsula, backed by dunes, shared with wild donkeys and rarely more than a handful of people. Take water, take a picnic, and make a full day of it.

Practical beach notes

• Most beaches have little natural shade — bring an umbrella or choose a beach club with loungers.
• Turtle nesting beaches close at night in season; never drive onto the sand.
• Sea urchins live on rocky sections; water shoes are worth packing.
• Blue flag facilities exist but are the exception, not the rule — the trade-off for empty sand.

If beach access matters most to you, filter for sea views and coastal locations on our holiday homes page, or tell us how far you are willing to drive and we will suggest the right village.