Introduction
First you have to fly to Larnaca on Cyprus. Then you have to drive 40 minutes to the fishermans-village that only habited 6 families in 1977. Because of the Turkish invasion there is still a crowd of United Nations forces that choosed Ayia Napa as their weekend clubbing spot. The last five years the business boosted and now you will find 200 bars and clubs concentrated on a square mile. Most of them decorated as Disney-attractions.
The Cypriots are very friendly and accomodation and food is high standard. So this holidayspot is comparable thanks to nice beaches and good hotels. But you can not say that this is a new Ibiza. Certainly not. Ibiza once started as a free paradise for hippies and the rich incrowd, hosted by the polite Ibicenco's which did not suffer from the Spanish regimes. Ibiza is a pirate island, Cyprus still is taken hostage by other nations. The other big difference: Ibiza hosts several small scenes like the well known gay scene, and on Ibiza you can find all kind of places and spaces, while Ayia Napa is only one square (The Square) and a few streets and thats it. It even does not have bars on the beach (which surroundings are a bit like Playa d'en Bossa).
The Garage and 2-step hype is not everywhere. Because a lot of Londoners visiting the town there is a lot of places tuning Garage and 2-step, but you will find anything on the music front. From hardrock to disco, there are even three seventees-disco's competing with each other, with names as Starsky and Hutch and Carwash. Also there are karaokebars like the Bedrock, decorated as a Flinstones-mansion.
The village is every night crowded with 40.000 British and a few Scandinavian tourists. The British do behave much better than you are used to. British TV focuses mostly on the drunk, for that reason they are not welcome to film anymore. The few Dutch tourists we spoke to did like the village for one night, but not for a complete week to stay. It's hard to get in conversation with the English is the major complaint.
Outside the loud centre you have two chilling places. One of them is the just opened Guru, were you can have a massage or smoke a waterpipe (no hashies, just aromated tobaccos). The other hangout that defenitly took our attention is the River Reggae Club, an outside joint open until 7 a.m. with a large swimming pool and relaxed atmosphere.
Ayia Napa will stay on the map but if it will be there for other than British tourists is really the question. The town does not cater in any sort of culture (you have to discover Cyprus which is half the size of Holland) and there are no open air parties going on like on
Ibiza.
