Many shops and offices close on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. Opening hours also change around Easter and 15 August, so check in advance.
Opening hours
- Winter (November–March): shops until 18:00, Wednesday and Saturday until 14:00.
- Spring and autumn: until 19:00, Wednesday and Saturday until 14:00.
- Summer (June to mid-September): until 19:30 with a 13:00–16:00 break, Wednesday and Saturday until 14:00.
- Supermarkets, shopping centres and tourist areas stay open until 21:00–22:00 and on Sundays.
- Government offices: 8:00–15:00, often until 14:30 in summer. Banks: 8:15–13:30.
Public holidays
- 1 January — New Year's Day, 6 January — Epiphany.
- Green (Clean) Monday — the start of Lent, on a moving date. The whole island goes out for picnics and flies kites.
- 25 March — Greek Independence Day, 1 April — Cyprus National Day.
- Orthodox Good Friday, Easter and Easter Monday — the biggest holidays of the year.
- 1 May — Labour Day; Kataklysmos (Pentecost Monday) — the festival of water, especially in Larnaca.
- 15 August — the Assumption: the island shuts down for almost a week.
- 1 October — Cyprus Independence Day, 28 October — Ochi Day.
- 24–26 December — Christmas.
Everyday life
- Electricity is 240 V and sockets are British type G with three pins — you'll need adapters.
- The time zone is UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 in summer: in winter Cyprus is an hour behind Moscow, in summer the same.
- Tipping: 5–10% in restaurants if service isn't included. Taxi fares and delivery are rounded up.
- Tap water is safe but very hard — most people drink bottled.
Etiquette
- "Siga-siga" — slowly. Being 10–15 minutes late is normal, and rushing people is considered rude.
- Kafenio — village coffee houses, traditionally male but welcoming to guests. Cypriot coffee is ordered as "metrio" (medium sweet), "sketo" (no sugar) or "glyko" (sweet).
- Name days matter more here than birthdays.
- Bring something to eat when visiting.
- Language: Greek with a Cypriot dialect; almost everyone speaks English, and in Limassol and Paphos you'll hear plenty of other languages.