Gay Guide

Nicosia

Limassol, Larnaca

Cyprus is a popular tourist destination. The island remains deeply homophobic and recent improvements in the legal position for gays and lesbians has been forced upon Cyprus by its wish to join the EU. With the changes in the law gay and lesbian visitors may now find Cyprus a little more welcoming destination though the gay scene is still very small.

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In January 1995, the Cyprus Government, in order to comply with the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights, introduced a bill in the Cyprus Parliament to abolish the ban on homosexuality under Article 171 of the Criminal Code. This was eventually passed into law in 1998. In 2000 the Cyprus Parliament enacted further legislation which eliminated some of the main remaining areas of discrimination against gay men in the criminal law: it eliminated the pejorative description of gay sex (replacing "unnatural licentiousness" with "intercourse between men"), and eliminated the discriminatory provisions on privacy borrowed from British law. In 2002 under pressure from the EU the Cypriot government was forced to remove discrimination on the age of consent and did this by raising the age of consent for heterosexuals and lowering it for gays to 17.

758,363

Pound £C

The best time of year to visit Cyprus is April to October though if you don't like too much heat then come at the beginning or end of the summer season.

Cyprus has a typical Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers and mild wet winters with rainfall occurring mainly between November and March while altitude tends to govern internal temperature and rainfall variations.

The average annual precipitation for the island as a whole is 500 mm with an average of 300 to 400 mm in the central plain to nearly 1,200 mm at the highest point of the Troodos Massif. Average temperature ranges in Nicosia are from 5c to 15c in January to 21c to 37c in July.