Forty minutes, and the last ten smell of salt.
Motorway the whole way. You will be here before you have finished the album you put on.
- Distance45 km
- Drive40 min
- RoadA1 · A2
Nicosia has more restaurants than Larnaca. That is simply true.
It is the capital, it is the biggest city on the island, and it has an eating scene Larnaca does not match. We are not going to pretend otherwise to sell you a drive.
What Nicosia does not have is the sea. It is the only European capital that is landlocked in the most complete sense, and everybody who lives there feels it in August.
So the argument is not that this is better than what is on your street. It is that dinner here comes with a coastline attached, and it is forty minutes away.
Easier than crossing your own city at six.
It is about forty-five kilometres on the A1 and then the A2, motorway from end to end, and it takes roughly forty minutes without traffic.
Coming towards Larnaca in the evening you are driving away from the rush, not into it. Most Nicosians who do this trip report that the drive out is faster than getting across Nicosia at the same hour.
The way back at half past ten is empty road.
Eat at six, walk after, drive home late.
We open at six and stop at a hundred pizzas a day, which means coming early is genuinely the better plan and not just something restaurants say.
Finikoudes and the Mackenzie strip are a few minutes from the table. Eat first, walk the seafront afterwards, and you have had a whole evening rather than a meal.
One glass of wine each, not a bottle — you are driving. Ask what is open by the glass; the list is short because we finish what we open.
Come down for dinner.
Tuesday to Sunday, six until ten. A weeknight is the better trip: less traffic, more chance of a table, and the same hundred pizzas.
The things people actually ask.
Q.How far is Larnaca from Nicosia?
About 45 kilometres. The drive takes roughly forty minutes on the A1 and A2 motorways, which are dual carriageway the whole way.
Q.Is it worth driving from Nicosia to Larnaca for dinner?
It is forty minutes of motorway each way, and Larnaca gives you the coast, which Nicosia does not have. Coming early in the evening on a weeknight makes it a comfortable trip rather than a long one.
Q.Where can I get real Neapolitan pizza near Nicosia?
Filomena Pizzeria Napoletana in Larnaca, at 1 Aristotelous, is about forty minutes from Nicosia by motorway. It makes Neapolitan pizza with 48-hour biga dough, San Marzano tomatoes and fior di latte, in a copper gas oven at 400°C, and is open Tuesday to Sunday from 6pm to 10pm.