Locations
Compare the main buying areas
Kyrenia is not Iskele, and Nicosia is not anywhere else at all. The right address here is a question of personality, not postcode, so read these five portraits the way we wrote them: as introductions, not sales pages.
01 · The harbour town that never needed to try
Kyrenia
Kyrenia has been the north coast's main town since Venetian galleys moored beneath its castle, and it still behaves like somewhere with nothing to prove. The horseshoe harbour, the mountain wall behind it and the tangle of lanes between them give the town a scale that new development along its edges has not managed to spoil.
- Most established
- Market in North Cyprus
- 300+
- Days of sunshine a year
- ~40 min
- Drive to Ercan Airport
- Year round
- International community
02 · Coastal calm with a golf course attached
Esentepe
Esentepe sits on the coastal shelf east of Kyrenia, where the mountains step back from the sea and leave room to build. It is quieter than Kyrenia by a wide margin, and the trade is a drive of around twenty five minutes for anything urban.
- ~25 min
- Drive to Kyrenia
- 18 holes
- Korineum golf course
- Alagadi
- Turtle nesting beach nearby
- 300+
- Days of sunshine a year
03 · Long Beach and the island's busiest new build coast
Iskele
Iskele has changed more in ten years than anywhere else on the island. What was farmland behind a long sand beach is now the biggest concentration of new apartment stock in North Cyprus, aimed squarely at investors.
- Long Beach
- Sand and promenade
- ~20 min
- Drive to Famagusta
- Karpaz
- Gateway to the peninsula
- Lowest
- Entry prices we list
04 · History, universities and honest prices
Famagusta
Famagusta carries more history per square metre than anywhere else on the island, and the walled city is genuinely remarkable. Around it sits a working university town with a student population that shapes the rental market.
- Walled city
- Venetian fortifications intact
- 100+
- Nationalities among EMU students
- Salamis
- Ancient ruins up the coast
- Year round
- Kept open by the university
05 · The capital, where the island actually works
Nicosia
Nicosia is the seat of government, the business centre and the only part of North Cyprus that feels like a city rather than a coast. It is also the last divided capital in Europe, which is impossible to ignore and worth understanding before you buy.
- Capital
- Seat of government and business
- 37°C
- Average July high
- ~20 min
- Drive to Ercan Airport
- No beach
- A city market, not a resort
Still comparing
Not sure which one? A twenty-minute call usually settles it.
Tell us how you plan to use the property, whether that is holidays, relocation, rental income or a mix. We will tell you honestly which of the five fits, and which to cross off.
Reach Ordently directly
Pick whichever suits you. Both reach the same small team in Germany and North Cyprus.