Hi,My opinion is that wherever you go on holiday costs more than before,We love Cyprus and have been ther a few times,But you can spend as much or little as you like,It is not the cost of living tha has put me off Cyprus, you can control that but is is the cost of the holiday ie the package, I think that is over the top, But there again you have got to pay for all of the good things in life, I hope every member when on holiday enjoy it and think about the cost when you get home, bsully ps Cyprus is still a great island

I added the following on another discussion thread but was asked to repost here:

Our main dissatisfaction with Cyprus was basically cost. We aren't tight nor penny pinchers but it really does seem that Cyprus is taking advantage of it's recent entry into the Euro Exchange Rate.

We are not oblivious to the costs of tourist areas and we are always willing to spend well IF the quality is good. Unfortunately, Cyprus seems to be offering 'light ale service for champagne money'.

Basing the Euro on 80p (approx) sterling, here are some comparisons:

Pint of local beer (KEO) - ranged from 3.5 - 6 Euros
Steak main course (frozen not fresh) - around 22 - 25 Euros
Large coke (pint) - ranged from 4 - 6 Euros
20 Cigs - around 4 - 5 Euros
loaf of bread - 2 - 3 Euros
Small pkt of processed ham - 4 - 5 Euros

We are more than used to paying high restaurant prices in Minorca but there you get QUALITY. Some meals in Cyprus were, to be blunt, disgusting.

As for the taxi prices. Well these start at 12 Euros for a couple of kilometres but you can normally bait the driver down to around 8 Euros. Taxis do not have meters and prices are not regulated..................then again, this could be said about Cyprus overall!

Just a further point - female shop assistants and waitresses really are doing you a favour by being there so don't expect them to smile or say thank you!

Regarding the point about local drinks being cheaper!!!

Well I'm pretty damn sure they don't import KEO........and at 5 - 6 Euros a pint (although 'a pint' always seems to be served up and inch from the top of the glass!) in some bars in Kato Paphos, I don't really see your argument.

Also, a large coke at 5 Euros wasn't imported - it was often sprayed from the mixer tap so wasn't even the real thing!

I'm in no way tight and will always pay a high price for quality. Unfortunately, 'quality' and 'Cyprus' don't seem to go hand in hand.

Cyprus is the dirtiest, most unfriendly Country we've ever visited in the Med. and the ONLY place we have felt we were being ripped off EVERYWHERE we went.

Sorry to those of you that adore the place but for the first time ever on holiday, we really couldn't wait to get home.

Sorry you had a bad time, but €5-6 for a pint of keo is ridiculous
We have been over 3 times so far since entry to the Euro and I can honestly say that, in my experience, the average would be around €2.50 (cheapest is €1.75 but I don't want to get into the "but I don't want to spend my holiday finding the cheapest pint" argument)

Cigs (Royals) I pay €2.80 for (although at one shop in Napa they were €3)
We only pay €12 for a full meze; a (decent fillet) steak about €15.
Taxis have to have meters by law. Granted this is often disregarded...

Please could I ask whereabouts in Cyprus you went to?
[edit: Sorry - re-read your post and see it was Kato Paphos. My experience was based on the East of the island.]

I do agree with your point about the shop assistants though

Hello PubDog,

We stayed at the King Jason Apartments which was about a 20 minute walk to the harbour or 'bar street' areas. It's located just North of the dual carriageway.

The only place I saw a pint for anywhere near the prices you quote was in a bar called 'The Pit Stop' along the Tomb of the Kings Road. However, as sitting there all night playing bingo or doing a pub quiz for a baseball cap isn't our idea of entertainment, we decided to give the place a miss.

I think the cheapest price we paid for a pint was in the Flintstone Pub - I believe that was around 3.5 Euros.

That brings me onto another point - where are the live entertainment pubs and clubs in Paphos? Apart from awful Karaoke pubs, we couldn't find any - and it wasn't through lack of trying or asking.

Another thing we noticed was the disgusting condition of the toilets in Cyprus - not only in bars but also restaurants (Capriziolla aside - an excellent Italian Restaurant opposite The BayWatch bar). I accept that toilets are only as clean as people want to keep them - including the patrons - but surely the management of establishments need to take some responsibility?

The cheapest price I paid for a metze was 18 Euros but considering they only tend to serve these for 2 people, 36 Euros is pretty steep for a meal that's primairly dips and salad bits. As mentioned, I also had a dire pepper steak for 22 Euros that was served cold. I noticed that the menues in Cyprus mention whether steaks are fresh or frozen, but I assumed that this was their pre-cooked condition not the way that they were eventually served!

I noticed in ONE taxi that actually carried a transparent sticker on its window (therefore hardly visible when travelling at night!) that meters are 'obligatory'. Clearly, the Cypriot definition of this word is 'don't bother'.

I'm not moaning because of the prices generally - this is governed as stated elsewhere with the exchange rate of £ v Euro. My main gripe is that when we spend similar amounts in Minorca, the general standards of food, entertainment and customer service make Cyprus look like a country that is new to tourism. In reality, my gut feel is that they have become blase with tourism and as mentioned elsewhere, it's the first and last time we visit the place.

Glad you agree with the service in shops and from many waitresses. What is their problem? If they don't like waitressing or retail why not get another job? My Wife works as a waitress for Harvester, and to this end we normally tip very well. Whilst admitting that she therefore tends to take a long time ordering (I'm sure at times she's trying to memorise the menu!) you don't expects TUTS when you ask for a few extra minutes to order. For the first time I ever remember in my life we left a few restaurants without tipping - that's honestly something we have never dreamed of doing before but the service is some places is just so poor. Our 2 trips to the Paphos Mall supermarket were akin to an endurance contest - I was actually going to give a couple of shop assistants the number of The Samaritans!

Speaking to a Cypriot guy in a bar, he mentioned that a local newspaper stated that tourism was down 42% from Summer 2007. It's also perhaps noteworthy that passengers on an inordinately delayed EasyJet Flight from Gatwick to Paphos on Sunday 25th Aug were transferred onto our First Choice plane as we had seats available - bear in mind this was still high season before the kids went back to school - yet we had so many vacant seats on our flight.

I think we all know that holidays have got more expensive and may be even higher next year. That said, we will be choosing somewhere we get exceptional service and quality for top dollar - and Cyprus certainly isn't the place!

I'm absolutely amazed that you managed to find somewhere that sold a pint of Keo for 6 Euros,I salute you Sir .The most expensive place I found was the airport at 5.50 Euros and the only reason I bought one was to get rid of all the dross in my pocket.The most I paid for in a bar was 4 Euros in the Sky bar in Latchi but it was a day out so didn't bother too much.In Paphos most,if not all,advertised the price of beers outside.Across from us in Ben's Bar(Tomb of the Kings Road where you were frequenting) it was 2.22 and most other places were around this price.Even on the harbour front you could get a pint for 1.50 quite easily as well as 3 course meals all over the resort from 9-15 Euros.In all the years I've been going to Cyprus the staff in restaurants have been generally very friendly,some more than others so I'd like to know where you came across so many ignorant waitresses.I agree about supermarket staff,very sullen and unfriendly,but this seems to the attitude of many youngsters in Pahos.However,the same could be said about some of the staff you get in Tescos etc in this country and to be honest I don't go on holiday to worry about not getting a smile or hello from a checkout girl.
Just out of curiosity,where was it you got charged 6 Euros for a Keo?

Edited to add these snippets from other forums about Menorca.

** Edit - Due to copyright infringement we cannot allow material from other websites to be reproduced on the forums. luci HT Mod **

The 6 Euro price tag was in a bar at the harbour - a corner bar at the end of the main drag near a taxi rank. Apart from that, 5 Euros was common place in many of the bars in 'Bar Street'.

As for advertising the prices of beer outside - I can assure you that this wasn't the case in the majority of bars where we were staying. However, one night we went to Fat Mamas (which I believe is the area you are talking about) and noticed that prices were advertised and cheaper. However, as stated in another post, I can think of better ways to spend an evening than playing bingo or doing a pub quiz to win a baseball cap in a bar decorated with football shirts.

As for ignorant waitresses. I found these in every restaurant we frequented other than the 'Capriziolla' Italian restaurant (opposite The Robin Hood). However, I have since been told that some waitresses are Albanian - this figures as many we saw were blonde. Apparently, many Cypriots won't work for the slave labour wages now being offered by greedy proprietors.

I don't go on holiday just to have checkout girls behave like a human being either. However, I do go on holiday to see entertainment, have decent quality food for the price paid, expect hygiene to be better than that found in a Third World Country and generally to expect the inhabitants to be friendly. I didn't find any of this in Cyprus.

Clearly, you like the place and good luck to you. Personally, it was the worst Country in the Med. we have ever visited.

Strange that everything is so good and resonable then that trade is down 42% don't you think? I'll make a quick prediction. Give it 5 years, and as a Country that bases its economy on tourism, it will be struggling big time to survive unless it gets its act together.

Having returned yesterday from our 12th year at the same hotel in Cyprus sorry to say that Ayia Napa was like a ghost town and the costs are to me very expensive sorry to say we are not returning next year cheaper and more value for money (AI) places to go.

Went to Cyprus again in August this year and have to say i agree with the people on here that says the prices are now high since the introduction of the Euro. Last time i went was the last 2 weeks of the season coming home in October. This time in August i'd say it was a little busier than then.

All the locals i spoke to blamed the lack of people on the cost of living in Cyprus. I have to say i spent far more than i expected. Mind you i dont skimp on anything while i;m away but being a regular traveller to Turkey i think i'll be going back there next year as the cost of a holiday is far cheaper.

Whoever paid 6 Euros for a beer well, they must have seen them coming. The cheapest i found was 2 Euros but in general a pint of Keo was around 3 to 3.50 with decent cocktails being around 4-5 Euros. It was the paying of 5 Euros for things like a large coke that got to me, you can buy 3 bottles over here for that price.

So its back to Turkey for me i guess.

I know the die hard Cyprus fans will say that Turkey is not as good as Cyprus but thats where we have booked for 09 5* Platinum AI for less than we were asked for half board in Thomson Gold cannot justify Cyprus at the present costs,sorry but love affair over.

I live in Cyprus. I came here with my husband in March 2004 after we both gave up our UK jobs, sold our house and upped sticks.

We've been to Turkey on a couple of occasions too. Having worked in travel and being aware that we could buy rooms on B&B basis in all the main gateways in low season from as little as 3GBP per room per night, and in Cyprus not much less than 8GBP per night, I can quite easily understand the differences between the costs of the 2 holiday destinations....

However, it's not so simple to try compare both holidays side by side because of the different currencies used in either country. Plus, the cost of living in Turkey is cheaper than Cyprus and of course, UK. We still tend to work some of our costs back to what it cost pre euro for shopping etc as the rate was set at approx 1 Euro = Cy Pounds 1.71

The costs are still being calculated at the set rate and dual pricing is still enforced in shops, bars & restaurants etc.

My parents come to visit us for 4wks each November and stay in a private apartment just off the seafront in Limassol near Macdonalds and the cinema. This year, when the cost was calculated into Euros and then recalculated back to sterling - the difference was around an extra 80GBP, just on the accommodation alone.

So, although the apartment prices haven't increased for them (the owner will keep the cost the same as they visit every year), the currency exchange was crippling the cost of self-catering. This time they are staying in a hotel a few minutes further away on Half Board for almost 200GBP less than the cost of the apartment.

We both work and can live here on around 1,500 euros each month (around Cy pounds 880). That's paying rent on a 3 bedroom bungalow with a big front veranda, 2 balconies, 2 bathrooms, a monster of a living room and a separate dining kitchen (in UK we had a 2 bedroom terraced with a small front garden and a backyard). Our council fees (130 euro per year) are paid by the landlord, refuse collection is 70 euros per year and is collected twice weekly and the water is around the same price. Water is being delivered to us from Greece just now as Cyprus has none left! We run 2 vehicles, feed ourselves and 3 four footed friends, manage to take a holiday out of Cyprus at least once each year (Malta each Feb and we're off for a few days to Lebanon & Syria next month) but last year we did 10 days travelling the Nile too. The most expensive things are electricity (similar in running cost to UK) and our internet access (more expensive than UK) as there is no competition as yet. In fact we live on half the salary we used to bring home in the UK!

Wages are poor here and they are even worse in Turkey. So, all becomes relative....

Living here on a day to day basis, we can see some things have gone up when we perform the calculations at the given rate. We daren't even think about converting it back from euros to GBP because it's frightening!

Unless the euro starts to settle, I believe tourists will continue to seek out cheaper destinations so I believe Turkey, Bulgaria & Croatia etc will become very popular.

All we can do in the meantime - is wait and see.

Enjoy your holiday next year and hopefully, we will see you back in Cyprus again sometime in the future.

CwB

Hi Cyprus100,
We do and our freinds love Cyprus and the weather,we are not skinflints however the costs in the Hotels for drinks 3x plus what a supermarket charges,bars 2x plus it makes Cyprus not value for money.Our friends went to Eygpt AI and then came to Cyprus with us and were horrified by the costs in Cyprus, sorry to say the costs of our 2week hoilday this year was 25% more than 07.
The hotel we have gone to for the last 12yrs has gone up by 12% this is why a change is in order,I hope in 2010 it has levelled out so we can return.

I can't really see things improving with the value of sterling now, due to the recession (oops, sorry.....you have to say 'credit crunch').

The main reason why Cyprus is expensive is the exchange rate which went from Euro 1.5 to the Pound down to around 1.2 to the pound, which has put the equivalent sterling price up by around a quarter.
With the pound soon to be on par with bottle tops it's looking like 2009 could be very expensive!

Cornwall looks nice.........

LOL

When we lived in UK, we could never afford to go to Cornwall By the time we had worked out the cost to get there and the time it took to reach it, then the cost of finding a decent hotel - it was always cheaper and much easier to take a holiday overseas

Crazy, I know - but we've still never been to Cornwall.

But you still can't compare the cost of buying a drink in a supermarket to buying a drink in a hotel bar. How much do drinks cost in hotels in UK or anywhere else in comparison to the local supermarket? We've been to Egypt on many occasions and know just how much things cost there - paying LE12 for a soft drink on the cruise boat when they were a lot cheaper in the local kiosks. It has to be expected things will be dearer in hotels than outside... The argument doesn't make sense!

In Cyprus, we try to avoid the tourist area for the very same reason! We are used to paying local prices in the shops and supermarkets but we too paid those prices for years coming on holiday and so are familiar with them. My parents come every year, so do 2 very good friends at different times and we go out and about to eat and drink with them.

We went to a really nice restaurant only a couple of weeks ago where the price of a fillet steak was 23 euros, fabulously presented in a beautiful setting (Cy£ conversion for that is 13.45 but if you calculate the Euro cost to GBP that's a little over 18 pounds now whereas it would have been a little over 16 GBP using the Cy£ to Sterling rate pre euro currency). Yes, drinks were pricey in comparison to our local bars but only to be expected, however the costs of the meals on the menu haven't actually gone up since we went to the very same restaurant over 18 months ago.

All hotels, bars & restaurants are strictly managed by the CTO in Cyprus. Prices are set in accordance with the establishment rating and each premise is not allowed to put their prices either below or above the limitations in order to keep fair competition.

This is an argument that's gone around on other forums too. It's never an easy one to deliver...

If we calculated our holiday to Egypt last year into Euros and then converted to sterling, it too would have seemed extremely expensive to us even though we know the prices were pretty much the same as when we went a couple of years previously.

As I said before, if you are travelling from UK it's probably best to avoid anywhere just now that uses the Euro until the rate settles down again.

CwB

In think this may shed some light on the prices of things !

I've just been back through this years photos and pulled out any with billboards or menu's showing so you can see with your own mince pies what was being charged !

Rough prices for Cyprus 2008 in around Pernera and Protaras August-Sept

I know what you mean -holidays anywhere in the UK can be relatively expensive if you stay in hotels, etc and eat in the tourist traps.
Not to mention the weather (what happened to summer 2008?) and endless traffic jams.
It was quite sad this year to see people packing up and going home in the middle of the week due to the absolutely miserable weather.

I've said before though, that the weak pound affects not only Cyprus but the whole of the Euro zone. Holidays in places like Turkey, Mexico, North Africa, etc, seem much better value as you get more local currency for your sterling. If your pound is only worth 80 percent in Euro's of what it was in 2007 you are going to see a difference. On the other hand, you could be quids in (pardon the pun!) if you go somewhere that has currency linked to the mighty dollar.

This can change of course, but the financial pundits reckon we're in recession for a couple of years or so, and if that isn't enough, the high fuel costs will put the price of flights up with the additional surcharges - I know- I was going to book my 2009 holiday in Coral Bay in June this year, shortly after I got back. Unfortunately I left it for two or three weeks and got hit by fuel surcharges of about £200! You just have to take a view I suppose - it could go up further or it could come down.

Think I'll just go sailing instead!!

Dave

We went to Rhodes this June and yep thanks to the Euro - spent much more than we had anticipated. Saying that it was an amazing holiday - and we look forward to Cyprus in 09' - higher prices or not!!!

Hi just back from Pernera and to be honest I dont think its gone up too much since my last vist 4 years ago,Cyprus has always been a little more expensive.Then again this time we went H/B so weren't paying to eat out every night -we did go out on our last night for a meal to sizzlers and yes it had got a little more expensive but the food was still to die for.Drinks prices were ok though we thought as we were out and about.We've booked to go back next year H/B again

We haven't been to Cyprus since 2004 but our youngest son has just last week returned from working his first half season (July to October) with a Tour Company (Just started his last year studying Travel and Tourism), he said that there was a major downturn in the amount of UK visitors to the island according to the Tour company he was working with.

He has been to Cyprus as a tourist in 2004 and 2007 and said that Napa was very quiet compared to his previous visits to the island.

The general opinion of the guests he was handling was that Cyprus was becoming very expensive even for the die hards who return most years to the island. The Euro has been a major impact of course, but I think that Gran Canaria is a good island to compare Cyprus to, both being in a situation where much of the food/drink needs to be shipped in. And both being 4 hours from the UK.
We have been to Gran Canaria twice this year and saw a rise in prices between our June and September visits, so the Euro Zone is being hit all over.
However, when we asked him to carry out some price comparisons for us as we were toying with doing Paphos next spring, it does seem that Cyprus has caught up with and even overtaken Gran Canaria with food and drink prices.

It's going to be dog eat dog next summer with holiday bookings expected to be up to 22% down on 2008 figures according to the financial press, so Cyprus need to be on their toes if they are to compete. The Germans are meant to be in a bigger financial mess than the UK so holiday destinations are going to be scraping around to attract tourists and some are going to be financially comprimised for many years to come.

It's safe to say that there will be terrible pressure on bars and eateries and only the strongest are going to survive.