Living in Cyprus without a car - feasible?

[PeterBu]

Hi, ladies and gentlemen

I'm new here. I'm looking to retire outside the UK during 2010. I would greatly welcome any thoughts on the following question. I've done my best to search the forum and haven't found it asked before.

In the UK, I live fairly near the centre of a medium-sized town and don't find the need to run a car, since I can get all necessary social, catering, shopping, cultural, and other resources within reasonable walking distance, and I take the odd taxi when the need arises (eg when with lots of shopping, or having had a drink). I should say that some car-owners here are surprised that I manage like that. But I do.

I visited Cyprus a while ago, spending quite a lot of time in Limassol and making day trips to Paphos, Larnaca, and Nicosia. I certainly got the impression I could make a go of a car-free life in Limassol. I wasn't quite so sure about the other cities. But partly that may be just because I spent less time there.

Does anyone have a view on this? All thoughts gratefully received.

Best regards

Peter

[Veronica]

Originally Posted by PeterBu

Hi, ladies and gentlemen

I'm new here. I'm looking to retire outside the UK during 2010. I would greatly welcome any thoughts on the following question. I've done my best to search the forum and haven't found it asked before.

In the UK, I live fairly near the centre of a medium-sized town and don't find the need to run a car, since I can get all necessary social, catering, shopping, cultural, and other resources within reasonable walking distance, and I take the odd taxi when the need arises (eg when with lots of shopping, or having had a drink). I should say that some car-owners here are surprised that I manage like that. But I do.

I visited Cyprus a while ago, spending quite a lot of time in Limassol and making day trips to Paphos, Larnaca, and Nicosia. I certainly got the impression I could make a go of a car-free life in Limassol. I wasn't quite so sure about the other cities. But partly that may be just because I spent less time there.

Does anyone have a view on this? All thoughts gratefully received.

Best regards

Peter

Hi Peter,
Welcome to the forum.
I see no reason why you should not be able to live without a car if you are close to shops etc. If you want to visit other towns there are buses and there is also a bus service to the airports these days.
I lived in Limassol many years ago and did not have a car and found everything I needed in easy walking distance as I was in the town.
I now live on the outskirts of paphos and living where I do would be no good without a car but if I lived in town it would not be a problem.
There are plenty of car hire companies if you decided you wanted to do a bit of exploring etc.

Veronica

[Cleo Shahateet]

The only issue my wife would have is that she would not want to walk anywhere in the heat of the summer from at least June - Sept. For a casual stroll in the evening it is fine, but if you have to carry grocery bags or do chores walking she thinks it would not be much fun. So I think you can live here without a car, my wife thinks not.

[BabsM]

Originally Posted by PeterBu

Hi, ladies and gentlemen

I'm new here. I'm looking to retire outside the UK during 2010. I would greatly welcome any thoughts on the following question. I've done my best to search the forum and haven't found it asked before.

In the UK, I live fairly near the centre of a medium-sized town and don't find the need to run a car, since I can get all necessary social, catering, shopping, cultural, and other resources within reasonable walking distance, and I take the odd taxi when the need arises (eg when with lots of shopping, or having had a drink). I should say that some car-owners here are surprised that I manage like that. But I do.

I visited Cyprus a while ago, spending quite a lot of time in Limassol and making day trips to Paphos, Larnaca, and Nicosia. I certainly got the impression I could make a go of a car-free life in Limassol. I wasn't quite so sure about the other cities. But partly that may be just because I spent less time there.

Does anyone have a view on this? All thoughts gratefully received.

Best regards

Peter

I think it depends on where you will be living, what you are going to be doing and whether you like walking.

If you will be living in Limassol centre then probably yes. But if you want to get out and about or you intend to work or you want to live in a village outside central Limassol then relying on public transport could make life difficult because buses aren't that regular or too frequent. And whilst the area where you live may be well served, the places you want to go to may not be.

We could not manage where we live without a car or some other form of transport. The nearest shop is over a mile away and walking there and back in the full heat of a summers day with shopping would not be pleasant. And with the rain we have had this winter you'd be drowned before you got to the end of our road and up to your knees in flooding etc.

[PeterBu]

Many thanks to all for thoughtful replies.

I'm single and retired, and quite happy to accept a town-centre location. (Quite agree - living in a village or up a country lane is clearly out of the question.) I would however be keen to meet people socially now and again (and if that involves a drink one clearly shouldn't be driving anyway).

I spent longest in Limassol and concluded that I could make that work. I continue to wonder about Paphos (where the expat social scene seems livelier) and Larnaca (which seems cheaper).

Any further thoughts will be most welcome, but maybe the answer is for me to get out there for a week or two and try it out!

Best regards

[jineesh]

Hi,

I highly recommend you to have a car, if you are keen of social life.
Public transport is not good in Cyprus, when compared with other countries like UK, Canada, Australia etc.

Thanks