Larnaca International Airport to Paphos
The longest run from LCA at about 140 km; the Kapnos cross-island coach is the sensible option, with taxis well over โฌ100.
The island's western corner and its archaeological heart โ the Roman mosaics at Nea Paphos, the Tombs of the Kings cut into rock, and a harbour castle at the end of a promenade of restaurants.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Paphos, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from โฌ100). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from โฌ15) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car โ so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo ยท 1 traveller | โฌ15 | โฌ100 | Bus |
| Couple ยท 2 travellers | โฌ30 | โฌ100 | Bus |
| Family of 4 ยท 4 travellers | โฌ60 | โฌ100 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority isโฆ | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From โฌ15, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3โ4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Shuttle
Two hours across the island and by far the cheapest way to do it. Departures are sparse compared with the Nicosia route, so this is the LCA service where checking the timetable against your landing time genuinely matters.
Where to catch it: Kapnos runs the cross-island service between Larnaca airport and Paphos; coaches load outside arrivals with luggage in the hold.
Best for budget travellersTaxi
The most expensive standard journey from LCA. Before booking it, check whether your flight could have gone into Paphos airport instead โ PFO is fifteen minutes from the town.
Where to catch it: Quoted as a fixed cross-island fare; most drivers will want it agreed and sometimes part-paid up front.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
Splits acceptably across a group of four but is hard to justify for two when the coach exists. Book both legs if you're flying home from Larnaca as well.
Where to catch it: An hour and forty minutes on the motorway, so the fixed quote covers a substantial drive rather than a hop.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
If you're basing yourself in Paphos for a week, collecting a car at Larnaca and driving over often costs less than the transfer alone โ and one-way drop-offs at Paphos airport are widely available.
Where to catch it: A5 and A6 motorway the whole way, well signed and straightforward apart from the left-hand driving.
Best for travellers who want to explorePaphos & Larnaca in photos
Buying tickets in Larnaca
Cyprus has no railway. From Larnaca the cheap way into town is an ordinary city bus โ Cyprus Public Transport (Zenon) routes 425 and 429, roughly โฌ1.50 to โฌ2.40 paid to the driver, running about every 30 minutes from 05:55 to 23:25. The stop is outside the Departures hall at the far left end of the terminal, not outside Arrivals, which catches most first-time arrivals out. For everywhere else there are coaches: Kapnos Airport Shuttle to Nicosia (โฌ9), Ayia Napa (about โฌ13) and Paphos, and the separately-run Limassol Airport Express (โฌ10 adult, โฌ5 child). Buy coach tickets online in advance or at the desk in arrivals; luggage travels in the hold.
Taxi scams & safety in Larnaca
Cyprus taxis run a day tariff and a night tariff that starts at 20:30, raising both the flag-fall and the per-kilometre rate. A great many charter flights land after that, so a higher fare late at night is usually legitimate rather than a scam โ but it is also why you should establish the basis of the charge before setting off. For long resort runs drivers normally quote a fixed price instead of metering; agree the figure and the exact hotel before the boot opens. The Limassol route is where this matters most, with fixed quotes starting around โฌ48 against meters that can reach โฌ86 for the same journey. Use the rank outside arrivals rather than accepting an offer inside. If you hire a car, remember Cyprus drives on the left, hire cars carry red plates, and most agreements have specific terms about crossing the Green Line โ read them before you attempt it.
Getting from LCA to Paphos
Before you plan this journey, check something: could you have flown into Paphos instead? PFO sits fifteen minutes from Paphos town, while Larnaca is a hundred and forty kilometres and an hour and forty minutes away at the other end of the island. Plenty of people book Larnaca because it's the airport they know, then discover they've added a cross-island transfer to each end of the trip. If your dates are still flexible, that's worth five minutes of checking.
If you're already booked, the Kapnos coach is the sensible answer
Kapnos runs a cross-island service between Larnaca airport and Paphos, loading outside arrivals with luggage in the hold, at around โฌ15 to โฌ20. Two hours. That's by a wide margin the cheapest way to cover the distance and the coach is comfortable enough for the duration. The significant caveat is frequency: departures on this route are sparse compared with the Nicosia service, which runs all day. This is the Larnaca coach where checking the timetable against your landing slot genuinely matters, because the gap between departures can be several hours.
The most expensive standard fare on the island
A fixed cross-island taxi runs โฌ110 to โฌ150, and most drivers will want it agreed in advance and sometimes part-paid up front. It's a legitimate price for a hundred and forty kilometres โ that's the better part of four hours of a driver's day once they've come back โ but it's a lot of money against a โฌ15 coach. Pre-booked transfers sit slightly under at โฌ100 to โฌ140 and hold the figure before you fly, which on a journey this long is worth something. For four people sharing, either works out around โฌ30 a head and starts looking reasonable. For two, it's hard to justify while the coach exists.
The drive itself, and why some people choose it
The A5 and A6 motorways run the length of the south coast, and the second half is a genuinely good drive โ Kourion's clifftop ruins above the sea, Aphrodite's Rock at Petra tou Romiou where the road comes back down to the water, the Akrotiri salt lake. If you're hiring a car anyway, driving yourself across turns the transfer into the first sightseeing of the trip, and hire Hire starts around โฌ25 and reaches โฌ55 a day with one-way drop-offs at Paphos airport widely available. For a week in Paphos, collecting at Larnaca and driving over often costs less than the transfer alone.
What you're heading for
Paphos is the island's archaeological corner. The Roman villa mosaics at Nea Paphos sit under shelters near the harbour and are the reason the whole site is UNESCO-listed; the Tombs of the Kings are cut into rock a little north; the harbour castle anchors a promenade of restaurants. Behind it, the older upper town at Ktima has the market and the everyday life. The beaches are better a little north at Coral Bay. It is a slower, more historical proposition than the east of the island, which is why people who've done Ayia Napa often come here next.
Splitting the trip is the usual solution
A common and sensible pattern: fly into Larnaca, spend the first night or two on that side โ Larnaca town itself, or Ayia Napa โ and then move west, either by hire car or by the intercity buses via Limassol. That way the hundred and forty kilometres is a day's travel between two stays rather than a grim transfer at the end of a flight. It also avoids the coach timetable problem entirely, since you're travelling when it suits you rather than when the plane lands.
The return leg needs the same thought
If you're flying home from Larnaca, work out the coach times on the day you leave before you commit to it. Two hours of travel plus check-in from a sparse timetable means an early start, and a same-day taxi for a hundred and forty kilometres booked the night before is expensive. Arranging both legs together when you first book is the cheap way to handle it.
In short: check whether Paphos airport was an option first. If not, โฌ15โ20 on the Kapnos coach when the timetable suits, a hire car driven across if you wanted one anyway, and a โฌ110โ150 taxi only if there are four of you or nothing else works.
