We're a small team who fell in love with Cyprus and want to share it honestly.
No tourist-trap fluff, no hidden agendas. Just real island life, made simple, for the people thinking about visiting, moving, getting married, or settling here.
We earn a living by helping people through the paperwork (see Services) and by pointing them at the businesses that actually deliver. We don't take commissions from venues, hotels or developers. That's why we can tell you the truth.
If you find something on this site that's wrong, out of date, or worse, please tell us. We'll fix it the same day.
Say helloEverything on this site comes from people who actually live on the island, drive its roads, eat in its tavernas and queue in its government offices. When we say a beach is worth the drive or a form takes three weeks, it is because we have done it ourselves.
Dates, prices, opening hours and paperwork rules change constantly in Cyprus. We verify against official sources and refresh the site regularly, and our events calendar is updated through the year. Spot something stale? Tell us and it gets fixed.
We do not take a cut from hotels, developers or restaurants to say nice things. Our income comes from our own relocation and paperwork services, so our recommendations stay honest. If a place is a tourist trap, we say so.
Cyprus is easy to fall for and surprisingly hard to figure out. The island gets over 300 days of sunshine a year, the sea is swimmable from May to November, and you can ski on Mount Olympus in the morning and swim at Lady's Mile the same afternoon in early spring. But the practical side, residency permits, GeSY healthcare registration, opening a bank account, finding a school, is a maze of acronyms and queues that catches almost every newcomer out.
When we moved here we pieced it together the hard way: forum threads from 2014, contradictory advice, wasted mornings at the wrong office. Cyprus Decoded is the site we wish had existed then. One place with the honest version of everything, what to see, where to eat, what is on this month, how the paperwork actually works, written plainly and kept current.
Use the guides freely. If you want hands-on help with a move, a wedding or the bureaucracy, that is what our services are for. Either way, welcome, and enjoy the island.
