Nicosia

Nicosia is the only capital city in the world still split in two. Venetian walls ring the old town, a UN buffer zone runs through the middle, and you can cross to the north on foot at Ledra Street. It's not on the sea, which is why most tourists skip it, which is exactly why you shouldn't.

Nicosia rewards curiosity more than anywhere else on the island. Inside the Venetian walls the old town is a knot of narrow streets where traditional workshops sit beside specialty coffee bars, churches beside mosques, crumbling facades beside carefully restored quarters like Phaneromeni. And then there is the line through the middle: cross on foot at Ledra Street and you move between two worlds in a few minutes, Greek coffee on one side, Turkish coffee on the other, with the arcaded courtyard of Buyuk Han waiting beyond. No other city in Europe offers a walk quite like it.

Because it is a working capital rather than a resort, the city runs to its own clock. Mornings suit the museums, from the archaeology of the Cyprus Museum to the Leventis collections; afternoons are for slow cafes; evenings belong to the wine bars and meze houses of the old town, where the food is some of the most honest on the island. Our eat and drink guide sets out what to order. One thing to plan around: summers are fiercely hot this far from the sea, so spring, autumn and winter are the kindest seasons for pounding pavements.

Give it a full day at minimum, ideally an overnight so you catch the old town after dark, when the lanes around Faneromeni fill up and the city feels most like itself. Nicosia suits history lovers, food people and anyone a little bored of beach towns, and it slots neatly into a wider itinerary; our things to do guide shows how to combine it with the coast and mountains. The capital's cultural programme runs all year rather than just in summer, so it is worth checking the events calendar whenever you visit.