Cyprus has six civilian 18-hole golf courses open to the public: four in Paphos district (Aphrodite Hills, Secret Valley, Minthis and Eléa) and two in Limassol district (Limassol Greens and Vikla). The Deputy Ministry of Tourism promotes five of them as 'The Big Five', leaving out the small, family-run Vikla, and its Golf Development Policy plans for 14 courses in total. Golf is played all year, but the weather sets the prices: at Secret Valley, Minthis and Limassol Greens high-season green fees run from 16 February to 31 May and from 16 September to 30 November, and every club with a printed price list makes 1 June to 15 September a low season, when the normal daily high at Paphos reaches about 30 °C in July and August.
Aphrodite Hills, at Kouklia about 24 km east of Paphos and branded PGA National Cyprus, is a Cabell B. Robinson design that opened in 2002. It spreads over two plateaux split by a ravine, and its signature 7th, a par 3 of 210 m from the back tees, plays steeply down across a 130 m gorge onto a green set among olive trees; an 18th-century kiln sits in the middle of the 1st fairway and an ancient olive press in the 8th. Its greens and bunkers were rebuilt in a 2.5 million EUR upgrade in 2017, it hosted two European Tour events in 2020, and the World Golf Awards named it Cyprus' best golf course for 2025. Par is 71 over 6,289 m from the black tees. Buggies are compulsory, the handicap limits are 28 for men and 36 for women, and the 2026 printed rate for 18 holes, buggy seat included, is 140 EUR in low season, 228 EUR in the middle season and 241 EUR in high season.
About 1.5 km away at Ha Potami, Kouklia, Columbia Secret Valley was the island's second course when it opened in 1996, but the course played today is a complete rebuild that opened in 2013, designed by Hans-Georg Erhardt and Snorri Vilhjalmsson of Golf and Land Design with Tony Jacklin's signature. It sits low in a valley near Aphrodite's Rock among old rock formations and native trees, with the Ha Potami river and two irrigation lakes on the course and a floodlit three-hole loop for evening play. At 5,714 m and par 71 it is the shortest of the four Paphos courses, and the 2026 green fee for 18 holes is 120 EUR in high season and 80 EUR in low season, with a cart optional at 50 EUR.
Minthis, in the hills about 12 km northeast of Paphos and just below Tsada village, opened in 1994 as Tsada Golf Club, designed by Donald Steel, and has since been renovated by Mackenzie and Ebert; Visit Cyprus calls it the island's very first golf course. At about 550 m it is the highest of the Paphos courses, laid out within a 5 million square metre Natura 2000 site among olive trees, fruit orchards and vines and around the old Holy Cross monastery of Minthi, and its par 3 15th plays to what the club calls the only island green in Cyprus. Par is 72 over 5,902 m. A round costs 137 EUR in high season and 100 EUR in low season, and players need a handicap certificate of 36 or better to book before 11:30.
Eléa, at Geroskipou just east of Paphos and about 9 km by road from the town centre, was designed by Sir Nick Faldo and opened in 2010. Faldo put the emphasis on 'thoughtful, rather than big-hitting, golf': the course winds through groves of carob and olive trees and outcrops of weathered limestone, with paspalum fairways and patches of native garrigue left unwatered to save water. It is par 71 over 6,195 m from the back tees and walkable, with buggies for hire, and in June 2026 it staged the European Senior Championships, the first European Golf Association individual championship held in Cyprus, won by Stephen Creed of England and Jordane Court of France. Eléa prints no rate card; its online booking engine prices each tee time.
The newest course is Limassol Greens at Tserkezoi, about 15 minutes by road from central Limassol, beside the island's largest salt lake and next to the City of Dreams casino resort. Designed by Cabell B. Robinson, who also laid out Aphrodite Hills, it opened to members on 1 October 2025 and to the public on 1 December 2025, was officially inaugurated on 3 June 2026, and calls itself the only golf resort inside a city in Cyprus. Much of it mirrors the sand dunes of nearby Lady's Mile, holes 5 and 6 cross a protected wetland, and the course is watered only with recycled water. It is par 71 over about 6,300 m, carts are included for every player, the handicap limits are 36 for men and 45 for women, and 18 holes cost 185 EUR in high season and 115 EUR in low season.
Vikla, in the hills near Kellaki about 35 km by road from Limassol, is the opposite of the resort courses: a family-run, semi-dry course conceived in 1990 on an old olive plantation beside the abandoned village of Vikla. Its greens are real grass but its fairways are not irrigated, so in summer, when they brown off, fairway shots are played off artificial mats. It is by far the cheapest round on the island at 50 EUR for 18 holes (a buggy is 30 EUR), booked by phone or WhatsApp on +357 99 312798 at least 24 hours ahead.
Before you book: Aphrodite Hills, Minthis, Eléa and Limassol Greens all ask for golf clothing (collared shirts, tailored shorts or trousers, no denim), most clubs set a maximum handicap, and an 18-hole round in mid-October, high season, runs from 50 EUR at Vikla to 241 EUR at Aphrodite Hills. Clubs close the course for thunder and lightning, flooding or other dangerous weather, and the Department of Meteorology recorded August 2026 as the wettest August in Cyprus since 1901. Residents who want an official handicap join the Cyprus Golf Federation through one of its member clubs; its current website is cgf.cy, as the old cgf.org.cy address is suspended.
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