In very few cases will you be officially allowed to drive a rental car from the south to the north of the island. It’s the same the other way around – but there are exceptions. In this article, I will show you how we got by with one or two rental cars in Cyprus.
When we visited Cyprus for the first time ourselves, I had previously opted for a car rental company that did not explicitly prohibit crossing to the north side on its website. I booked a car there with the plan of simply taking it to the Turkish Republic of Cyprus. On the spot, however, I was told verbally: “You are not allowed to take it to the north side!”. I asked what would happen if I did it anyway. “You will be stopped, the border officials will call us and there will be a fine.”. That was enough of a deterrent, so we didn’t do it the first time.
I immediately noticed that, unlike normal cars, rental cars in Cyprus have red license plates. You can recognize a rental car from a hundred metres away. Another reason not to try it at the border.
So we drove this rental car from Paphos to Nicosia and – after some research – left it in a parking lot. It is located right here: https://goo.gl/maps/G8fN2FRqug7wA3Pt8
The plan was to cross the border on foot and book a second rental car there at the same time. As the prices were quite reasonable at around 25 euros per day, I booked one with Pacific Rentals: https://www.pacific-rentals.com/
It all worked out wonderfully – even with 3 children. We then got the rental car at the border and drove through Northern Cyprus for four days. On the way back, we crossed the border again to our car in the south.
Only one rental car for South Cyprus and North Cyprus?
What we did on our first trip is of course not the most convenient method. Can’t you just drive across the border in a rental car? As our neighbors proved to us, it is possible – without border problems and penalties, as we had been told earlier.
What our neighbors did was relatively simple: they flew to Larnaca (south), picked up a rental car from Alamo and drove it across the border. Alamo seems to be one of the few providers that does not explicitly forbid driving on the north side, either on the website or verbally. Of course, individual employees can do this, but it is not an official statement from Alamo. The only important thing is that you buy additional insurance at the border. This currently costs around 35 euros and only includes liability insurance. This means that there is a residual risk.
So if anything happens to you and the car, you have to make sure that it is brought to the south yourself – and that can take 1-3 days! The people there are not as responsive and reliable as the car clubs in Germany.
However, if you are sure, you can take this step.
If you fly north first, you naturally want to drive south in your rental car. I even found an option here on the Pacific Rentals website:
Frankly, I don’t know if you even need such a “permission paper”. It may just be another source of money for the car rental company. But I can’t say that with one hundred percent certainty at the moment. Maybe someone has more information and can share it in the comments.
As always: another insider option
Finally, another option. I got to know Barkin through my friend Can, who runs a cab company in Northern Cyprus. Like almost all companies here, the best way to contact Barkin is via WhatsApp. He can arrange a rental car and deliver it right to your front door! That’s exactly what we did. We were picked up from ECN airport by Can because it was the middle of the night. Barkin came around 10 o’clock in the morning and brought a rental car – for just under 25 euros a day and without much bureaucracy. I was able to pay for it directly with my credit card.
If you would like to use this service, simply write to Barkin: +90 542 876 99 90
