Cyprus Maps

by John
(Kent, United Kingdom)

Dear Helen,

Well done with your website.

After reading the section, I wanted to make a comment on the maps of Cyprus that are generally available to the visitor. I realise that you are not the CTO, but perhaps you know someone there, in any event I hope that the following is of interest.

The Selas Town and District map of Pafos, 2011 edition referred to is notoriously inaccurate with only the most sketchy detail, although at 1:100,000 it is the best scale available.

Maybe it is OK for basic motoring navigation but, even the motorway is wrongly shown; it is drawn too far north of Petra tou Romiou and does not terminate where the map shows it in Pafos.

For walkers there are many excellent tracks all over this area, but hardly anything is shown on the map. The scale would facilitate quite a lot more but, it is not used to advantage.

The currently widely available 'Cyprus Walks' published by Kyriakou Books is over twenty years out of date and most of the walks described in it are likely to get the explorer quite lost. The crudely drawn maps are pretty hopeless and the routing descriptions bear little resemblance to the terrain.

If the CTO wants to do something useful they might well consider commissioning some decent walking maps and guides, taking in the excellent network of tracks that exist, affording a wonderful experience for the keen walker. Perhaps they do not want the visitor to see the island, and would rather they just spent their time and money in the bars, leaving the countryside to the 'hunters'.

That would be a very short sighted policy because for six months of the year the walking in Cyprus is probably amongst the best in the world. Some decent maps, a little publicity and perhaps some organisation would encourage people to come and explore the island outside the high tourist season.

I would suggest that consideration is given to exploiting this natural resource; signs guiding walkers through the network would perhaps encourage those who are less experienced to explore.

After all it is not as if the existing CTO strategy is working.