Ayia Napa (Cyprus)

...back from a holiday in Ayia Napa and want to give my opinion of the bars there.

To start with, it's a really nice place. A small town in Cyprus, typically known for being a party lover's choice of holiday, you'd expect it to be full of English people throwing litter around, getting their boobs out and throwing up on street corners. This is completely wrong. Ayia Napa, when I went in early September, was full of a variety of people, not ...
...Irish accents.

Ayia Napa is actually a beautiful place, with gloriously blue seas, 5* hotels everywhere, loads of watersports activities, and just generally something to do for everyone.

The main reason I went to Ayia Napa was to party at night though, so here I'll try and give you an idea of what the bars and clubs are like.

There's an area called The Square where all these places are, and on the first night ... more

I've just come back from a holiday in Ayia Napa and want to give my opinion of the bars there.

To start with, it's a really nice place. A small town in Cyprus, typically known for being a party lover's choice of holiday, you'd expect it to be full of English people throwing litter around, getting their boobs out and throwing up on street corners. This is completely wrong. Ayia Napa, when I went in early September, was full of a variety of people, not just youths wanting to drink lots. In the hotel we were staying in there were quite a lot of elderly people just wanting a relaxing break. There were people from all over the world too, and during my stay I heard German, French, Chinese, American, English and Irish accents.

Ayia Napa is actually a beautiful place, with gloriously blue seas, 5* hotels everywhere, loads of watersports activities, and just generally something to do for everyone.

The main reason I went to Ayia Napa was to party at night though, so here I'll try and give you an idea of what the bars and clubs are like.

There's an area called The Square where all these places are, and on the first night we had trouble finding it, until someone approached us and asked us if we were heading to the bars. We said we weren't sure where they were, and he kindly took us there, directing us to a bar called Marinellos. We realised he was a 'bar rep'/tout, trying to get us in particular bars.

Marinellos was a really nice place, mostly open air, with a small inside area for two bars, a dance floor, even a podium with a pole for adventurous dancers! The rep offered us 2 drinks, 2 shots and a free entry ticket for a club, all for Euro7. We didn't have a clue how much usual drinks cost, but it seemed like a fair deal, so we did it. Marinellos played RnB classics, as well as some modern pop songs. The kind of stuff you'd find in a club in England, so I felt fairly at home drinking there. The dance floor was always empty though, so we didn't do any dancing here. It was end of season so I didn't really expect the bars to be too packed out. It was a nice atmosphere.

After our two drinks and shots, we moved on. And then we realised. We were in a swarm of reps and touts. All eagerly trying to get people into their bars because it pays their (probably-)measly wages. We were still at the entrance of The Square where the bars and clubs are and we had about three people approach us, one after the other, offering us drinks vouchers.

After forcing our way up the road a little as we wanted to explore the area to start off with, another rep came up to us. He worked for a Hip Hop/RnB bar called Bazaar, and was so pushy he made us go inside! It was fairly empty, and the drinks offer wasn't great. I think we paid Euro6 each for one drink and one shot each. But because the guy was so good at his job, we felt obliged to go in. There were only a few people in there apart from us. The music was okay, it was quite underground hip hop compared to the other places we walked past. It probably would've been good if it had been packed.

After that we moved on. We found it strange that all these reps were so keen to get you in the bars, but once you've had a drink they don't keep you in there by offering more vouchers, they don't care after that!

We walked on a bit further and found a place called Heaven Rock Bar, which had a massive guitar front, with pictures of famous rock musicians on the front like Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and the frontman of Greenday, I forget his name.

Now, we were in Ayia Napa, the place for garage and RnB enthusiasts, which we both enjoy hence why we went there. But our hearts were both made for Rock and Roll, so as soon as we saw this bar, we were immediately drawn inside! No reps were outside dragging people in, there weren't any drinks offers, but I think that made it even more friendlier and made me want to go in even more, the fact that they weren't desperate for customers. Once inside, there were a lot of people dressed in black downing Jaegermeister. Despite wear mini shorts and a revealing top, clubbing gear to the max!, but I felt immediately at home with these people, and the bar staff were majorly cool. The music varied, between modern rock and metal ranging back to the 80s glam rock and famous bands like Iron Maiden, Motorhead and Metallica.

It wasn't packed or even busy, but there was a fair crowd of people, mainly gathered by the bar in the centre of the room. The place contained three pool tables, which seemed to be popular and often used. It was a nice atmosphere in there and everyone seemed to get on with everyone else, either all singing the same heavy tunes together or doing shots of Sambucca together.

Prices in this bar were a bit extortionate. We first went in and asked for two Jack Daniels and cokes. In England, this would normally cost about £5/6 in a bar. In this Heaven Rock Garden bar, it cost Euro12! When the guy gave us back our change, he did give us two 'free' shots, but there weren't really free if we were paying so much to start with! Nowhere other than a touristy place like this could get away with this kind of misleading marketing, but in this town it seemed appropriate to be conned out of our money! Apart from the prices of drinks, it was a great little bar.

Others bars to go to:

Carwash - this is a great little bar playing classic music ranging through the genres. It has a mood for everyone, and quite a lot of people dress up in 80s neon gear, so it's a fun atmosphere. Prices are about the same price in here as they are everywhere else, about Euro6 a drink. There are no drinks deals (or there weren't when we went) but you can pick up free entry vouchers when you go to places like the Ambassaden bar. There's loads of dancing going on in this bar and everyone is just looking to have a good time. It's a little bit out of the way of the main Square, and we actually had to ask for directions because we couldn't find it! Once you do find it though you're guranteed an excellent night out.

The Ambassaden bar - This is the first bar you come across when first entering the Square, and the loudest too. It is two storeys, though generally everyone sticks to the bottom half by the bars. There are loads of touts for this bar trying to get you in, but they offer very confusing deals. When one rep approached us, he offered us buy one, get one free, on drinks. We obliged, assuming we'd get 2 drinks for Euro6, as the prices in the bar was Euro6 a drink. Once inside, we thought we'd make use of the offer and ordered two drinks each, with two free drinks each. However, the bill came to Euro18, meaning one drink was Euro9! So bit of a con really! The waitress did give us two free shots. But they were meant to be 'free', not included in the final bill. A lot of these bars do try their hardest to get money from you, by using the reps outside who are very pushy.

After a few days' experience of these reps, you find it easier to haggle with them. For example, outside one particular bar called Aruba, when the pushy sales rep came over and asked if we wanted a drink and a shot for Euro6, I told him (because I was already drunk!) I didn't want anymore shots and would prefer another drink instead, and he made it happen.. two drinks for Euro6 is pretty good for Ayia Napa bars. I did this on a lot of people, and some of the time it worked, sometimes it didn't, but if you're coming here on holiday definitely try haggling with the reps. Once you're a lot more feisty at this not as many bother you, too!

When the bars started closing one night at 2am, we were undecided whether to go back to the hotel or to go to a club. On our walk back down to The Square, a rep approached us out The Castle Club. I'd heard of this bar but we hadn't experienced it yet. He told me he could get me and my boyfriend in for half price. I was very intoxicated at this point and wasn't even sure what I was saying, but I basically said to him I didn't want to pay to go in anywhere, and anywhere I went I wanted a drinks offer. He said again, half price entry. I said I didn't want to pay and went to walk away, then he quickly changed his mind and said we could get in for free. Brilliant.

The Castle Club is supposedly Ayia Napa's most popular club. It consists of three floors, the top floor playing Disco music, which was fairly empty with only a few people dancing when we entered. The middle floor was RnB which was completely packed, everyone was dancing to popular British and American RnB music, all singing together. The bottom floor was House music. Had some fairly cool music but not too busy. It was very nice looking though, everywhere was white, and the strobe lights were pink and purple so everywhere seemed to look really heavenly, if only it wasn't for the loud pumping music! The middle floor seemed to be the most popular, and since it was about 3 in the morning everyone was only there to have a good time before they head home, back to their hotel. It was friendly and fun and you really felt welcome in these places, despite being full of varied people from all over the world. Drinks were expensive here, no drinks offers to be seen, but it was a club so I didn't really expect any less.

There were a couple more places I've left out:

The Pirate Bar - this bar was opposite the Rock Bar I was raving about above, and had an incredible atmosphere, playing modern music and pop and rock from the 90s era, it was really busy, there dance floor was full of people. There was a podium in the centre with another pole (they clearly loved to encourage pole dancing out here!) and, yes, much to my embarrassment when I remembered the next morning, I did get up on that pole and dance. It wasn't anything weird though, everyone was doing it and it was just there to have fun, not how a pole dancer would be seen in England!

There were some good drinks deals, with another deal that was BOGOF, with two drinks for Euro6, as well as free shots. This is an ideal bar for someone not 100% keen on garage and RnB music as it really did play a range of stuff from different genres and eras.

We went to a British bar called Linekar (wonder why!) that encouraged beer-drinking and crisp-eating.. typical British stylee. It wasn't the most fun bar and music wasn't very loud, but there were football games on big screen, comfy sofas, and a really sophisticated inside area that looked as clean as anything! It looked like a nice restaurant rather than a bar. Drinks were average priced, about 6 euros for one drink, including a shot.

The bars in Ayia Napa are, on average, fun, loud and full of people dancing. Yes, they are expensive, but if you're going to go on holiday to a party island you have to expect pricey drinks, especially on specific drinks like Jack Daniels or Malibu because they have to be imported. If you choose local whiskey or local beer prices decrease sharply. Keo was the local beer and you could get a pint of this for 2/3 euros in most bars, maybe 4 euros in clubs.

I strongly recommend going to Ayia Napa, whether you're young or old, even if you don't like drinking, as there's plenty of restauranty places and pub type bars where you can just have a few. But if you're really up for some hardcore drinking and dancing, The Square is where it's at, with some nightclubs even open until 7 the next morning!

Also published on dooyoo 

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