Paphos to Nicosia: direct bus times, the airport shuttle, taxi and driving

There is a direct bus from Paphos to Nicosia, and it runs far more often than most pages suggest. Intercity Buses leaves the Karavella terminal in upper Paphos fourteen times on weekdays, from 05:00 to 19:45, and eight times on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, from 08:00 to 18:30. It takes about two hours, goes straight up the motorway without calling in Limassol, and costs 8 euros one way. If you are landing at Paphos Airport, the Kapnos shuttle goes to Nicosia from 14 euros. Driving is 149 km, about two hours. A taxi is a fixed quote, and the official tariff puts it around 145 euros by day.

Google’s own summary for this journey says the direct bus runs “roughly 3 to 4” times a day and suggests changing at Limassol. The operator’s timetable shows more than three times that many departures on a weekday, and no change is needed. The rest of the first page is a ticket reseller, a tours listing, a Facebook question and Tripadvisor threads from 2018 and 2023. This guide sets out the published times in both directions, where the bus actually stops at each end, the separate airport shuttle and the arithmetic for a car and a taxi.

Which option fits your trip

Your situation	Best default	Why
Day trip to Nicosia’s old town	Direct Intercity bus from Karavella	8 euros each way, arrives beside the walls
Weekend or public holiday	The same route, reduced timetable	Eight departures each way, 08:00 to 18:30 from Paphos
Landing at Paphos Airport	Kapnos Airport Shuttle	Starts at the terminal; Intercity does not
Family, several cases or a suburban address	Pre-booked transfer	Door to door; both bus terminals are central
You want Kourion or the Troodos on the way	Hire car	Neither is a stop on the direct bus

The direct Intercity bus

Intercity Buses publishes one route page for both directions. We read the live page on 30 October 2026 and it matched the operator’s February 2026 timetable:

Direction	Monday to Friday	Saturday, Sunday and public holidays
Paphos to Nicosia, from Karavella	05:00, 05:30, 06:45, 08:00, 09:00, 10:30, 12:10, 14:00, 15:00, 15:30, 16:30, 18:00, 19:00, 19:45	08:00, 09:30, 11:30, 13:00, 15:30, 16:30, 17:00, 18:30
Nicosia to Paphos, from Solomou Square	04:45, 05:45, 08:00, 09:00, 10:00, 11:15, 12:15, 13:15, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00, 19:15	07:00, 09:00, 10:00, 11:30, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 18:00, 19:00

The operator gives the journey as about two hours. A few departures make extra calls, which the timetable marks individually: some stop at Alampra near the Nicosia end, the 15:00 and 16:30 from Paphos call at Tepak, the Cyprus University of Technology stop, and the 04:45 and 14:00 from Nicosia stop at Choirokoitia. The two earliest weekday buses from Nicosia, and the 16:00 at weekends, also stop at Agios Georgios Chavouzas and Erimi on the edge of Limassol. Otherwise the bus runs straight through.

Fares. A single is 8 euros, either a paper ticket from the driver, who takes cash only, or deducted from a motion card e-wallet. A return is 15 euros, but it is a motion card sold at points of sale and cannot be bought on board, so sort it out before you travel if you want the saving. The daily all-island ticket at 20 euros, also on a plastic motion card, covers every Intercity route and the urban buses in all five districts, which only pays off if you are combining this trip with several others on the same day. Discounted and free travel apply only to holders of a personalised motion card.

Where it stops in Paphos

Every departure starts at the New Terminal Pervola Karavella in Ktima, the upper town, not at the harbour. It then calls at the Courts on Neofytou Nikolaides (about 3 minutes), the stop opposite the police station on Athinon Avenue (5), opposite ERA Korivos by the Stelios Kyriakides stadium (7), and opposite McDonald’s at the Blue Cross Clinic on Dimokratias Avenue (9). If you are staying in Kato Paphos, the Dimokratias Avenue stops can be easier to reach than the terminal, but you will still need a local bus or a short taxi from the coast. Our Paphos to Limassol guide explains the terminal and the local connections in more detail.

Where it stops in Nicosia

The Nicosia terminus is Solomou Square, the main bus station just outside the Venetian walls on the south-west side of the old town. Eleftheria Square and the start of Ledra Street are a few minutes’ walk away, and the Ledra Street crossing to the north is less than a kilometre from the bus. The Paphos Gate, the Venetian entrance that once opened on to the road west to Paphos and is pictured above, is about 650 metres north of the square along the walls.

Heading out to Paphos, the bus also picks up along Archbishop Makarios III Avenue (at Hras, 1 minute after leaving, and the Ministry of Commerce, 3), at APOEL by the Nicosia III technical school (5), the CYTA bridge (7), Kalispera City Lights on Lemesou Avenue (9), Nicosia General Hospital (14) and Kalamon (15). If you are staying in the newer city south of the walls, one of those may be closer than Solomou Square.

From Paphos Airport: the Kapnos shuttle

The Intercity route does not serve the airport. The Deputy Ministry of Tourism’s transport page lists one operator for the Paphos Airport to Nicosia run, Kapnos Airport Shuttle, and its booking system showed the following on 30 October 2026:

	Paphos Airport to Nicosia	Nicosia to Paphos Airport
Example days, November 2026	Sun 1: 04:45, 12:00, 15:45, 20:45. Thu 5: 04:45, 13:00, 17:00	Sun 1: 02:30, 06:30, 11:15, 16:15. Thu 5: 02:30, 10:15, 13:15
Journey	about 1 hour 50 minutes	about 1 hour 50 minutes
Fare	from 14 euros	from 14 euros
Nicosia stop	Kapnos station, Kyrenias Avenue	Same station; free parking

The times change from day to day to match the flights, so look up your own date rather than assuming a pattern. Kapnos says some Paphos trips include a short stop at Choirokoitia or Larnaca Airport and a change of vehicle. The standard ticket includes one carry-on and one 20 kg case, tickets can be bought online up to 60 minutes before departure, and the Paphos Airport meeting point is inside the arrivals hall by the tour operator desks. The Nicosia station is on Kyrenias Avenue, roughly 3 km south-east of the old town in a straight line, so most visitors will need a taxi or a city bus for the last leg.

If your flight is into Larnaca instead, the trip is much shorter: our Larnaca Airport to Nicosia guide covers the same operator’s 45-minute shuttle.

Nicosia to Paphos, and day trips both ways

The return runs from Solomou Square fourteen times on weekdays and nine at weekends, so a day out in either direction is straightforward.

From Paphos. On a weekday the 08:00 from Karavella reaches Nicosia at about 10:00, and the 17:00 or 18:00 from Solomou Square gets you back in the early evening, which leaves seven or eight hours for the capital. At weekends the 09:30 out and the 16:00 or 18:00 back still give six hours or more. That is enough for our Nicosia Old Town walk, the Cyprus Museum and a walk across at Ledra Street if you carry your passport; check the Green Line crossing guide before you go. Things to do in Nicosia has the wider list.

From Nicosia. The 08:00 from Solomou Square is in Paphos by about 10:00, and the 19:00 from Karavella brings you back around 21:00. Karavella is in the upper town, so for the harbour and the Paphos Archaeological Park allow time for a local bus down to the coast.

Driving: 149 km of motorway

From the Karavella area of Paphos to Solomou Square is 148.9 km by road, which the open-source OSRM routing engine times at about two hours without stops; from Paphos harbour it is 151.7 km. The route is the A6 east to Limassol and the A1 north to Nicosia, with no tolls and a 100 km/h limit. Our driving in Cyprus guide covers the rules, and the car hire guide covers one-way rentals and the drop fee they usually carry. In Nicosia, park outside the walls and walk in.

The reason to drive is the stops, none of which the direct bus serves:

Stop	From Paphos (Karavella)	What it adds
Kourion	51 km, about 45 minutes	The clifftop theatre and mosaics; allow two hours
Choirokoitia	97 km, about 1 h 30	A UNESCO Neolithic village beside the A1; an hour is enough
Over the Troodos instead	160 km to Nicosia, about 2 h 50	Mountain roads via Troodos Square in place of the motorway

Distances and times from OSRM, 30 October 2026, with no allowance for traffic around Limassol or in Nicosia. The Troodos route is a scenic alternative rather than a shortcut, and our Paphos to Troodos guide covers the western half of it.

Taxi and transfer: the tariff arithmetic

A taxi from Paphos to Nicosia is normally sold as a fixed-price transfer, so ask for a written quote for your exact addresses. The official tariff on the Deputy Ministry of Tourism’s transport page gives you something to judge it against: urban taxis charge 3.80 euros plus 0.95 euros per kilometre between 06:01 and 20:30, and 4.80 euros plus 1.10 euros per kilometre at night, with 1.40 euros per piece of luggage, a 2 euro supplement on listed public holidays and 20 per cent extra for five passengers.

	Daytime (06:01 to 20:30)	Night (20:31 to 06:00)
Meter for 148.9 km	about 145 euros	about 169 euros
Plus two suitcases	about 148 euros	about 171 euros
Four people, per head	about 37 euros	about 43 euros

For one or two people, the bus at 8 euros each is the obvious choice. For four with luggage and an address away from the centre, a car to the door at under 40 euros a head is easier to justify. Our Cyprus taxi guide explains how metered taxis, rural taxis and pre-booked transfers differ.

No train, ferry or flight

“Paphos to Nicosia ferry” appears among Google’s related searches, but Nicosia is inland and there is no boat. Cyprus has no passenger railway, and no airline flies between Paphos and Nicosia: the old Nicosia International Airport, inside the UN buffer zone, has been closed since 1974. The bus, the airport shuttle, a car or a taxi are the options.

The short answer

Take the direct Intercity bus from Karavella: 8 euros, about two hours, fourteen departures on weekdays and eight at weekends, arriving at Solomou Square beside the old town. If you are landing at Paphos Airport, book the Kapnos shuttle from 14 euros instead. Drive when you want Kourion, Choirokoitia or the mountains on the way, and book a transfer when there are four of you or the address is out of town. Check the live timetable the day before; our public transport in Cyprus guide explains why every route is its own service with its own ticket, and the Larnaca to Paphos guide covers the other long cross-country bus.

Sources for changing details: the Intercity Buses Nicosia to Paphos route page, read live on 30 October 2026 and matching the Internet Archive copy of 17 February 2026; the Kapnos Airport Shuttle booking system for November 2026 times and fares, checked 30 October 2026; the Deputy Ministry of Tourism transport page for the taxi tariff and licensed airport shuttles, checked 30 October 2026; OSRM for road distances and driving times.

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Hero photograph: “Nicosia Paphos Gate 1” by Julian Nyča, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped for this page.