Entertainment In Larnaca

For a relatively small town, Larnaca has an impressive nightlife scene, full of bars and nightclubs in a pleasant seaside environment. Whether you want to dance the night away or just chill out and sip a cold Cypriot beer, you can probably find something to your liking.

Nightlife

Almost all of this town’s nightlife is centred on the two-kilometre long seaside promenade and the surrounding block called Laiki Yeitonia. An impressive selection of taverns, bars and cafés are clustered together in this lively area. For a nightclub experience, check out Club Memphis or Scaliano. For a classic pub, there’s The Bailey, where you can try out the local lagers such as Keo and Leon.

If you drive about 15 minutes from the city centre towards Ayia Napa, you will find the Larnaca-Dhekelia road. This is the main strip for top end hotels and the more ritzy nightclubs and bars in the city. Being a heavily touristed area, this is also where you’ll find the most British and European tourists, and the fewest locals.
 

Theatre and music

There really isn’t much happening in the way of cultural theatre in Larnaca. You won’t find any opera, ballet or philharmonic orchestra performances. The one cultural light is the Theatre Antidote, which stages English language plays throughout the year.

Finding live music is much easier, especially during the busy summer months when many musicians are booked to play in the bars around town. Black and White is one good example of a club trying to bring a little but of London to this sleepy island. During the summer, DJs from the UK come to spin the latest sounds and lots of locals and tourists come to hang out and party. The clubs stay open until 04:00, much later than the average bar.  

Festivals

Larnaca has a really interesting, if limited, calendar of events. Many of the festivals focus on music and Greek-Cypriot culture, and the occasional Greek Orthodox celebration. Whatever the event, you can be sure the locals will get fully involved.

• The Palm Trees Promenade celebrates Carnival with a colourful parade, which takes place on the Monday before Lent along the seafront promenade. Plenty of music, dancing and food accompanies the celebrations (February).
• The Procession of Saint Lazarus is the most important Greek Orthodox celebration of the year in Larnaca. Eight days before Easter, the locals celebrate the feast day of their patron saint Lazarus with a lively procession. The icon of St Lazarus is paraded through the streets with great pomp (April).
• The Anthestiria Festival celebrates spring with a parade of flower floats and people carrying fresh bouquets of flowers along the seafront promenade. This festival dates back to the days of the Greeks, when feasts were organised in Athens to celebrate the rebirth of man and nature each spring (May).
• The Christian feast of Pentecost is known as Kataklysmos here, or the Festival of the Flood. This ancient event is celebrated all over Cyprus, but is particularly spectacular in Larnaca. The locals hold fairs and boat races, and splash water on each other along the seaside promenade (June).
• The Kypria Festival is one of the most important cultural events of the year for the Greek-Cypriots of the island. The festival is based on the traditions of Cyprus and its people, and includes ballet, opera, cinema, art, theatre and music, all performed by distinguished artists from Cyprus and around the world (September to October).