VAROSHA

You can now tour a controversial ghost town in Cyprus that was abandoned in the 1970s — take a look inside

Visitors walk on a street lined with derelict buildings at the fenced-off beachfront eastern town of Varosha in October 2020.
Visitors walk on a street lined with derelict buildings at the fenced-off beachfront eastern town of Varosha in October 2020. 
BIROL BEBEK/AFP/Getty Images

  • After Turkey took control of northern Cyprus in the 1970s, the resort town Varosha was left empty.
  • Residents and tourists planned to return, but the resort was fenced off and remained so for decades.
  • In 2020, the town and surrounding beach reopened but soon became a point of controversy.

Varosha is a former resort town located in the city of Famagusta, Cyprus.

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A map showing where Varosha, Famagusta, is located. 
Google Maps

Before the division of Cyprus in 1974, Varosha was a booming resort town with sky-scraping hotels, glamorous shopping districts, and sandy beaches frequently called the best in Cyprus. The rich and famous claimed Verosha as the most beautiful spot on the island.

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Varosha in the 1960s. 
Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images

According to the BBC, celebrities including Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Brigitte Bardot visited the island in its heyday. “Anyone who comes from Varosha has a romanticized notion of it,” Vasia Markides, an American Greek-Cypriot whose mother grew up there, told the BBC in 2014. “They talk about it being the hub of art and intellectual activity. They describe it as the French Riviera of Cyprus.” At its height, the resort town of Varosha was home to 39,000 residents and thousands more visited each year as tourists.

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An abandoned hotel is seen in the Varosha quarter of the beach in Famagusta, Cyprus. 
Awakening/Getty Images

Varosha also attracted around 700,000 annual visitors and tourists. But after 1974, everyone but the Turkish military was forbidden from entering, and today, buildings in the once-booming resort town are crumbling and abandoned.

The town of Varosha in 2020 after it reopened to the public
The town of Varosha in 2020 after it reopened to the public. 
Muhammet Ikbal Arslan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

According to the BBC, after years of violence, Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 following a Greek-government-backed coup and gained control of the northern third section of the island, which included the district of Varosha. Tens of thousands of Greek Cypriots quickly left the area, fearing violence but intending to return once tensions settled down. Former residents have recalled their panic while fleeing their homes as troops invaded.

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Broken windows of the abandoned hotels are seen in the Varosha quarter in Famagusta, Cyprus. 
Awakening/Getty Images

Some left their wedding presents in their attics, while others said they still had pots cooking on the stove when they evacuated. Following the invasion, the resort was fenced and blocked off by the Turkish military. It was abandoned for decades.

Varosha cyprus abandoned
Decaying hotel buildings stand beyond a makeshift barrier and a Turkish military sign. 
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

What was once a glamorous resort became a barren wasteland dotted with falling fences and barricades. Varosha remained part of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, or TRNC, until a United Nations resolution in 1984.

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An abandoned building in the district of Varosha in Famagusta, Cyprus. 
AstridxAim/Getty Images

The decision placed Varosha under the control of the United Nations and forbade anyone other than those who were forced out in the 1970s from resettling there, according to BBC. While the city of Famagusta is home to thousands of residents, who are mostly Turkish, the Varosha sector was blocked off until recently.

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A view over the fence of the abandoned district of Varosha in Famagusta, Cyprus. 
AstridxAim/Getty Images

Decaying buildings and rubble line the streets of the abandoned district. Signs labeled Varosha a “forbidden zone.”

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A Turkish military sign marks the fence of the “Forbidden Zone” of the Varosha district. 
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Tourists were previously banned from entering or taking photos inside the fenced-off areas, but some managed to slip through over the years and documented what was left behind. After the town reopened in 2020, Turkish Cypriots were allowed through the fences to explore what remained. Now, anyone can visit with a valid passportBefore it reopened, buildings could be seen slowly collapsing, abandoned cars were rusting over, and the streets lay empty.

Varosha cyprus abandoned
A car is parked in front of the walls that surround the Varosha quarter. 
Awakening/Getty Images

Many areas of the Varosha district are still blocked off for most people, according to the BBC. After travel restrictions were eased in 2003, former residents were allowed to return and peer into the forgotten resort through fences and barbed wire.

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Abandoned houses in the Varosha district. 
Awakening/Getty Images

However, those who ventured back to the island found the once-booming area a crumbling ghost town and have not been permitted to permanently inhabit the town. Much of the resort remained largely how its former residents and visitors left it.

Varosha cyprus abandoned
An abandoned gas station in the Varosha quarter. 
Awakening/Getty Images

Tables were still set for meals and designer clothes could be found hanging inside now-abandoned shops. Cypriots returning to Varosha described it as “some sort of post-apocalyptic nightmare.” “The picture that I had in my mind was of a kind of paradise,” one Cypriot who returned to look across the fence at her family’s former home told the BBC.   “You’re seeing nature take over. Prickly pear bushes have overrun the entire six square kilometers. There are trees that have sprouted through living rooms. It’s a ghost town,” she said. The reopening of Varosha, also known by its Turkish name Maraş, became a subject of controversy between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities.

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Abandoned buildings in the district of Varosha. 
Nataliia Tosun/Shutterstock

According to a report by CNN in 2020, Ersin Tatar, prime minister of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, planned to start the reopening and potential rebuilding process in 2020. “It’s all ready in my opinion,” Tatar said in August 2020, according to Turkish state broadcaster TRT. “The tide has changed and a new page has been turned … Maraş is within the territory of the TRNC. Nobody can take it from us. We are continuing on our successful path.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said he wanted to reopen the resort town, but the move received backlash from Greek Cypriots. When the beach reopened and the fences surrounding Varosha were removed, the government only allowed Turkish and TRNC citizens to visit at first.

A man lounges on a chair along a beach in Varosha on September 18, 2022
A man lounges on a chair along a beach in Varosha on September 18, 2022. 
ROY ISSA/AFP/Getty Images

Ahead of Varosha’s reopening in 2020, the European Union’s foreign policy chief warned the reopening would “cause greater tensions” between Turkish and Greek Cypriots, who disagree on who rightfully should inhabit and profit off the northern section of the island. US officials have also spoken out against the reopening of Varosha. According to The Guardian, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in 2021 that the government opposed any attempt to reopen Varosha to tourists and locals alike. In a statement, Blinken called the Turkish Cypriot actions in Varosha “provocative, unacceptable, and incompatible with their past commitments to engage constructively in settlement talks.” “We urge Turkish Cypriots and Turkey to reverse their decision announced today and all steps taken since October 2020,” he continued. Tourists have returned to the beaches, but behind them sit decaying hotels.

Tourists pose for a picture in the fenced-off area of Varosha in June 2021.
Tourists pose for a picture in the fenced-off area of Varosha in June 2021. 
Iakovos Hatzistavrou/AFP/Getty Images

The buildings are unsafe to go inside, but tourists have once again returned to the town’s sandy beaches. Today, visitors from across the world can swim in Varosha’s waters and take guided tours alongside the crumbling buildings.

People walk past abandoned buildings along the path designated by Turkish forces for visitors in Varosha, in the fenced off area near Famagusta in the Turkish-controlled north of the divided eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, on September 18, 2022.
People walk past abandoned buildings along the path designated by Turkish forces for visitors in Varosha on September 18, 2022. 
Muhammet Ikbal Arslan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

According to the Cyprus Mail, visitors can tour Varosha between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. While visitors are not allowed to actually enter the blocked-off and crumbling buildings due to safety concerns, tour groups are permitted to walk alongside them, snap photos, and learn about the resort town’s complicated history.

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I would like to think of myself as a full time traveler. I have been retired since 2006 and in that time have traveled every winter for four to seven months. The months that I am "home", are often also spent on the road, hiking or kayaking. I hope to present a website that describes my travel along with my hiking and sea kayaking experiences.
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