Winter ski and sun holiday combined

SAY CYPRUS and the first thing you think of is sun. Or maybe Aphrodite. What you’re unlikely to think of is skiing.

Yet the gleaming Mediterranean island is home to a small but perfectly formed ski resort which pushes off right about now and keeps going until the end of March.

The highest point on the island is Mount Olympus, which stands just under 2,000m high, in the centre of the Troodos range.

You can get there from the big tourist resorts of Paphos or Limassol in about an hour, either by hiring a 4WD or taking a taxi. It’s a 90-minute drive from the airport at Larnaca.

Kitzbühel it ain’t but Troodos has four lifts and eight ski runs, mostly for beginners but with one for intermediate and one for advanced skiers too. It even hosts International Ski Federation competitions from time to time.

As introductions to family skiing go, there’s great value to be had, with ski passes at €23 a day, €16 if you go after 1pm.

Equipment hire is available for €18 a day (boots, skis and poles or snowboards) and an hour’s group lesson for adults costs €13, or €35 for a private one.

Rooms at the Edelweiss Hotel, a modest hostelry in nearby Platres – itself surrounded by very Alpine-like pine forests – start at €25 a night.

At the very least, Cyprus is one of the few places you can, depending on the weather, swim in the sea and head out on the piste an hour later.

If you can’t make up your mind between winter sun and winter ski, it might just be the answer.

cyprusski.com