Machairas Monastery

Machairas was founded in the 1140s by hermits who found an icon of the Virgin in a cave, guarded, the story goes, by a knife, which is where the name comes from. The monastery stands at around nine hundred metres in pine forest on the northern edge of the Troodos system, and the buildings are largely a rebuilding after a fire in 1892, arranged around a courtyard with galleries. It remains an active male monastery with a strict visiting regime.

What you actually see

• The courtyard - galleried ranges rebuilt after the 1892 fire.
• The icon - the Virgin of Machairas, the monastery's founding relic.
• The forest setting - dense pine on the mountainside around the walls.
• The view - the Mesaoria plain visible north from the approach road.

When to go

April to November is the comfortable season. The monastery closes for a long midday break and admits visitors only at set hours. Winter can bring snow to the access road.

Honest expectations

Opening hours are restrictive and enforced; arriving outside them means the gate stays shut. Women must cover legs and shoulders and wraps are not always provided. Photography inside is not permitted.

Nearby

Fikardou is north, and Nicosia is northeast.