Pano Platres

Platres sits at about eleven hundred metres on the southern flank of the Troodos and was built up under British administration as a place to escape the coastal summer, which is still its function: the temperature is reliably ten degrees below Limassol and the air smells of pine. What remains is a strip of old hotels, a stream running through, tavernas and trails leading off in several directions. Seferis wrote a line about the nightingales here that Cypriots still quote.

History

Platres is an old village, listed among the 119 villages of the Limassol district in the Lusignan (1192-1489) and Venetian (1489-1571) eras; its people were mostly shepherds and vine growers, and later turned many vineyards into orchards of cherries, apples, pears and peaches. It became a hill resort after the British took over the island in 1878: unusually for the dry Troodos, a stream runs through it all year, and the new arrivals quickly built hotels, bars and shady walks around the small village to escape the heat of the coast. It drew well-known visitors, among them King Farouk of Egypt and the poet Giorgos Seferis; the Brandy Sour was invented for Farouk at the Forest Park Hotel in the late 1930s, and Daphne du Maurier wrote most of Rebecca at the same hotel, which is why Platres is called the village of kings and poets (Wikipedia, Platres).

The main sights

• The hill-station hotels - colonial-era buildings along the main street.
• The stream - water running through the village under plane trees.
• The trailheads - Caledonia and other Troodos walks starting from the village.
• The pine forest - Troodos woodland surrounding the whole village.

When to go

May to October is the season, and July and August are when the altitude matters most. Autumn is quiet and pleasant. Winter brings snow and the village becomes a stop for skiers.

What to expect

Several of the old hotels are closed or run down and the village has a faded feel. There is little to do in the village itself beyond walk and eat. It is busy at summer weekends with day trippers from the coast.

Nearby

Caledonia waterfall is above the village, and Troodos square is further up the mountain.

Key facts