Tomb of the Kings, Paphos

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The Tombs of the Kings that is a totally misleading name for this wide area of tombs, because not a single king was buried there. They might have been rich people but certainly no kings and their tombs were in many cases built like their former houses with an atrium in the middle.
You can walk 2-3 hours through this wide area of tombs, that were built into the soft rocks.

The Tour bus takes you round town and outer areas and gives an idea of the place, best from open top deck 10 euro. The service is daily and hop on hop off. If you stay on the duration is 1 hour. One of its stops is The Tombs of the Kings. The starting point is the coach park near the harbour. No booking required just pay on entry.

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About 2km from Pafos harbour lies a huge area of rock-cut tombs, dating from the 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD. They were nothing to do with royalty but certainly reflect the wealth of Nea Papfos in its heyday. They were used by Christians for both burial and refuge towards the end of the 4th century, and were lived in by Medieval squatters.

The cliff-top is riddled with tombs and loculi (burial slots), some of which have been damaged by past quarrying. 8 have been 'properly' excavated though, and there are other smaller ones to explore. The site was systematically robbed in the 14th century, so finds have been few in modern excavations.

It's a fascinating place to explore, although the guidebook and signage is not particularly good. Try to go when few people are about: the silence, apart from the birds and the distant sea, make it a most atmospheric place.

Spread over a vast area, these impressive underground tombs date back to the 4th century BC. They are carved out of solid rock with some being decorated with Doric pillars. It wasn't actually Kings that were buried here, but it was the tombs gave the Arcaeologcal site its name.

We had been told be someone else that there wasn't much there. A mile away from the harbour and only 50 cents on the number 10 bus. It's located on the Tombs of the Kings Road leading to Coral Bay. There is ony an entrance fee of only 75 cents and it's free on a Sunday. A handy guide book only costs one pound if you want one. Beware this site is exposed, so take water with you as it gets very hot. There is not much shade at all and when we was there there was no breeze so just pure heating beating down on us constantly. If there's children take extra care due to steep drops at all the tombs. Wonderful views of the sea and surrounding area. Take camera with you. Give yourself at least 1 and half to 2 hours to walk round as the areas.

This is a large site just next to Paphos Harbour. A number of houses have been excavated and several beautiful mosaics have been revealed. I have included one that I saw in the House of Theseus. All the others of of this quality.

The site also includes a large Odeon, a semicircular amphitheatre that's nice to sit in when it's sunny!!

The whole site well deserves its World Heritage Status, and if you visit on Sunday it's free.

I have seen a ot of Paphos before, and having been to Paphos in 2000, we didnt realise this was an actual Archaeological Park, so we give it a miss, im so glad I insisted on going there in 2006 and I couldnt belive i had missed out on the best of all the sites as far as i was concerned, definatly a 10/10 5 * however you want to put it.

I would advise people to take a lot of water as its very hot and hardly any shade anywhere. Its also such a large area of Archaeolgical findings that you will be walking for a good 2-3 hours. It is well worth a visit with amazing views of the harbour and sea.

While you're about it a trip about 1 kilometre up the coast road will take you to the Tombs of the Kings. This is another huge site with excavated underground tombs and mausolea.

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Whole Paphos area is one huge arheological site. It is under protection of UNESCO as the world heritrage. There are so many spots to be seen like "The Mosaics" (at Kato Paphos), "The Tombs of kings" (along the road to Coral Bay), "The Salomon's catacomb" (at Kato Paphos), "The Paphos districht Museum" (Makarios avenue)..........
+Coral Bay, the most beautiful beach in whole Cyprus.

The best way to see all plc's of interest in Paphos is to have a friend in Paphos who will be willing to show you around.

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The tombs of the kings is a large collection of tombs cut into the rock. we spent a while here the tombs are over quite a large area and a large number. Try not to go in the midday sun it is all out in the open.

The 100 tombs on the site cover a wide area and are cut out of the ground with a steep drop into them.Steps lead down inside the tombs sometimes with lots of passageways.We were told that they were used to bury the local noblemen and their families.
If you are going to visit the tombs take a pair of good walking shoes as the tombs are really steep.

The name of these tombs suggests royalty were buried here, but non ever were.

They aquired such a palatial name as it was thought they were impressive enough for Royalty to have been buried here!

They are indeed impressive, with roughly 100 tombs here of all shapes & sizes. It reminded me of an underground city

Here's a closer view of one of the tombs.
You can really enjoy wandering around the many tombs here.