Dasaki Achnas is something of a rarity among Cyprus picnic sites: a forest grove in the eastern lowlands, at just 53 metres above sea level on the edge of the Kokkinochoria farming country, about 25 kilometres northwest of Larnaca. It is also one of the better-equipped sites in the region — room for well over a hundred people, drinking water, barbecue hearths, a children's playground, and wheelchair-accessible facilities — which makes it an easy family outing rather than an expedition.
The little forest carries far more history than its size suggests. Before 1974 it was pristine pine woodland where British soldiers occasionally trained and local farmers rested in the shade; from the summer of 1974 it became a refuge for tens of thousands of displaced people. Today the grove is a peaceful picnic ground again, and the neighbouring Achna Dam, built in 1987, draws migratory birds — flamingos and kingfishers among them — on their spring and autumn passage.
For a walk before or after the grill, the lowland course of the E4 European long-distance path passes about a kilometre from the site, a gentle leg-stretcher through the surrounding countryside.