Macheiras

Macheiras is the mountain forest closest to Nicosia, and its fifteen trails are mostly short links between a monastery, a gorge and a few stone villages. It is a national forest park inside the Natura 2000 network, and the walking has a settled, lived-in quality: pine slopes and forest roads with a village or a chapel at the end of most of them.

The lay of the land

The centre of gravity is Machairas Monastery, and three routes radiate from it. Machairas – Politiko is the best of them: 5.5 km down the Pediaios gorge, following the stream below tall cliffs, crossing on a bridge halfway, with the monastery and the monument to Grigoris Afxentiou at the top end. Machairas – Lazanias covers 2.3 km of rougher, scrambling ground on the E4, and links onward to Lazanias – Fikardou, an easy 1.8 km stroll between two mountain villages.

The steep one is Kionia – Drys: 3.4 km and 423 m of climb, rising from roughly 940 m to just under 1,280 m at Kionia, the highest ground in the Machairas range. Almost pure ascent one way, and an easy hour if you walk it downhill instead. For something flatter, the two Kakokefalos – Mantra tou Kampiou routes run 5 km each with barely any climb at all.

When to go

This forest holds more shade than its modest altitude suggests, which makes it a reasonable summer option close to the capital. Paylias – Dyo Mouttes takes 4.4 hours of direct sun on a midsummer day and Spilia tis Athasias 4.5 — both in our shady tier. The open exceptions are Helidonia at 11.1 hours and Lefkothea at 10.1, so check before you commit to those in August. Spring and autumn are best overall; the gorge routes are at their most alive when the Pediaios is running.

Four to start with

• Machairas – Politiko — gorge, stream, bridge and monastery; the most characterful walk in the region.
• Lazanias – Fikardou — forty-five easy minutes between two of the best-preserved mountain villages on the island.
• Spilia tis Athasias — a quiet pine-forest path near Vavatsinia to the Athasia cave, shaded most of the way.
• Kionia – Drys — the climb to the top of the range, best walked uphill and rewarded with the view.

Practical notes

The district's own picnic site is Delikipos, which has drinking water. Two more sit on these trails but are listed under Nicosia: Kionia, at the top of the Kionia – Drys climb, and Mantra tou Kampiou on the Kakokefalos routes. Both have water too, which makes the longer forest walks here easier to plan than most.

The monastery is the obvious meeting point and the easiest place to leave a car. Several of these trails are E4 sections and join end to end, so the short ones combine well into a longer day — worth doing, because walked singly most of them are over in under an hour.