We (three adults, one teenager) rented this property for two weeks in August 2021. The house is beautiful and spacious, and well appointed with everything you need for a comfortable stay - proper mattresses, kitchen equipment, garden furniture, tv, dvd, CD player etc. The garden and pool area are lovely and there are plenty of terraces to find a shady spot and a sea breeze. Lovely restaurant with fantastic views (Treasure restaurant) within walking distance up the road, supermarket a short drive down the hill. Very short drive to the sea and Kyrenia, Bellepais, Nicosia. Karaman itself is quaint and cute but the drive up to the village from the house is not for the faint hearted as the road is steep, curvy and narrow. We loved the house and the place and are hoping to come back. Can highly recommend this property. Top tips - 1. at times of COVID do your research re travel restrictions - at point of writing recommend flying into Larnaca as the flights to the North have a stop over in Istanbul (on red list requiring hotel quarantine on your return if you live in the UK) Cyprus is best for fully vaccinated travellers - in addition we needed PCR tests every 7 days to cross the border (£12 at Erduran laboratory on the way to Bellepais - taking approx six hours from test to result- fast and convenient, no appointment necessary - open seven days a week) There are only two car rental companies in the South that will allow you to take the car to the North - Susanne has the details. You will need to purchase additional insurance at the border (£35 for a month). We found this preferable to taking taxis as we had to cross the border a few times. Take the map the car rental company offers and Susannes way description to the property - we found our satnav and google maps did not work in the North. Getting around was fairly easy though with the map, and finding the house was straight forward.
2. Bring mosquito repellent spray. There are tiny mosquitoes in the area (known as sand flies) - not a problem if you use repellent, but they leave nasty bites if you don’t apply repellent that are very itchy and take much longer than normal mosquito bites to go away. They are active at dusk and dawn and don’t like wind - so switch on the ventilators!
3. Don’t believe the propaganda - we found travelling in both parts of Cyprus to be safe and easy (provided all your paperwork is in order) - people in the North were particularly friendly and helpful.