The Three Castles of North Cyprus: St. Hilarion, Buffavento, Kantara

Anyone who sets out for Kantara Castle on a Saturday morning finds a locked gate at the end of a one-hour-thirteen-minute drive. The castle does not open at weekends or on public holidays, and that is the strictest rule among the trio that comes up when you search for "North Cyprus castles". St. Hilarion, Buffavento and Kantara are three Byzantine structures strung from west to east along the Kyrenia (Besparmak) range, yet their visiting conditions could hardly be more different: one has no ticket booth at all, the other two charge admission. Here the three sit side by side, with their altitude, driving time from Kyrenia, ticket and opening-hour rules, plus how many of them fit into a single day. The question of which day, what time and with whom gets three different answers at three castles.

Built by Byzantium, Abandoned by Venice

All three were founded by the Byzantines in the 10th-11th centuries, the aim being to spot the Arab fleet before it reached the shore. The logic of the chain is simple. On a clear day, from the top of Buffavento you can see both St. Hilarion and Kantara, with Kyrenia and Nicosia down below. When a fire was lit at one castle, the next one lit the same, and the news travelled along the mountain. Buffavento owes its name to that windy summit anyway; it comes from the Italian "buffa di vento" (roughly, defying the wind). Byzantine records also call it the Lion's Castle. The Lusignan kingdom (1192-1489) enlarged all three, and St. Hilarion became the royal family's summer residence in this period. When Venice took over the island in 1489, the calculation changed: these three structures, far from the sea and up on the peaks, were judged not worth garrisoning, and the troops were withdrawn. In the same years Kyrenia Castle was thickened instead; those walls on the harbour are Venetian work. So emptying the mountain castles and reinforcing Kyrenia were by no means two moves in the same direction. Today the walls still stand at all three, but none of them has a roof.

Altitude Order and Fatigue Order Are Not the Same

St. Hilarion sits at 732 metres, while Buffavento, at roughly 950 metres, is the highest of the three. Even so, it has the least surviving wall. No settled figure is in circulation for Kantara; its altitude varies by source, but what is certain is that the castle stands on top of a sheer crag. Anyone who memorises this order and calculates fatigue by it may be misled. By our research the most tiring is without doubt Buffavento, because after the car park a poorly maintained flight of steps begins that takes up to half an hour, and longer on some days. (There is neither a fountain nor a toilet up top.) St. Hilarion sits in the middle, and the steps do not end here either, but since the path is well kept the visit does not stretch to half a day. The shortest climb of the three is at Kantara, where you reach the gate from the car park in 10-15 minutes. But is the shortest the easiest? Because of the steepness of the steps, this is again the climb that demands the most care with children under 7-10 and with the elderly. So if you are comparing effort among North Cyprus castles, altitude alone is misleading; the castle that looks lowest may turn out to have the steepest steps.

Driving Times from Kyrenia

From Kyrenia, St. Hilarion is about 10 kilometres, 20-30 minutes by car; speed drops once you enter the mountain road. A narrow, steep 6-7 kilometre turn-off from the main road leads to Buffavento, and the car can go up as far as the car park. Kantara is in a different landscape altogether. This distinction is not new either: in the Lusignan period, while Buffavento served as a lookout point, Kantara was used as a frontier defence at the eastern end, and its position has worked like a gateway to the Karpaz road ever since. From Kyrenia it is 69 kilometres, around 1 hour 13 minutes. For those starting from Famagusta the maths changes: 44 kilometres, 55 minutes, and 87 kilometres from Nicosia. The nearest village appears to be Kaplica. The times we mention here are one way, so a trip from Kyrenia to Kantara and back leaves two and a half hours on the road alone. What is more, there is no way to visit the three castles by public transport; a rental car or a tour is plainly essential. On the map the three look close to one another, and Kantara alone breaks that impression.

Tickets, Booths and the Hours Rule

No ticket booth has been set up at Buffavento; entry is free, and there are no fixed hours either, so you can go whenever you like during daylight. The reason is not generosity: the castle has not been taken into official operation, and it receives no maintenance or restoration. Anyone who counts the free entry as an advantage has to factor the neglected path into the same calculation. At St. Hilarion and Kantara tickets are bought at the gate, because both are run as paid archaeological sites under the Department of Antiquities and Museums. The Müzekart museum pass is of no use at any of the three, since in the TRNC a ticket is issued separately for each site. St. Hilarion is open every day, last entry 16:30; as the closing time changes with the season, it is worth checking eemd.gov.ct.tr before you go. Can you watch the sunset from the castle? With last entry cut off at 16:30, not even in summer. The castle with the strictest hours rule is Kantara: weekdays 10:00-15:30, last entry 14:45, and at weekends and on public holidays the gate does not open at all. So in a North Cyprus castles itinerary, the day that includes Kantara must fall on a weekday and before noon. A plan that slips into the afternoon ends, without fail, at a closed gate.

Can All Three Be Done in a Day?

They can, but the schedule gets tight. Geographically Buffavento counts as sitting between St. Hilarion and Kantara; being in the middle does not mean being close. Since the first two are in the western and central parts of the Kyrenia area, a car setting off early in the morning can finish both by noon. Kantara, however, is at the Iskele-Karpaz entrance, and getting there demands a separate half day. Reversing the order also makes sense: Buffavento in the morning, St. Hilarion in the afternoon. The first has no shade and a long climb, while at the second the 16:30 last entry leaves a wider time margin. Whoever insists on a single day is squeezed by the clock from both ends: Kantara opens at 10:00, St. Hilarion admits its last visitor at 16:30, and in between stand the Buffavento climb and close to 150 kilometres of road. That said, there is a more relaxed arrangement spread over two days: St. Hilarion and Buffavento on day one, and Kantara as a roadside stop on day two, on the way out to Karpaz. And what does spreading it over two days cost? Not an extra day, just moving the Karpaz day to a weekday.

Who Should Go to Which Castle

For a family with children the answer is St. Hilarion. It is the castle closest to Kyrenia, its path is the best kept, and since the palace ruins are extensive there are rooms to explore. The castle is said to have inspired Disney, though there is no document to prove it. Buffavento is the place for the visitor willing to sweat for the view; it is not recommended with small children or the elderly, and you carry your own water up from the car park. Kantara is the castle for those heading out to Karpaz and those staying on the Famagusta-Iskele side; anyone trying to get there from Kyrenia leaves half the day on the road. In the summer months there is no shade at any of the three, so the morning hours offer the coolest slot. In the end, the choice among North Cyprus castles comes down to two questions: which day are you free, and how many steps will your knees carry. On a trip that falls at the weekend the options shrink to two, St. Hilarion and Buffavento. Kantara waits until Monday.

We cover St. Hilarion's palace rooms and the climb in detail on our St. Hilarion Castle page; for the day you make Kantara a roadside stop, see the Karpaz Peninsula guide, and for the island's other castles, ancient cities and monasteries, our guide to the historic sites of North Cyprus.