Aphrodite Hills Golf (PGA National Cyprus)

Across the gorge, above the sea.

Aphrodite Hills is the course most golfers mean when they talk about Cyprus. Cabell Robinson laid it out on two plateaux above the coast at Kouklia, east of Paphos, split by a ravine that the round has to cross. The resort now plays it under the PGA National Cyprus name, and in 2020 it hosted two European Tour events, the Cyprus Open and the Cyprus Showdown. For a visitor it is simple to book: tee times are sold online, every green fee includes a seat in a buggy, and the hotel, villas and clubhouse sit around the course.

Aphrodite Hills Golf (PGA National Cyprus) green fees and tee times.

Book tee times online through the resort’s Golfmanager page, or email reservations.sports@aphroditehills.com or phone +357 26 828 203. The maximum handicap is 28 for men and 36 for ladies, and the online form asks for yours. The course is buggy-mandatory: each buggy takes two players and two bags, has GPS, and must be driven by someone aged 18 or over. Tee times run at nine-minute intervals and the club may pair you into a four-ball. Cancellation terms are strict and depend on when you booked: a round booked a week out needs 24 hours’ notice, a pre-booking made well ahead needs 30 days, and a no-show is charged in full. Groups of eight or more work to longer notice periods, up to 60 days.

The round, in perspective.

The course opened in 2002 and measures 6,289 metres from the black tees, par 71, with 36 out and 35 home. It plays across two plateaux divided by a ravine, with olive and carob trees framing the fairways and the Mediterranean in view from much of the routing. The 3rd is an uphill par 5 of 573 metres from a black tee perched over the canyon; long hitters can get there in two, and everyone else lays up past the cross bunker. The 7th is the hole people travel for: a par 3 of 210 metres from the back over a 130-metre gorge, where wind funnelled through the ravine makes club choice hard, and the club’s advice is to aim at the left half of a large green. The 8th, a short par 4, has an ancient olive press sitting in the middle of the fairway, hidden from the back tees. The greens and bunkers were rebuilt in a €2.5 million upgrade in 2017, and 40 bunkers have since been relined for drainage and filled with white silica sand.

Know before you go.

Buggy

Mandatory; included in the green fee; driver must be 18+

Handicap

Maximum 28 men, 36 ladies

Tee interval

9 minutes; singles and pairs may be grouped

Dress

Collared shirts; no denim or sports kit

Round time

About 4.5 hours for a four-ball

Under-6s

Not allowed on the championship course

Make the trip work.

Read the rate card before you pick dates. High season is only March, October and November, so a February or April trip saves a little and a December or June trip saves a lot: €140 against €241 for the same round. Twilight starts as early as 11:57 in December and 12:15 in November and January, and the card warns that 18 holes are not guaranteed after that. If you are flying without clubs, a full TaylorMade hire set costs €55. The practice ground is a double-ended range of 350 metres with TrackMan, and a 28-bay TrackMan range sits alongside the PGA National academy and its six-hole course, useful for a short first afternoon after landing.

Paphos International (PFO) is the closest airport, east along the coast road towards Limassol; Larnaca (LCA) is the main alternative and a much longer drive across the island. Most visitors hire a car or take a taxi. Paphos bus route 631 runs from the harbour to Petra tou Romiou via Kouklia and waits at the Aphrodite Hills Hotel on its last run, for €2 a single by day.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. Secret Valley Golf Club (2 km) · 2. Eléa Golf Club (14 km) · 3. Minthis Golf Club (18 km) · Compare all Paphos tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

The resort is built for staying on site. The Aphrodite Hills Hotel offers deluxe, family, swim-up and private-pool rooms plus Aphrodite Suites, and the resort says it has more than 250 properties to rent, up to the four- and five-bedroom villas of the Mythos Collection. The village square, a walk from the clubhouse, has the Pithari Tavern, the Anoi Pub and several other restaurants. If you would rather be in town, Kato Paphos and its harbour have the widest choice of hotels, and you will drive out each morning instead.

Make a trip of it.

Secret Valley is the next valley along, a few minutes by road, and makes the natural second round. Eléa sits just outside Paphos on the way to the airport, and Minthis is up in the hills behind the town at Tsada, so all four Paphos courses fit in a week from one base. Off the course, the sea stack of Petra tou Romiou, Aphrodite’s mythical birthplace, is just down the coast, and the Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Kouklia, part of the Paphos UNESCO World Heritage site, is closer still.

Find your season.

The resort’s own pricing tells you when Cyprus golf is busiest: March, October and November are high season, with spring and late September close behind. The cheaper winter months still bring short days, and the card lists sunset at 16:40 in December. June to mid-September is low season because of the heat, so book early tee times then.