Aprhodite’s Rock,  known as Petra Tou Romiou in Greek, which translated literally means Rock of the Greek, lies on the southern coast of the island of Cyprus.  It’s said to be the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty and sexuality. Unfortunately we were there on our last day in Cyprus and the showers near the beach were out of order, so we weren’t able to verify if swimming around the rock bestows you with eternal beauty.

Aphrodite’s Rock

The Rock is well sign-posted off the motorway between Paphos and Limassol. There’s a car park, with a small shop/cafe and a tunnel under the road for safe passage down to the beach and rock.

Me at Aphrodite’s Rock

I noticed the Petra Tou Romiou restaurant in an elevated position up from the main road and we drove up there for a coffee with a view. However the restaurant was a bit grotty and it was hard to appreciate the view with all the flies on the windows.

About three miles west of Aphrodite’s Rock is a car park with shady picnic benches, toilets, drinking water fountain and a path down to the beach.  There’s only one small sign at the entrance, so it’s easy to miss.

From that car park you can walk in either direction along the Petra Tou Romiou Nature Trail. I’d advise you to walk there either in the early part of the morning or wait until evening, as there’s no shade on the walk.

View from Petra Tou Romiou Nature Trail

When we were there is mid March there were lots of wild flowers along the nature trail.

A visit to Aphrodite’s Rock/Petra Tou Romiou is a great day trip from Paphos. Car hire is pretty cheap is Cyprus, we paid under £70 for a supermini for a week for two drivers and no insurance excess. We found that having our own transport made days out very flexible. Also our flight home didn’t leave Paphos Airport until evening, so were able to make the most of our last day with our visit to Aphrodite’s Rock.