Contrary to what you might expect, Cyprus is not fully of broad sandy beaches. There are a few, but they are generally small, and completely destroyed with people. Particularly in the southern part of the island, the beaches are very developed (perhaps overly so), with food stands, sunbeds, and umbrellas (all for a price) covering every precious inch of any available sand.
Golden Beach is just before Apostolos Andreas and is utterly spectacular. It is big, broad, and sandy, with just a few sunbeds and umbrellas (and no one charging for them?) and crystal clear water. It is probably one of the nicest beaches I have ever seen, and there is very little built anywhere near it. There is a reason it is relatively deserted, and that’s because arriving here is a time consuming feat– two hours on a small highway followed by 45 minutes on a poorly maintained road, dodging large potholes every 300 feet or so.
We had packed a full picnic and a lot of gear, but because of all the sand we had to park fairly far from the water. This would normally not be a problem, but this past weekend was one of the hottest we’ve experienced since being in Cyprus. Within a minute of walking toward the beach, the sand got caught between my sandals and my feet and BURNED. I pressed on but at one point it began to hurt so bad I stopped, wondering if I should run toward the beach or give up and go back to the car. I decided to press on, and once we found a decent spot I dropped everything and sprinted into the water to soothe my feet. Poor Severin was still a ways back lugging a very heavy Coleman cooler.
We set up our beach tent, which we had bought at Costco before coming here but hadn’t yet used, because Cyprus doesn’t really have a DIY beach culture. The tent ended up working great and was probably the only thing that made the heat tolerable. We alternated huddling in the tent with long dips in the water, which was still cool and refreshing despite the heat.
We will definitely be back to Golden Beach, but probably not until September or early October once the weather has cooled down. I am very sensitive to the heat, and though we had a great time the beach is borderline unpleasant in 110+ degree heat. I will be bringing some trash bags the next time I come, too, as the beach was full of litter. I pulled at least 5-6 pieces of trash out of the water immediately in front of our tent, and there was much more further down the beach.