www.talkcyprus.org

[bmwallace]

Hey there!

My fiancee and I will be honeymooning in Cyprus in October and we will be staying in a villa in Northern Cyprus. We have friends that are letting us borrow an auto and I am wondering if we will have any problems visiting Southern Cyprus with the borrowed vehicle?

Also, what is the best way to manage our money when we are there. I have heard that traveler's cheques aren't the way to go and that for the most part vendors will take payment in Turkish Lira, Sterling, or US Dollars? Are there cash machines around Northern Cyprus that can be easily accessed?

Looking forward to visiting this beautiful island that I have been learning so much about over the last few months.

We will be staying near Esentepe and would welcome any ideas regarding places to visit or tips to keep in mind while we are there.

Efcharisto! Cok Tesekkur ederim!

:)

[erolz]

bmwallace wrote: Hey there!

My fiancee and I will be honeymooning in Cyprus in October and we will be staying in a villa in Northern Cyprus. We have friends that are letting us borrow an auto and I am wondering if we will have any problems visiting Southern Cyprus with the borrowed vehicle?

Provided the vehicle is in good condition (ie no lights missing etc) you will have no problem crossing in it. You will need to buy insurance for the south at the border.

bmwallace wrote:
Also, what is the best way to manage our money when we are there. I have heard that traveler's cheques aren't the way to go and that for the most part vendors will take payment in Turkish Lira, Sterling, or US Dollars? Are there cash machines around Northern Cyprus that can be easily accessed?

Yes most shops will take sterling TL dollars cyprus pounds and euros. There are plenty of cash point machines around from which you can withdraw local currency and even a few that allow you to withdraw dollars and sterling as well as YTL. You might want to check what charges and rates your UK bank uses for such foreign currency withdrawls though. I recommend getting a nationwide account myself as they do not charge and use money markets rates - this is simple the best way of drawing local currency from a UK account - not just in the north but anywhere outside the UK (my lloydstsb account by comparision charges £2 and uses uncompetetive rates as well as this charge)

[Dhavlos]

erolz wrote: bmwallace wrote: Hey there!

My fiancee and I will be honeymooning in Cyprus in October and we will be staying in a villa in Northern Cyprus. We have friends that are letting us borrow an auto and I am wondering if we will have any problems visiting Southern Cyprus with the borrowed vehicle?

Provided the vehicle is in good condition (ie no lights missing etc) you will have no problem crossing in it. You will need to buy insurance for the south at the border.

but if you hold a 'foreign' (not Turkish Cypriot or Greek Cypriot) passport, wont you be considered entering through an illegal port?

[bmwallace]

erolz wrote:
Provided the vehicle is in good condition (ie no lights missing etc) you will have no problem crossing in it. You will need to buy insurance for the south at the border.

Do you know approximately how much insurance would cost? Also, I believe I need to get insurance for the vehicle in the north as well? Is there somewhere online for me to check for both?

erolz wrote:
Yes most shops will take sterling TL dollars cyprus pounds and euros. There are plenty of cash point machines around from which you can withdraw local currency and even a few that allow you to withdraw dollars and sterling as well as YTL. You might want to check what charges and rates your UK bank uses for such foreign currency withdrawls though. I recommend getting a nationwide account myself as they do not charge and use money markets rates - this is simple the best way of drawing local currency from a UK account - not just in the north but anywhere outside the UK (my lloydstsb account by comparision charges £2 and uses uncompetetive rates as well as this charge)

I am from the US, is a nationwide account something that is only used for UK banks or can I use it with a US account too?

Also, I have a US driver's license. Will that be accepted for me to drive the vehicle in Cyprus?

Thanks a lot for all the help. I really appreciate being able to ask these questions to prepare for our journey.

-bmwallace

[bmwallace]

Dhavlos wrote:
but if you hold a 'foreign' (not Turkish Cypriot or Greek Cypriot) passport, wont you be considered entering through an illegal port?

My fiancee and I both have US passports so that shouldn't be a problem from what I hear.

Can someone confirm?

thanks!

-bmwallace

[erolz]

bmwallace wrote: Do you know approximately how much insurance would cost? Also, I believe I need to get insurance for the vehicle in the north as well? Is there somewhere online for me to check for both?

If you are using a 'borrowed' car in the north it should already be insured for the legal requirement of third party cover (damage to other people and property) by the person you are borrowing it for, though you should check with the person you are borrowing it from as to if you need to be added as a named driver or not. Insurance cover for taking it to the south is not that expensive - I believe it is currently cyp60 for a years cover and you can get shorter periods for less. One thing to mention is that hire cars from the north are not allowed to cross to the south. Hire cars from the south can cross to the north.

bmwallace wrote:
I am from the US, is a nationwide account something that is only used for UK banks or can I use it with a US account too?

Sorry I assumed that you were coming from the UK. The Nationwide is a building society (essentially a mutual bank) in the UK. Of all the UK banks it offers the best deal on withdrawing foreign currency cash while overseas. I do not know what if anything US banks charge their customers for this or if they use competitive exchange rates or not. Sorry.

bmwallace wrote:
Also, I have a US driver's license. Will that be accepted for me to drive the vehicle in Cyprus?

There should not be any problem with you US licence in either the north or south.

[erolz]

bmwallace wrote: Dhavlos wrote:
but if you hold a 'foreign' (not Turkish Cypriot or Greek Cypriot) passport, wont you be considered entering through an illegal port?

My fiancee and I both have US passports so that shouldn't be a problem from what I hear.

Can someone confirm?

thanks!

-bmwallace

As I understand things in strict technical terms you could be prosecuted in the south if you enter Cyprus from the north and then cross to the south. The law in the south making this illegal still exists. What happened with EU entry of the Republic of Cyprus is that the Republic of Cyprus agreed with the EU that they would not prosecute any EU citizens under this law - as to do was was in conflict with the freedom of movement requirements of the EU.

The reality is that there has been no cases of US (or NZ, or Australian) nationals being stopped or prosecuted under this law since it joined the EU. There HAVE been cases of people that are not EU nationals being prosecuted in the south under this law since EU entry, but these have always to date been people from 'less powerful, less white' countries than the US and the like.

To be honest the whole situation is messy and unclear. In practical terms my NZ partner crosses to the south regularly and has only ever been told once that she can not do so (and even then they changed their minds after 25 mins of arguing / waiting).

Here are some cyprus mail stories related to the whole issue.

The most recent and relevant is prob this one

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=27620&archive=1

Some other ones are

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=14150&archive=1

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=20182&archive=1

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=15681&archive=1

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=14702&archive=1

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=15842&archive=1

The bottom line is the whole situation is a mess. There seems to be little or no will on the part of the Republic of Cyprus government to sort out the mess, despite various Republic of Cyprus judges calling for such. It is indisputable that the law is being applied in a random (and prob racist) way and this in itself undermines the law. My guess is that the Republic of Cyprus government likes to keep the uncertainty in place and does not want to risk the political fall out of changing it.

I do not want to worry you overly. As I say I know of non EU nationals that cross to the south having entered Cyprus from the North on a regular basis and without problem. However I think it is only fair to explain that there is a risk - all be it by current practice and experience a very remote one. The bottom line is that as US citizens the chances of this 'law' being applied to you is vastly smaller than if you were say pakistani or georgian nationals. You could seek advice from a Republic of Cyprus embassy / consulate in the US but I have no doubt they will just tell you that it is illegal for you to enter Cyprus via the north for they want to keep the north as isolated as they can (in contravention to UN and EU policy on such things) and regardless of nay reality down on the ground. Sorry I could not be of more help.

[bmwallace]

erolz wrote: You could seek advice from a Republic of Cyprus embassy / consulate in the US but I have no doubt they will just tell you that it is illegal for you to enter Cyprus via the north for they want to keep the north as isolated as they can (in contravention to UN and EU policy on such things) and regardless of nay reality down on the ground. Sorry I could not be of more help.

That information did help, thank you very much.

In regards to insurance. If I wanted to purchase auto insurance for the north and the south just to be safe (I don't want the kind person that is letting us use their car to have any worries), where would I purchase the insurance? We will actually be flying into Larnaca and we have someone picking us up that will drive us to Esentepe that evening. Can we just purchase insurance around where we will be staying or should we travel to Nicosia to purchase the insurance? Is there a web site or someone that we could contact ahead of time to get some idea of what it would cost for a weeks worth of comprehensive insurance on the vehicle?

Sorry that I have so many questions, I want to make sure that we get as many questions answered before we arrive.

Thanks again for all of your assistance. Maybe someday I will be able to repay your kindness!

Thanks

bmwallace

[erolz]

bmwallace wrote: That information did help, thank you very much.

You are welcome

bmwallace wrote:
In regards to insurance. If I wanted to purchase auto insurance for the north and the south just to be safe (I don't want the kind person that is letting us use their car to have any worries), where would I purchase the insurance? We will actually be flying into Larnaca and we have someone picking us up that will drive us to Esentepe that evening. Can we just purchase insurance around where we will be staying or should we travel to Nicosia to purchase the insurance? Is there a web site or someone that we could contact ahead of time to get some idea of what it would cost for a weeks worth of comprehensive insurance on the vehicle?

Try this link for a list of north cyprus insurance agents.

http://turkishcyprus.com/businesscentre-financial-services-insurancecompanies.html

I personally recommend "Gunes Sigorta". Try and give them a ring and they should be able to help you out.

bmwallace wrote:
Sorry that I have so many questions, I want to make sure that we get as many questions answered before we arrive.

Thanks again for all of your assistance. Maybe someday I will be able to repay your kindness!

Thanks

bmwallace

No problem and once again you are welcome.

[city]

Shouldn't Xenos 2Fan be able to give more advise regarding traveling on a US passport?

Tufan, where are you? :-)

[brother]

Hi bmwallace and welcome to the forum :welcome:

[bmwallace]

Thanks Brother, look forward to visiting your beautiful island!

-B