Finikoudes promenade

Larnaca's living room: a palm-lined seafront promenade — 'finikoudes' means the little palms — running along a straight town beach from the marina down to the old fort. It isn't the island's best sand, but it's the best evening in Larnaca. When the heat drops the whole town comes out: kids on scooters, backgammon clacking in the cafés, tables spilling across the boardwalk, the sea going soft and gold. By day you swim off the beach and watch the fishing boats; by night you take a table, order meze, and let the volta — the Cypriot evening stroll — happen around you. Unpretentious and entirely likeable.