Kyperounta to host Apple Festival

Just before the fruit-picking season comes to a close, a village festival honours the versatile apple. Kyperounta accounts for about 75 per cent of the apple production in Cyprus thanks to its high altitude and cool climate. And every October the village pays tribute by organising the annual Apple Festival. It is one of the most vibrant traditional festivals on the island, where visitors can see, eat and smell apples in all their glory.

This year, the 18th Apple Festival is returning on October 8-9 after a two-year gap due to the pandemic and it is back with more ideas, more participants, and a more vibrant entertainment programme.

The festival will include, as usual, an open-air market featuring seasonal apples, traditional products, fresh apple juice, apple pies, apple cider vinegar, and many more products. There will also be an apple-themed art exhibition and an exhibition of all varieties of apples grown in Cyprus, along with apple byproducts. Experienced locals will also be preparing the famous apple juice variation of palouze on the spot, along with real-time distillation of zivania from apples too.

The entertainment programme in the village square will start at 3pm on Saturday and at 11am on Sunday. Folkloric dancing from Cyprus and Greece, traditional music from professional artists and an apple recipe tasting competition are also included in the programme.

To add a cultural touch to the experience, organisers encourage visitors to take a walk around the village and visit the local museums and beautiful churches, which will remain open during the two days of the festival. The village boasts exceptional basilicas and chapels, a Cypriot Natural History and Traditional Village Life Museum, and a Museum of historic significance. All while taking in the last of the season’s crisp apples and their various dishes.

Kyperounta Apple Festival

Two-day event with food, music, performance and local produce. October 8-9. Kyperounta village. 11am onwards. Tel: 99-352547, 97-852412