Blue flags for 25 beaches

JUST in time for summer, Cyprus’ beaches have been awarded 25 of the blue flags of excellence which are given out to European beaches every year.

In order to be awarded the prestigious blue flag, beaches must meet 26 criteria in four categories: environmental awareness, environmental action taken, quality of water for swimming and beach safety.

This year a total of 1,927 flags were given to beaches in 19 countries. The number given to Cyprus is up from last year, when 13 beaches were awarded flags out of the 18 entered.

This year’s Cypriot blue flag beaches are: Protaras, Makronisos, Lanta, Nisi and Vathia Gonia in Ayia Napa, Finikoudes and Mackenzie in Larnaca, Aorati-Panayies in Pyrgos, Armonia, Vouppa, Santa Varvara, Loures and Kastella in Ayios Tychon, Dasoudi in Yermasogeia, Pissouri, Pahiammos, Vrysoudia A and B, Alykes and the public beach in Paphos, the public beach and Laoros in Peyia, and the public beach and Lasoudi in Polis Chrysochous.

The official awards ceremony will take place on June 10 in Paphos.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.