While public campsites in Cyprus remain closed for the entire summer, and wild camping is threatened with fines and jail, outdoor enthusiasts have almost no legal options left. Anton Fentorov, a reader of the Cyprus Mail newspaper, rebuked the authorities in a letter published on July 5, 2026. This issue has been discussed on the island for several years.

What is the essence of the claim

The author of the letter calls the decision of the Forestry Department and the Ministry of Tourism to close four of the five Cypriot campsites a “complete failure of management.” According to him, the total closure of sites like Trodos and Platania with simultaneous threats of fines and jail for wild camping does not protect forests, but only shows that the authorities prefer to prohibit people from accessing nature instead of establishing normal management.

Separately, Fentorov mentions a landmark site in Polis: it is being actively modernized. The reader concludes that budget and nature tourism in Cyprus are “practically dead.” Families and young travelers who cannot afford hotels or expensive glamping are cut off from the nature of their own country, he writes.

The author’s main argument is that organized camping sites are not a threat to nature conservation, but a solution. They provide equipped barbecue areas, normal dumpsters and centralized sites where it is easier for the authorities to control what is happening. By closing them, the state, according to Fentorov, only pushes people into uncontrolled camping in the depths of the forest, which increases the risk of accidental fires — exactly what the Forest Department wants to avoid. Instead, the author believes, the authorities should open temporary fire-safe zones for the rest of the season and clearly explain why the state-owned sites are idle and when they will open.

What is really behind this story?

The factual basis of the letter is confirmed. Camping in state forests outside designated areas and without a permit is indeed illegal in Cyprus. The Forest Department recalled that this is punishable by imprisonment for up to a year or a fine of up to 5,000 euros.

In summer, the agency annually records a surge in wild camping in nature conservation areas, for example, in the forests of Akamas, at the Baths of Aphrodite and in the area of the Amorosa Fountain. Officials declare zero tolerance, acting together with the police, the Paphos District Administration and the Hunting and Fauna Service. Bonfires are even more severely punished: after the amendment to the Forest Law of 2025, a fire in a forest or in a two-kilometer zone around it can face up to 12 years in prison or a fine of up to 100,000 euros.

Why are the campgrounds closed?

The site in the eucalyptus grove of Polis, beloved by tourists for decades, has been closed since 2023, awaiting an investor for reconstruction, and the largest mountain campsite in Troodos has not been open for several seasons, and there is no clear opening date.

Back in 2025, the Environmentalist Movement urgently demanded the reopening of key sites and the development of a national ecotourism strategy, pointing out that luxury glamping is growing uncontrollably at closed campsites.

It is worth considering the arguments of the opposite side, which are not in the letter. The authorities are closing sites and tightening regulations, citing the protection of fragile ecosystems, damage from abandoned debris and, above all, the risk of catastrophic forest fires during the dry summer months — for an island with its climate, this is not an abstract threat. How justified is the balance between this caution and the accessibility of nature to humans is a question on which the parties have different answers.

https://lenta.cy/pochti-vse-kempingi-zakryty-gde-vstat-s-palatkoj-i-chto-govorjat-vlasti/