Cyprus. This idyllic island has a reputation as one of the prime relaxation spots in the entire world, with its picture-perfect beaches and luxury hotels. But what doesn’t often come across in the travel advertisements is that Cyprus is also the perfect place to indulge in a spot of exercise. Consider for a moment the rugged mountains, the azure swimming pools and the abundance of golf and tennis locations. And this is without mentioning the excellent diet – Cypriots eat very healthily indeed.
All in all, you’ll be hard-pressed to keep yourself on the sunlounger when there’s all of this activity going on around you. Roll up your sleeves and forsake the gym for one of these fun sports below.
Water sports
The beaches of Cyprus are dotted with water sports resorts, with everything from windsurfing and kitesurfing to scuba diving and snorkelling on offer. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just a beginner, the majority of these resorts can give you advice and lessons as well as equipment hire.
On the west coast of the island, you’ll find Latchi Watersports Centre, one of the largest resorts of its kind in Cyprus. As well as enjoying a huge variety of activities, you’ll also be privileged enough to witness stunning coastline and a sleepy atmosphere in the nearby fishing village.
If you’re staying to the east, Kappari’s Waterfun is the place to go. Their professional instructors are generally bilingual and have an excellent understanding of their customers’ needs – as well as a huge enthusiasm and passion for sporting enjoyment. Activities range from the serious (waterskiing and canoeing) to the pure fun (banana boating and parasailing) so there’s something for everyone.
On land
As well as its water sports, Cyprus is an incredibly popular holiday destination because of its unique landscape. Enormous mountains and rolling hills give New Zealand a run for its money as the most picturesque country in the world. Nestled among the peaks, you’ll find the odd traditional fishing village or crumbling ruin – perfect for walking to.
If hiking isn’t your thing and you’d rather get the blood pumping more quickly, jogging through the narrow and cobbled streets of your local town makes for a refreshing start to the day. Watch out for the heat though – never run in the middle of the day or you’ll put yourself at risk of heat exposure.
For those who have something of a competitive streak, Cyprus is home to a plethora of tennis and golf clubs. These often have very high-quality facilities. Go out for a quick game in the morning before returning to the clubhouse for a healthy breakfast of juicy fruit and freshly-squeezed orange juice.
Recuperation and relaxation
Once you’re done exercising, be sure to reward yourself with a visit to one of Cyprus’s top-quality spas. You’ll find a range of traditional and cutting-edge treatments designed to rejuvenate even the most stressed-out office executive. The perfect way to complete your health-conscious day.
We all know what it’s like – your budget seems under constant pressure, and it’s hard to prevent that from having a negative impact on family life. After all, you’re likely to feel less able to treat everyone to a day out or holidays that allow you to really spend some quality time together. So, the question I’m asking today is, what can you do about it?
The good news is that with a little effort, there are ways to make your budget stretch further – though sometimes you do need to be prepared to put some time in to come up with solutions. As a result, you could uncover some extra cash to spend on quality time with your family – and you might find that the two things actually go hand in hand.
Understand the benefits your employer offers
I think one of the first steps to take is ensuring you understand what benefits are available to you from your employer – or other discounts your job might entitle you too. These days, plenty of companies offer attractive deals or money off certain services, which can really help ease the pressure on your budget.
Sometimes, these things are indirectly related to spending time with your family. For instance, they might offer you a cheap gym membership that will cut your monthly outgoings (provided you previously went to a more expensive sports centre, of course!). You can then put this money towards enhancing family life.
Alternatively, you could get discounts on things like days out or holidays (check out the examples at CSMA Club). The advantage of this is that you’re immediately saving money on spending time with the family, which ensures that it is your family life that directly benefits from your discounts.
Go discount-hunting
When you’ve got a clear picture of what you can expect from your employer, it’s time to start hunting for discounts – within both the (hopefully ample) selection offered by work and the public sphere. Taking the example of CSMA Club, which civil service members can sign up to, there are lots of possibilities for low-cost days out and even holidays.
I’ll talk more about that side of things in a moment, but it’s important to remember that even if those kinds of offers are not readily available to you, there are still ways to divert funds towards family time. Trying to find a cheaper mobile phone contract is often effective, for instance, as can be switching to another utilities provider.
Save on spending time together
To finish off, I’m going to give you a few examples of some of the best ways to save money on spending time together. For example, if as mentioned above you’re a member of the civil service and can join a members club, you can snap up some brilliant discounts on theme park entry.
Children of all ages love theme parks, but they are often an expensive outing. Take the sting out of a trip to somewhere like Alton Towers or Thorpe Park by nabbing up to 40 per cent off entry per person.
Alternatively, see what you can get in the way of holidays. You could save as much as ten per cent on breaks from big names like Virgin and Thomas Cook, while staycations in places such as the Forest of Dean and Devon are another good choice if you fancy having a memorable family holiday without forking out for overseas travel.
Photo credit: limassol
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