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I am travelling to Republic of Cyprus. I am planning to rent a car in Larnaca and travel to Northern Cyprus as well. I have called several big rental companies (Hertz, Sixt, Europcar) and learned that while it is allowed to drive to Northern Cyprus, neither of those rental companies provide insurance for the rental car. I would have to buy a third-party insurance at the border. In case of an accident or car breakdown I have to organize towing the car from the Northern Cyprus part back to the Republic of Cyprus. And since the insurance is not valid in the Northern Cyprus, I am personally fully liable for any car damage.

  • Has anyone else travelled with a rental car from Republic of Cyprus to Northern Cyprus? Any issues with that? Any recommendations / suggestions on how to handle the insurance? What is the approx price of the insurance?
  • Has anyone experienced any car breakdown / accidents with a rental car from Republic of Cyprus in Northern Cyprus?
  • In general, how safe it is to drive a car from Republic of Cyprus to Northern Cyprus? I assume the car plates are different.
  • Are there any alternatives? Such as taking a bus from Republic of Cyprus and renting a car in Northern Cyprus instead?
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  • Re-opened as the duplicate and its answers did not have the same focus on driving on the other side of the border.
    – Willeke ♦
    Mar 2, 2020 at 18:32
  • You can buy insurance at the border crossings, but not sure if even going is allowed with those companies policies to even take the car across the border. Plates wise no issue, you see lots of Rep of Cyprus plates in Northern Cyprus, it's very safe to drive in too. They do drive on the left side of the road on the whole island which is something you might not be used to. Not putting an answer as I'm not sure about about if you can take a rental car even if you buy insurance at the border.
    – BritishSam
    Mar 4, 2020 at 15:03

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I am answering my own question since I have already done the trip. Unfortunately I cannot shed the light to all the answers, but at least I can answer some of them.

I have rented the car through Europcar. I experienced no issues neither crossing the border nor driving in the Northern Cyprus. I have bought insurance at the border and I think the price was approx 30 euros.

As the comment to this answer points out, it is a good idea to still check up with the rental agency if the driving is allowed. I remember calling Europcar branch I was renting the car from. And they confirmed that they do not restrict driving in the North.

I did not experience any issues driving /parking -wise with cyprian plates. However, as far as I recall driving in bigger cities (e.g. Girne) is a bit more chaotic than in Republic of Cyprus.

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    For others reading this: be careful with the international rental agencies, as I noticed that almost all of them explicitly prohibit crossing the border, even with insurance. When we went (Dec 2019) we used cyprus-car.com (Fontana rental agency) and they explicitly do allow driving in the north. Our insurance was 20 euros at the border. When we got a flat tire in the north, it was reassuring to be able to contact the agency knowing that we were allowed to be driving there.
    – knowah
    Mar 5, 2020 at 11:46

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