During the long summers you may enjoy any of the huge range of watersports offered on the island, which include water skiing, diving, snorkelling, sailing etc. Horse riding is also very popular as is walking, both on the lowlands and mountains. If more leisurely pastimes are more to your liking, Cyprus offers a variety of sandy beaches and rocky coves to laze away the days. In winter, many of the hotels offer up their tennis courts and leisure facilities for a reasonable charge. Horse riding and walking remain popular, and Troodos even offers snow skiing for the more energetic during December to April. Horse racing takes place weekly in Nicosia and a number of other sporting clubs exist which encourage memberships. Eating out has become a local habit and is part of the entertainment in Cyprus. There is a wide variety of restaurants, catering for all tastes. Along with local tavernas which provide local dishes, there are restaurants which offer international cuisine (eg. French, Chinese, Italian, Indian). Prices vary, however, as a generalisation one may quote 40,00 euro for two people at a good restaurant for a three course meal, whereas this is reduced to 30 Euro at a taverna. After dining there is still plenty to do. Night clubs, both European and Cypriot, with good live music, discos and a variety of bars are readily found in all the main towns of the island, and most small towns and large villages have a number of bars. There are six Cypriot/Greek T.V. stations available at the moment, as well as 2/3 local T.V. stations. Approximately 30% of the programmes are broadcast in English and all foreign films are broadcast in their original language, with Greek subtitles. There are also numerous radio stations, which are mainly broadcast in Greek. In addition to these though, is a British Forces Radio which broadcasts on a 24 hour basis in English.
The island offers two independent newspapers printed in English, however all international magazines, national papers and periodicals are available on the island, usually with a delay of only one day from their date of issue.