LCA-Spot1
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September 14, 2014Larnaca Intl. Airport Spotting Guide
- last modified on September 29, 2026
Larnaca International Airport is Cyprus’ main international gateway and the larger of the country’s two commercial airports, the other being Paphos International Airport on the island’s south western coast. The airport has one primary passenger terminal. Departures are accommodated on the upper level, while arrivals at the ground level. A second “VIP terminal” also exists, which is used for visiting Heads of State, some private aviation, and for cargo.
Larnaca Airport is used as a hub by passengers travelling between Europe and the Middle East. The status of Cyprus as a major tourist destination means that air traffic has steadily risen to over 4 million passengers a year. This is double the capacity the airport was first designed for. For this reason, a tender was put out in 1998 to develop the airport further and increase its capacity
The traffic at LCA is busy between late March and early November. Mostly European charters, especially from Germany, the Scandinavian’s and the UK. There is quite a bit of traffic from the Middle East, as well as considerable traffic from Israel. All year around you can come across some very interesting cargo and military traffic on a weekly basis.
Written by Jeremy Denton. Last update September 2026 – Spot 7 added by Jürgen
| Rating | |
| Movements |  |
| Airline Variety | |
| Photo Locations |  |
| Weather |  |
| Airport Information | |
| Runways | |
| 04/22 | 2.980 m (9.777 ft) Concrete |
| Terminals | One for all flights |
| Spotting Information | |
| Ladder | Not needed. |
| Car/Public Transport | Car is not required but could be useful to get around. You can do mostly by foot. |
| Drinks/Food | Many options at Mackenzie Beach. |
| Hotels | We recommend “The Island Boutique Hotel” with fantastic views. Check spot 6 for more details. |
| Season | Durinig the summer holiday season from late March until early November. |
| Runway Usage | |
| 04/22 | 95% of the time is rwy22 arrivals & departures it’s really rare to see 04 to be used. |
 |
Spot #1 – Beach – 22 Arrivals and departures |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Alternative 1: From Mackenzy Beach just walk towards the airport fence, one of them goes into the water. Be aware that a stop sign is mentioned “forbidden to pass”. Passing by is your own risk. Just walk around the fence through the water (by 11h it will reach your knees) and continue walking all along the beach airport fences until you reach the spotting locations mentioned on the maps. You’ll pass by another “critical” point which is at the rwy22 threshold. In the early morning you’ll walk on the sands but by 11h you’ll have to walk on top of the rocks or through the water which is as high as your mid-legs.
Alternative 2: From the airport, take highway B4 direction West for about 2 minutes. Exit the highway on the left, stay on this road called “Archiepiskopou Makariou III”, than take the first road on left “Meneou – Pervolia” you’ll pass next to a Tennis Academy, go strait until you can turn on the left. There is a small concrete way along the sea. Drive about 10 minutes direction the Water Treatment Plant. Then the concrete road is finish, continue on the gravy way next to the sea for 3 minutes. Park your car anywhere at this point and walk the rest along the beach until you see a stop sign at the perimeter fence. |
| WHAT | Arrivals and line-up rwy 22. |
| TIME | From sunrise until late noon. |
| MISC. | Bring with you what you need. No available shades, please only stay next to the fence when you have to take pictures otherwise please move to the beach.
The police have been absolutely superb but advised due to health and safety grounds and jet blast you can’t photograph or be past the stop sign on the airside perimeter Road. Just keep a low profile by staying at the beach and only move when you have to photograph. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 18-300mm |
 |
Spot #2 – Purification Plant – 22 departures |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Use the same direction as for spot 1 “from the airport” but don’t drive all the way to the beach. Instead turn left by following the signs to the purification plant. From there continue on the dirt path as marked on the map to reach an open field where you can stay. |
| WHAT | Departures rwy22 |
| TIME | From sunrise until late noon. |
| MISC. | Bring with you what you need. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 200-300mm |
 |
Spot #3 – Hill – Apron 24 stands |
|---|---|
| WHERE | From point 1, returned to the airport direction. Take the highway B4 direction East, continue strait to the Larnaca Salt Lake, pass the roundabout then you’ll see on your right a hill with some trees. Park your car next to road. Climb the hill take your pictures and leave. Don’t stay to long at this spot (recommended, due to highway traffics and police won’t be agree to stay at this area). |
| WHAT | Static aircraft can be taken from the hill, be careful about heat haze on hot days. |
| TIME | From afternoon until sunset in the summer. Almost no light on this side during the winter months. |
| MISC. | Bring with you what you need. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-400mm |
 |
Spot #4 – Mackenzy Beach – 22 arrivals |
|---|---|
| WHERE | From spot 3, continue strait and take the first road on the right “Piale Pasa” then right to the roundabout and find a park for your car. Finally, walk to the Mackenzie Beach and stay where you want along the see. By taxi from the airport it costs you EUR 20.-.
We recommend you to stay at the Gregory’s bar from where you’ll enjoy spotting with all needed facilities (drinks, foods, toilets, shower, etc.). |
| WHAT | Arrivals on rwy 22. |
| TIME | From afternoon until sunset in the summer. Almost no light on this side during the winter months. In the very early morning hours the light is good for the holding point. |
| MISC. | Drinks and foods are available on restaurant and bar. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | B735 = 240mm / C130 = 220mm / DC8 = 150mm |
 |
Spot #5 – Terminal – Apron |
|---|---|
| WHERE | When you are inside the terminal and you pass the security find places to take pictures, it’s really easy. |
| WHAT | You can have the possibility to have great shot from windows inside the terminal. |
| TIME | From afternoon until sunset in the summer. Almost no light on this side during the winter months. |
| MISC. | Drinks and foods are available on restaurant and bar. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 18-300mm |
 |
Spot #6 – The Island Boutique Hotel – 22 Arrivals |
|---|---|
| WHERE | This The Island Boutique Hotel is located in Mackenzy area and is a good opportunity to take photos right from the rooms balcony. It gives almost unobstructed view to the approach path, especially from the higher floors. All the rooms face the sea and approach path. The hotel has its private beach and a pier from which aircraft can also be observed. |
| WHAT | Arrivals on rwy 22. |
| TIME | From afternoon until sunset in the summer. Almost no light on this side during the winter months. |
| MISC. | Everything is available in hotel room. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 150-300mm |
 |
Spot #7 – Herodotou Tennis – 04 Arrivals |
|---|---|
| WHERE | From the terminal head west on B4. At the roundabout keep turn left and then right again moving towards Kiti. After a view hundres meters turn left on F401 towards Medieval Tower/Beach Faros/The lighthouse villas. After about 1km you see on your left the entrance to the Herodotou Tennis Academy. Park your car there. The spot is located in the neighbouring field to the south-east. Choose your preferred position depending on desired angle. |
| WHAT | Arrivals on rwy 04. |
| TIME | Sunrise till afternoon. |
| MISC. | Nothing around, bring whatever you need. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 150-300mm |
Thanks to Jürgen for providing us pictures for this spot:
I have a proposal for a new spot for arrivals on 04. To whom shall I send descriptions and photos?
Hi Jürgen,
thanks for reaching out to us. Please send the pictures and description via mail: support@spotterguide.net
Hi, I will be in Larnaca on October 13th between 10-1430 I want to go to a spot one and if I do, it will be via McKenzie Beach, my only concern is backlit, how far do I have to walk down after passing defense to not have backlit shots? Basically to be on the other side of the plane compared to McKenzie Beach and is that the spot where I have to run back after because it’s too close or something.
just follow the beach for a few hundred meters along the fence and you get easily to point 1
I used spot 1,4 & 5 during my recent visit to LCA. No hassle from authorities at spot 1 but heeded the advice of keeping a low profile and didn’t venture down to the threshold unless there was a departure I wanted (to try and avoid heat haze), got my shot and went back. Spot 4, I strongly suggest South Coast Speciality Coffee’s terrace as the aircraft are lovely and flat from there. Also if you ask nicely they don’t mind caring for your camera equipment if you want to have a dip in the water. Finally, spot 5 in the terminal, there is an Aegean lounge now at the end of the terminal pier (where I think the Egyptair Express example was taken and thus I’m not convinced you can get that angle now. However, there are two large windows facing East (gate 46) (good for the afternoon) and West (gate 26) (good for the morning). Happy to share some shots if you want to update.
I’m in Larnaca at the moment and have been spotting early morning at spot one. The police have been absolutely superb but advised due to health and safety grounds and jet blast you can’t photograph or be past the stop sign on the airside perimeter Road. I have photos of what sign I mean and you can still get runway shots on the raised part before this sign. The officer today even checked with his operational team and this was confirmed. Still a good spot until 12:30.
Hi Gareth, would you be so kind and send me some photos and the GPS coordinates for the stop sign for spot 1 to support@spotterguide.net please.
-Julian
Hello, I’ve been spotting for a week in Larnaca now and police have not been so superb with me. They told me I can’t take pictures on the beach at spot 1 and that I should go back to the start of the fence. Only option I had was to stay hidden behind the 40cm grass when they passed(they take about 1-2 hours to pass) so they didn’t kick me out again.
Hello Chris!
Thanks for writing this article!
Idk if it is okay for 2020 year, but l will check your information
Can we please move this under European airports? It bothers me that an EU airport/country is listed as in the Middle East. I’m from Cyprus and most Cypriots would disagree with this categorization.
We use this as our reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East so we keep it as it is.
-Julian
Do you really trust Wikipedia over so many other more trustworthy sources? Even if you insist on Wikipedia, here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe under states and territories, Cyprus is listed 11th from the top.
I was just wondering, why I can not find Cyprus in the Europe locations – could it be that there is no spotter guide for Cyprus? So I used Google search for it and found it here…but of course, it is Europe and should be in the Europe locations…
We are using the geographical locations for the countries and in this case Cyprus belongs to the middle east. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East
-Julian
Can anyone here write please the coordinates of spot 1?
I want to know how to get by car to this place.
I’m planning a visit next week.
Thanks.
34.875121, 33.636017
Open a new goolge map and then right click on the location, select “whats here” and you will see the coordinates.
-Julian
Thanks for the quick response, but I have a problem.
When I try to check the route from the airport or from the hotel to this place, it can not find results:
”Sorry, you can not calculate driving directions from Larnaca International Airport, Larnaca, Cyprus’ to Larnaca Unnamed Road”.
So I don’t know how to get there by car.
Do you understand my question / problem?
Have you read our description above? “Then the concrete road is finish, continue on the gravy way next to the sea for 3 minutes.”
A navigation system don´t show you the way on this dirt road. Head for the “BEACH FOR DOGS” and decide by yourself how far you wanna drive with the car.
But usually you can drive until the position where we set the parking icon.
-Julian
Many thanks.
Following the previous question:
I see ”BEACH FOR DOGS” very close.
I hope this map helps me.
Please check it for me:
https://goo.gl/maps/dS9DCdzySmK2
Thanks a lot.
Eli.
Not possible to join point 4 to point 1 by walk via the beach, there is a fence till over the water.
Thanks for the great guide.
I have a question:
Is it possible to get on foot from the Flamingo Beach Hotel to Spot #1?
Great guide, just booked ! 🙂
Just a question, is it possible to join from point 4 to point 1 by walk via the beach?
Thanks !
Cédric
Hi Cedric. It is possible to walk from spot 4 to 1, though i would`nt recommend to do so. Despite getting some wet feet, the bigger problem will be the airport security and the police as they dont like people underneath the approach path. Spot 1 might be critical in general. Last year i was immediately asked to leave, whilst in years before they´ve tolerated my presence when i told them that i walked from the back and wont move from this point closer to the approach.