Cyprus Postal System - Just About Cyprus

The first recorded letter was sent from Famagusta to Constantinople in 1353, during the Venetian occupation.

Cyprus Post

The Department of Postal Services comes under the Ministry of Communications and Works and operates under The Postal Laws Cap.303 and The Regulation of Electronic Communications and Postal Services Law 2004, which is harmonized with the relevant European directives for the provision of postal services (97/67/EC and 2002/39/EC).

Postal Services include traditional services such as letter mail service, parcel service, postage stamps and philatelic service, and postal money orders service.

Also available are the following services:

EMS/Data post courier services
postage paid services
business reply services
delivery of unaddressed items such as leaflets and catalogues
registered and insured mail services
an official franking machine
service for renting private P.O. boxes
cardboard boxes for mailing parcels
bubble padded envelopes for fragile objects
correspondence envelopes for priority mail.

The Refugee Fund Tax Stamp

Every letter, postcard, and parcel has to have an additional refugee postage stamp on it (cost as at December 2014 is 2 cents) for it to enter the sending process.

The proceeds of the refugee stamps go to the refugee fund, i.e., for the Greek Cypriots who became refugees from their homes in the north of Cyprus after the invasion in 1974. See pictures above of the first refugee stamp, and the current issue which was released in 2009.

Cyprus postal services claim they are continually striving to improve all services; however, mail and parcels can still take a long time to be delivered.

Addressing Mail from/to Cyprus

The post office requests that everyone remembers to use the Cyprus postcode to enable mail to be delivered in a reasonable time. The post office also offers these guidelines for customers:

Always use the correct size of envelope based on defined specifications
Give full and correct data of the addressee, do not underline and follow the proper order as follows:
- Full Name
- Full Street Name and Number
- Postcode, Municipality or Community
Write the full data of the sender at the upper left corner or at the back of the envelope
The postcode should be written in the correct way, at the last line before the locality
Do not write the district of destination because it is extracted from the first digit of the postcode
Use readable, normal size roman letters
Do not use Italics, script or Dot Matrix printer
On a window envelope make sure that the address is clearly readable and that nothing else is shown at the window area below the address
Do not print any advertising or any other printing message at the bottom of the envelope
Use always the 5-digit P.O. Box numbers
Pass your full address to those who correspond with you. Advise your partners abroad to use your full and correct address by using in front of the postcode number the international abbreviation of Cyprus (CY)

An address in Cyprus should be presented as follows:

Inbound Cross-Border Mail
Maria Petrou
12 Sokratous str.
CY – 6036 Larnaka

Athanasios Solomou
CY – 8572 Akoursos

Andreas Michael
P. O. Box 56150
CY – 3304 Lemesos

Ministry of Finance
CY – 1439 Lefkosia

Domestic Mail
Maria Petrou
12 Sokratous
6036 Larnaka

Athanasios Solomou
8572 Akoursos

Andreas Michael
P. O. Box 56150
3304 Lemesos

Ministry of Finance
1439 Lefkosia

Download the Cyprus Post Code Directory provided by Cyprus Post which has a lot of information on street names and post office locations (click on the different tabs at the bottom of the excel spreadsheet). This is the updated version as of March 2015.

Cyprus Stamps

The Cyprus Post exerts every effort to respond to the growing number of stamp collectors around the world. In 1981 the Cyprus Postal and Philatelic Museum was opened in Niscosia, where sets of Cyprus stamps and items related to the Cyprus postal history are displayed.

As well as this, the Stamps and Philatelic Service offers quality Cyprus stamps for sale to philatelists, by issuing a limited number of series each year aimed at covering postage revenue, while at the same time projecting through stamps the history, cultural heritage and natural attractions of Cyprus.

Up until December 2009, seven definitive series have been issued consisting of 97 stamps, 157 special commemorative series, totaling 496 stamps, and seven refugee series, featuring seven stamps.

Available to buyers:

New stamp issues
Souvenir sheets
First-day covers
Presentation packs (albums) containing all the stamps issued every year

It was announced in January 2010 that Cypriot Mr. Nikos Rangos, who is President of the Cyprus Philatelic Society, won the world philatelic competition ‘the Maximaphily’ competition with a card and stamp combination depicting Aphrodite and the Cyprus Flag.

It was also announced in May 2010 that a special 51 cent stamp would be issued, depicting Pope Benedict and featuring the pillar of St. Paul in Paphos, Benedict’s first stop when he visits the island on 4th June.

This commemorative Cyprus stamp was issued on the day of the Pope’s arrival in Cyprus, in sheets of six stamps as well as First Day Covers.

In January 2012 the Cyprus Postal Services announced the launch of the new Cyprus Post Website.