Limassol (Lemessos in Greek) is Cyprus's second city and its main port — a busy, modern place that manages to combine industrial significance with a genuinely pleasant old town, a long seafront, and some of the best day-trip archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean. Most visitors use it as a base for reaching Kourion, Kolossi Castle, and Ancient Amathous rather than as a destination in itself, but the city rewards a couple of days of its own.
The historic centre clusters around Limassol Castle, a Lusignan and Venetian fortification containing Cyprus's best medieval museum. The surrounding old quarter has kept more character than much of the island — traditional kafeneia where old men play backgammon, narrow lanes lined with Cypriot and Ottoman-era buildings, and the Folk Art Museum on Agiou Andreou Street. The Old Harbour nearby is best in the evenings when fishing boats return.
The seafront promenade stretches for several kilometres east of the old town, taking in the Limassol Sculpture Park and the Molos coastal park. Lady's Mile, west of the city, is the best beach in the immediate area — long, relatively undeveloped, and good for windsurfers and birdwatchers. Because Limassol is less dominated by package tourism than Ayia Napa or Paphos, it has kept more of its local character: meze restaurants in Germasogia, wine cellars in the old town, and the popular Cyprus Wine Festival each September in the municipal gardens.