I'm going to Cyprus (the southern, Greek part) and believe it is now possible to venture north into the Turkish-run zone as well. Has anyone here ever been to Northern Cyprus? If so, what's it like compared to the south, and what should I look out for in terms of things to see?

I found this for you Colin. It has a number of FAQ about Cyprus.

When we went to Cyprus about 5 years ago, you could freely cross from the south to the north but they wouldn't let you back in again!

Seems to be a bit more lenient now.

Mrs FP has just been in Northern Cyprus. [Cue motive? There's no extradition treaty from Northern Cyprus. Must check the accounts here ! ] She was only working so can't help much about sights. However she reports a) that the people have little or no idea about service, if her 'good' hotel is anything to go by. They are pleasant enough but didn't seem to have grasped the idea of thinking a bit ahead about what a customer might want or expect.They haen't had a tourist industry and so the staff are well-meaning but a bit 'lost'and untrained. She was tolerant enough to fetch everything herself, after they've looked blankly at her, but it can be a little irritating when you realise just how expensivethe drinks etc are. This defect was there in all matters.(b) she was paying almost South of France top price for drinks, even soft drinks, in the hotel and around("It was good practice for the Cannes Film Festival", she said, "except that even in the Farfalla (a bar opposite the Palais de Festivals ) you get served eventually and without fetching the order yourself at the third go !" (c) the region was empty so it was quiet . (d) property prices were very low.If so minded you could buy 'palatial' for very little The area seemed ripe for that.It must have growth potential.(d) it would be a great place for film location because it's empty, quiet, old in parts etc [All right, this might not be your interest, only hers ]

To us Northern Cyprus is synonymous with refugees from British courts (see above )It bids fair to be the next Costa del Crime now that the Spanish authorities are less hospitable to the Mr Bigs of reputedly doubtful activity. (None of that affects the tourist. Crime rates for petty crime do not seem to be a concern there)

Southern Cyprus is another matter, or should be. It has a long -established tourist industry.

For things to see,you could look out for my father-in-laws beautiful house by the sea,his small hotel and restaurant,all lost in 1974.
Also take a look at what is left of the city of Famagusta.
Here is the tourist board image of city
and
Here is how the city looked and parts of it still look after the 1974 turkish invasion.
What they don't seem very keen to mention in the tourist website is that there are still parts of Famagusta that are a 'Ghost Town',parts that are boarded up,left exactly as they were when the people of the city moved out just in the clothes they had on,thinking it be a temporary move,but never to return.
I don't mean this to sound as if you shouldn't visit the north, I went myself with my husband and children last year.
Although we holiday regularly in Southern Cyprus it was the first time he had been to Northern Cyprus since the invasion.He was born in the UK but as a child and teenager spent ever summer holiday in the village both his parents were born in,and where his father had, after making his living in the UK, had decided to retire and build his family a holiday home and business.Unfortunately he never got to live in the house as it was barely finished in 1974.
(It is now occupied by a Turk who owns a large gaudy looking casino outside of Famagusta )
The trip was very emotional for my husband and also for myself and the kids who had spent all their life hearing stories about the village.We were able to recognise places straight away from all the old shaky cine film images we had watched over the years!
I have been told that the reason why property is so cheap (and potential buyers beware)is that a lot of the houses that were previously Greek owned may be reverted back to Greek ownership if there is ever a settlement.
I had always been fascinated with Famagusta,ever since I first went to Cyprus on my honeymoon and had stood on the top of an old school building on the southern side of the border,using binoculars to see distant views of the city,hearing the stories of how it had just been abandoned and how shops and house had been left exactly as they were for what is now 30 years. To go to the city was a very strange experience, you can still see buildings in the so called Ghost Town with scores of bullet holes in the sides of them. Many Greek Cypriots were reticent at first to visit the North but have slowly come around to the idea,many visit but refuse to spend any money,not wanting to give anything to the people they see as taking their homes away from them. Although we understand they feelings we felt this was not our view,and had something to drink in a small cafe.The prices were very cheap,but from what Mrs FP has experienced that has possibly changed.
Unfortunately my Father in law never got to see his home again as he passed away last year,the children had brought home some stones from the beach in the village and we put these in his grave so he would always have a part of the village with him,my mother in law is too old to travel such a distance,and would find it too upsetting. Sorry to go on so much ! There is a fair sized Greek Cypriot community in Southampton of which my father in law was a founder, so I have spent the past twenty years listening to peoples stories of Cyprus and can't help feeling something. Most Cypriots realise that terrible things that happened to Greeks and Turks alike and still hope for some resolution to the problem, but whether this is likely to happen I really don't know.
Viv

How very sad, Viv. Thank you so much, however, for sharing all of this with us. I admire your pragmatism and generosity of spirit. We can all learn from this, I feel.
Ritz. (x)

Viv, I can only echo Ritzmar's thoughts: how very sad.
My own interest is less personal but an involvement nonetheless. You see, I studied at university in England, graduating in 1972. Two days after I left my wife and I were married in Carlisle (UK) and my best man was a fellow-student from Leicester. Then three weeks later, he was married himself (to a Greek Cypriot girl) and moved to Limassol (Cyprus) straight away.
Shortly afterwards came the Makarios/Sampson business. My firend was working as a DJ for the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation at the time of the subsequent Turkish invasion and was in Nicosia. He really did not think he'd ever see his wife again. My own wife and I were living in Herne Hill (London) at the time, tuning in to the radio each hour for the news, desperate to know what had happened. Then came his telegram telling us that they were alive.
Limassol is somewhat removed from the main focus of the situation/invasion at that time and we visited there in 1975. There were hundreds of refugees in tents - families, students who'd had to give up their whole futures, people who'd been given ten minutes to load their live's possessions on to the back of a truck before being shipped to the south of the island. I met one 17 year old (Despoula) who's obtained some humdrum low-paid seasonal job and had now given up her hopes of university. Her parents were growing fruit outiside their tent so they could sell it by the roadside and earn some money on which to exist. "Sit down," they said. "Have something to drink". And we sat down and we drank - things we knew they could not afford to give us - for Greek hospitality is renowned. (There's more to this story but I won't bore you with it here). We were there too for the first anniverary of the July 20 invasion. I remember standing in silence with thousands of others in the centre of Nicosia. It was very moving.
I've returned twice to Cyprus since then, saddened now at the amount of concrete there is in southern Cyprus now. My friend's father-in-law was married to a Cypiot Turk, now she's dead. And now I'm going back, on holiday this time and again this time with my wife, her first visit to the island in 31 years.
As for my university friend, well he lives in Larnaca now, and tells us that people can now go and visit the north. I'd like to see Famagusta - or wht's left of it. I remember the pre-74 tales of hotels there that cast their shadows over the beach - and I want too to see where Laurence Durrell lived - and to see Kyrenia. My friend had a record released years ago in Cyprus that had a photograph of Kyrenia harbour on the front cover. The title was emotive though: "It Was An Island".
I never went to the north of Cyprus before the split, but I love what I've seen of the south. And I love the people. The situation is so sad. Thank you Viv, for the memories.

Well I'm back from Cyprus but didn't actually make it to the North. Unfortunately, the car we hired at Larnaca Airport wasn't insured for driving in the Turkish part of the island and this is probably true of all the mahor car-hire companies. It seems the best thing to do is to walk across the Green Line at the Ledra Palace Hotel and hire a taxi once you're there (taxis are cheap in Cyprus).
I found Limassol flourishing: all the concrete I remembered from earlier visits has been reshpaed into whatt has become a vibrant city, and the ribbon-development along the coast eastawrds is a great success, involving land reclaimed from the sea (as in Larnaca) and genuine five-star hotels. Cypriot hospitality remains amazing, and now that 'coffee culture' has arrived it's not just Cyptiot coffee or instant coffee that's on offer. The suunbathing's not basd either!

This was a good thread. In ten days time I'm going back to Cyprus (the southern, Greek part) where I have a lunch-date with a Cypriot girl I know in Limassol, who plans to tell me all about the situation vis-à-vis the North today, now that the political scene has shifted on both sides of the Island. Has anyone else ventured acrooss the border receently?
Also, we plan to drive over to Paphos in the west, which I've heard has declined somewhat as a place of interest since the tourist trade has taken over. Can anyone confirm this? I have very fond memories of Paphos and the pelicans...