# St Barnabas Monastery: Fees, Hours and Half-Day Plan > St Barnabas Monastery is 10 minutes from Famagusta — 150 TL, 08:00-18:00 in summer 2026. The icon museum, the apostle's tomb and the Salamis pairing. - Canonical: https://www.kiprarent.com/en/guide/st-barnabas-monastery/ - Updated: 2026-06-13 - Language: English - Publisher: Kipra Rent A Car — https://www.kiprarent.com/ --- The monastery of the apostle Barnabas stands **8.6 km — 10 to 15 minutes by car — from Famagusta** in 2026 routing data, which makes it the fullest short excursion on the east coast: an icon museum in the monastery church, archaeology rooms around the courtyard, and the tomb chapel where, by tradition, the apostle's relics were found in 478. Entry is **150 TL** under the summer 2026 tariff, hours **08:00–18:00 with last entry at 17:00**, and the honest way to visit is as half of a Salamis pairing rather than a trip of its own. ## What does St Barnabas cost and when is it open? St Barnabas İcon and Archaeology Museum charges **150 TL (students 50 TL)** and opens **08:00–18:00, last entry 17:00**, under the summer tariff of the TRNC Department of Antiquities and Museums (Eski Eserler ve Müzeler Dairesi), valid **1 April to 31 October 2026** — the site is administered by the department, and these are its published official figures, not operator estimates. The same tariff page carries one line worth quoting verbatim: "MÜDÜRLÜĞÜMÜZE BAĞLI MÜZE VE ÖREN YERLERİMİZ PAZAR GÜNLERİ KKTC VATANDAŞLARINA ÜCRETSİZDİR" — museums and sites under the directorate are free for TRNC citizens on Sundays. For visitors that changes nothing — you pay the standard ticket any day — but it explains the busier local crowd if you come on a Sunday. | Site (summer 2026, official tariff) | Hours (last entry) | Adult | Student | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | St Barnabas Monastery (İcon & Archaeology Museum) | **08:00–18:00 (17:00)** | **150 TL** | 50 TL | | Salamis ruins — for the pairing | 08:00–19:00 (18:00) | **150 TL** | 50 TL | No winter schedule is published as of June 2026, so re-check the official page for visits after October. ## What do you actually see inside? Three distinct things, which is more than most single-ticket sites on the island offer. The monastery **church houses the icon museum** — walls of Orthodox icons displayed in the space they were made for. The monks' **cells around the courtyard hold the archaeology rooms**, a compact collection running from Bronze Age pottery onward, arranged room by room around a quiet garden cloister. And a short walk from the main complex stands the **tomb chapel**: steps lead down to the rock-cut chamber venerated as the burial place of the apostle Barnabas. The courtyard itself — shaded, calm, rarely crowded — is the underrated fourth exhibit. Plan roughly an hour to ninety minutes for all of it at an unhurried pace. ## Why does St Barnabas matter to the Church of Cyprus? Because this site is the foundation of that church's independence. Barnabas was a Jewish-Cypriot apostle born in nearby Salamis, a companion of Paul, and is regarded as the founder of the Church of Cyprus. By church tradition, in **478** Archbishop Anthemios was led by a vision to a tomb west of Salamis and found remains identified as Barnabas — with, the account holds, a copy of Matthew's Gospel on the chest. On the strength of the discovery, the Byzantine emperor Zeno confirmed the Church of Cyprus's **autocephaly** — its right to govern itself rather than answer to a patriarch — a status it still holds. The present monastery buildings date mostly from the eighteenth century, and the site operates today as a museum under the TRNC Department of Antiquities. That is the history, told neutrally: an Orthodox holy place, in the north, kept open to everyone with a 150 TL ticket. ## How do you pair St Barnabas with Salamis? As one half day, and in this order: **Salamis first, monastery second**. The ruins of Salamis are a large, shadeless open site — better walked in the morning before the heat — while the monastery is compact and partly indoors, ideal for midday. The two sit about **five minutes apart by car**. One thing we verified rather than assumed: **no combined ticket exists** as of June 2026 — Salamis is a separate **150 TL** entry under the same official tariff, so budget **300 TL** per adult for the pair. The full city-day version of this plan — walled city, Salamis, monastery, beach — is laid out in the [three-day Famagusta and İskele itinerary](/en/blog/famagusta-iskele-3-day-itinerary/), and in a longer stay the pairing fills the cultural morning of the [day-by-day one-week North Cyprus plan](/en/guide/one-week-north-cyprus-itinerary/). If there is energy left after the pairing, the cool-down is built into the same road: a swim at [Glapsides, Famagusta's local beach](/en/guide/glapsides-beach-famagusta/), on the drive back toward town turns the cultural half day into a complete one. ## Who gets the most out of St Barnabas? Almost everyone, which is rare for a religious-heritage site — but for different reasons, and it helps to know yours. History-minded visitors get the densest stop on the east coast: apostolic biography, Byzantine church politics and a working archaeology collection inside one ticket. Families get a compact, shaded, stroller-tolerant site where the courtyard does half the entertaining — a far easier sell to children than an hour of open ruins. Orthodox and other Christian visitors get a place of genuine significance treated as such; the tomb chapel is visited quietly, and modest dress, while not a posted rule we can cite, is the sensible default for any active place of veneration. The only visitor likely to leave underwhelmed is the one expecting scale — St Barnabas is intimate, and that is the point. If scale is what you want, Salamis next door and the [weekday-only Kantara Castle drive](/en/guide/kantara-castle-north-cyprus/) supply it. Getting there is the easiest drive on this site: signed off the Famagusta–Salamis road, **8.6 km / 10–15 minutes** from the city in 2026 routing data, with parking at the site. Kipra Rent A Car is a Famagusta-based local rental company with VAT and third-party insurance included in every displayed price — a half-day excursion like this is exactly what having the car parked at your hotel is for, and if you are arriving by air, [collecting a rental car at Ercan Airport](/en/ercan-airport-car-rental/) starts the trip at the terminal. --- Ten minutes from Famagusta, two thousand years deep — see live prices for your dates: [book a car](https://app.kiprarent.com/en/book/cars) · WhatsApp +90 546 996 1004 — English spoken. ## Frequently Asked Questions **How much is St Barnabas Monastery in 2026?** 150 TL for adults, 50 TL for students, per the TRNC Department of Antiquities summer 2026 tariff. Hours are 08:00-18:00 with last entry at 17:00. **Is there a combined ticket with Salamis?** No — we checked and no combined ticket is published as of June 2026. Salamis is a separate 150 TL entry, about five minutes away by car, so a paired half day costs 300 TL in entries. **How long does a visit take?** Plan around an hour to ninety minutes for the icon museum, the archaeology rooms and the tomb chapel at an unhurried pace — which is exactly what makes it pair so well with Salamis in one half day. **Why is St Barnabas Monastery significant?** Barnabas, a Salamis-born apostle, is regarded as the founder of the Church of Cyprus. The discovery of his tomb in 478, by tradition, underpinned the Church of Cyprus's autocephaly — its right to govern itself — which it holds to this day. ## Sources - TRNC Department of Antiquities and Museums — visiting hours and fees (summer 2026 tariff): https://eemd.gov.ct.tr/Z%C4%B0YARET-SAATLER%C4%B0 - Driving distances dataset (routing data, 2026): https://www.kiprarent.com/data/guides/driving-distances-north-cyprus.csv - Wikipedia — Monastery of St Barnabas (history and site description): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery_of_St_Barnabas --- Kipra Rent A Car — Famagusta, North Cyprus. No-deposit, no-credit-card car rental; VAT + insurance included. Rezervasyon / Booking: https://app.kiprarent.com/book/cars · WhatsApp: +90 546 996 1004