The Eastern Mediterranean has a clean, sunlit palette of hues. You’ll quickly be immersed in the turquoise seas and vivid green mountains of Turkey’s coastline and the honey-coloured sands below a deep red and orange sunset in Cyprus.

It’s all about the smell of salt, the tang of lemon on fresh fish and the thrill of hiking in mountain air with exotic music as a backdrop. Pack light and limber up your sea legs for an ocean and mountain adventure.

Week One

Emirates fly direct to Cyprus three times a week, so hop onto one of their comfortable planes and jet into Larnaca two-and-a-half hours later. To fully appreciate Larnaca’s relaxed vibe, choose a seaside hotel; the San Remo costs around €22 per room and has a pool (www.booking.com). Diving is excellent here, with the wreck of the Zenobia to explore; the ship sank on its maiden voyage along with a cargo of lorries. The Larnaca Salt Lake near the airport is also a must, with 85 species of birds, including flamingos. Rent a moped to drive out here in the winter.

Party animals should then head to Ayia Napa. The bus costs €1.50 and takes just over an hour from Archbishop Makariou C’ Avenue 3. The beaches are a launch pad for water-skiing, kayaking, scuba and windsurfing, but when the sun goes down, the town really comes into its own. Major dance acts and DJs descend and the party goes on all night.

To burn off the hangover, rent a bike and pedal between the famous beaches of Nissi, Makronisos, Grecian Bay and Sandy Bay. The Kalypso Hotel has rooms from €15 (www.hostelbookers.com).

After a hectic couple of nights, detox in the cool air of the Troodos Mountains. Mount Olympus is the highest peak and a good place to escape the excesses of heat in the summer or to ski in the winter. The bus will bring you to Troodos village or the larger Pano Platres. From there, you can access the beautifully-named hiking trails: Artemis (7km with views of the foothills and giant pine trees), Atalanti (9km), Caledonia (2km along the course of a bubbling brook to the Caledonia Falls) and Persephone (3km to a lookout). The Nightingale Hotel has rooms for €48 in the centre of town (www.booking.com) but if you have a car, you’ll find cheaper options out of town.

The other great draw in this area is the byzantine monasteries with their frescoes. They’re found in the foothills mainly and are a challenge to visit if you are without transport, but you can always hitch your way around.

Week Two

Now it’s time for a history lesson. Take the bus again from Finikoudes Bus Stop to Nicosia (60 minutes, €15), the world’s last divided capital. A Green Line separates Northern Cyprus from the Republic of Cyprus and it’s adorned with watchtowers and barbed wire. Find a little cafe to take a whiplash strong Cypriot coffee and ask anyone who speaks English to tell you about the division of the island.

You can follow up with a visit to the National Struggle Museum (Kiniras 7, €1), which tells the story of the Cypriot Independence Movement (1955-1959) and the EOKA guerrilla movement. At the Ledra Observatory Museum, you can climb 10 floors higher than all the other buildings to see the division of the city from on height. The Cyprus Museum near the municipal gardens is also well worth a visit (€3.40) to see the best of Cypriot architecture.

EU citizens are now allowed to cross into Northern Cyprus at the Ledra Street crossing. It goes through the UN Buffer Zone and is an interesting experience in itself.

In the North of the City, repeat your experiment with the coffee shop and your history lesson will be complete; you only need to choose which side to believe.

What is not in dispute is that virtual civil war in the 1960s led to the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot communities becoming divided along north-south lines. In 1974, the Greek military junta attempted a coup, which would have united Cyprus with Greece, prompting the Turks to invade. The international community considers that the north of Cyprus is still under occupation. Turkish Cypriots tend to vehemently disagree.

A room for two at the Crown Inn Hotel will cost around €40 (www.hotel.info), but you can find a hostel for under €10 in the Selimiye Mosque area.

From Nicosia, catch the bus east to Famagusta, another town that lifts the veil on the insanity of the war that split the country. Before the Turkish invasion/rescue, the Varosha district of Famagusta was the premier tourist resort in Cyprus, visited by the likes of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. When war came, the inhabitants fled. They left everything behind them, expecting to be back in a few days.

Instead, when fighting ended, Varosha was sealed off and remains so today. Driving along the fortified border, you can see car dealerships with brand new 1970s vehicles slowly rusting under a blanket of dust. Homes are fully furnished, with clothes in the cupboards and flower power curtains flapping through the broken windows. It’s an eerie reminder of the suffering on both sides and the deep anger and tension that still prevail.

The rest of Famagusta is lovely, surrounded by well-preserved Venetian fortifications and a stunning cathedral, converted to a mosque and retaining the best characteristics of both styles of architecture. If you decide to stay the night, the Altun Tabaya (Altun Tabaya Sokak, tel: +357 233 665 363) is decent and costs around €15 per room.

Nearby, St Hilarions Castle is one of the many that claim to have been the inspiration for the Disney Castle. The rugged terrain of the setting is the perfect foil for the towers and buttresses, with the three main sections of the castle blending brilliantly into the rocky mountain spine. If you don’t have a hired car, a taxi will take you on the 10km winding mountain road for around €20, including an hour’s waiting.

From there, head on to the Karpas Peninsula and plan to stay for at least one night; when you get to Golden Beach at the most northeasterly tip, you won’t want to come back. Kilometres of fine sand are flanked by lightly scrubbed dunes; it feels like a vacation within a holiday to check into one of the rustic little set-ups, eat whatever they offer you and walk next to the ocean with the wind in your hair. Hasan’s Turtle Café and Restaurant (+357 533 864 1063) has wooden chalets right on the beach. They are off the grid and the water pressure is a dribble but it only adds to the romance.

On the way to your next destination of Kyrenia, there are several well signposted Roman remains to explore, many with their extensive and beautiful mosaics still exposed to the elements. You can also stop at Buffavento Castle, taken over by Richard the Lionheart in 1191, and Bellapais, where Lawrence Durrell penned Bitter Lemons of Cyprus in the 1950s.

Kyrenia is a pleasure. It has a horseshoe- shaped harbour flanked with restaurants; when they put out their twinkling lights in the evening, it couldn’t be more romantic, especially with the castle in the background. It’s a great place to sample the best of Cypriot food.

Try Borek, fried squares of heaven filled with halloumi and herbs or minced meat and onions or local cheese nor. Seftali Kebabı, a minced meat, is also incredibly succulent. The real highlight of Cypriot food however, is meze. Officially a starter, you will be brought up to a dozen little dishes of delights, from yoghurt with herbs, hummus, tahini, stuffed vine leaves, slices of oven-warm pitta and little kebabs. Wash it all down with the local wine, Aphrodite or Kantara, and finish up with a shot of Raki.

Two or three nights at the Manolya hotel (€30pp; www.hotel.info) is enough to soak up the food and atmosphere, before starting stage two of your journey by taking the ferry to Turkey.

Boats leave from Kyrenia to Tasucu daily with Akgunler Denizcilik and cost from around €32 one way. The hydrofoil is fastest, taking just two hours, as opposed to the car ferry, which can take up to five times as long.

Week Three

Tasucu itself exists mainly to service the ferries, so it’s probably best not to linger. Head instead to Antalya, the premier Turkish Mediterranean town, warm and pleasant almost all year round. History has left its mark on the town; check out the Archaeological Museum to understand how the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Seljuks and Ottomans lived.

Antalya is booming, one might even say bursting; to escape, head to the Kaleiçi (citadel) and lose yourself in the ancient houses and flagged lanes. You can stay here at the bougainvillea-laden www.lazerpension.com from €8 a night in a dorm room. When you’re hungry, try out the seafood on the quayside as you watch the fishermen sorting the catch and mending their nets.

Make the most of town comforts, because you’re about to go offroad on an adventure on the Lycian Way. This 509km hiking trail meanders along the coast, then rears up into the beautiful mountains.

It’s an eclectic collection of old wagon ways, mule tracks, caravan trails and paths; what makes it special (apart from the stunning scenery) is that you’ll tread in the faint footprints of a succession of peasants, soldiers, peddlers and journeymen, passing through their ruined cities and temples.

You can easily do it alone, but a variety of companies also offer guided walks if you’d like company; they also use buses to speed up some sections, meaning that you can cover more ground and miss out any dreary bits. Either way, you need the right equipment and supplies, so plan carefully.

The route starts in Hiscandir, although many people choose to base themselves in low-key Cirali, using the village as a base. A five-day walk on the eastern end could take in Phaselis, Cirali, Olympos (famous for providing treehouse accommodation) and the Chimaera (where for thousands of years, leaking gas from underground has burned from fissures in the earth), Adrasan and the Gelidonia Peninsula. The online Photodiary of a Nomad has a wonderful description of the trek, if you need further persuasion.

Week Four

Your next stop is Fethiye, where there are pre-Roman sarcophagi in the street, which gives you an idea of the historic atmosphere.

If you’ve always wanted to try paragliding (or even if the thought had only occurred to you right now), this is one of the most popular spots for the sport in Europe. You’ll leap from Babadag and cruise down around 1,900m to the beach below. A dorm bed at the V-go Hotel costs just €10 (www.bluecruisesturkey.com).

Your next mode of transport is rather more traditional. From Fethiye to Marmaris, you can take a wooden sailing gulet.

It costs €199 with www.viator.com, which includes three nights of accommodation aboard, all your meals and a cruise that will allow you to explore little-known bays and coves, drop in on uninhabited islands and lie on the same beach that Anthony and Cleopatra visited during their honeymoon (or so legend has it). You may find a better deal by asking around at the harbour.

Marmaris might be something of a shock to the system. The quaint fishing village that used to be here has been subsumed by a morass of buildings, but luckily, the town is partially saved by its incredible location, lodged between mountain ranges and the turquoise sea.

Even so, it’s best to avoid the beer swilling Brits (along with pretty much every other nationality) in the town centre and take the bus instead to the beautiful Hisaronu, 22km away. A visit to www.alpharooms.com offers you the Misafir Evi Hotel for €39.

Take a horse-riding safari through the pine forests and check out the ancient city of Bybassos before booking a day trip by boat to Dalyan Cauno. Remains here include a Roman theatre and bath and a Byzantine basilica.

You’ll drive along the winding, reed-lined Dalyan river delta, past roughly-hewn 4th-century BC, Lycian rock tombs carved into the cliffs; these are extraordinary, each a tiny temple in relief.

A trip to the mudbaths seems to be fairly obligatory too. Showers are provided; you’ll need them. It costs around €17 with www.marmaris-tours.com but again, look for a deal in town.

From Marmaris, it’s a 12-hour overnight bus ride (around €26) back to the metropolis of Istanbul, which saves on accommodation. You can book tickets in English on www.metroturizm.com.tr.

Spend a couple of days enjoying the collision of East and West in this historic city, before returning home. Air Malta has one-way flights from Istanbul for around €81.