People usually send documents, clothes, gifts and small electronics to Cyprus with a traveler. Cyprus is in the EU, so passengers from outside the EU follow common EU allowances: goods for personal or family use or as gifts worth up to 430 euros are duty-free if you arrive by air or sea. Meat and dairy from outside the EU are banned, and plants need a phytosanitary certificate.
What you can usually send
You can send things meant for personal or family use or as gifts, not for sale. Cyprus customs lets such goods through without a declaration within the allowances.
- Documents: certificates, powers of attorney, original papers.
- Clothes, shoes, books, gifts: within 430 euros per passenger, together with the traveler's own purchases.
- Small electronics: a phone, headphones, a tablet, with a receipt: they count toward the same value allowance.
- Perfume: there is no separate volume allowance; it counts toward the 430 euros.
What you cannot send or should avoid
The list of bans in Cyprus includes obvious things and things people carry out of habit, such as home-made food.
- Meat, milk and products made from them from outside the EU: banned. Products that break the rules are seized and destroyed at the border.
- Plants, fruit, vegetables and flowers: only with a phytosanitary certificate. Pineapples, coconuts, durians, bananas and dates can come in without one.
- Meat, fish, cheese, honey: Cyprus customs requires a permit from the Veterinary Services and a certificate.
- Narcotics, psychotropic substances and other controlled medicines: on the list of prohibited imports on the Cyprus customs website.
- Cannabis products, including food and drinks: banned.
- Counterfeit and pirated goods, flick knives and daggers: banned.
- Weapons, including air rifles and hunting guns: only with a police permit. This is not something to send with a traveler.
- Power banks and spare batteries: on a plane, carry-on only, never in checked baggage. Under the IATA 2026 guidance, you can take no more than two power banks, each up to 100 Wh; larger ones are forbidden, and you can't charge them from the aircraft power supply. Spare batteries for devices: up to 100 Wh without approval, 100 to 160 Wh with the airline's approval and no more than two per device, over 160 Wh not allowed. Airlines may set stricter rules.
- Someone else's cash: under our rules, you cannot send any cash that belongs to another person.
Send medicines for personal treatment in their original packaging, with a prescription and a doctor's note. We did not find specific Cyprus rules for personal medicines in public sources, so check them with customs before the handover.
Duty-free allowances
The allowances apply if the goods are not for sale and the passenger carries them personally or in their own luggage. Passengers under 17 get no duty-free tobacco or alcohol.
- Other goods: up to 430 euros per passenger arriving by air or sea. Up to 175 euros for passengers under 15.
- Alcohol: 1 liter of drinks over 22% or 2 liters of drinks up to 22%. Plus 4 liters of still wine and 16 liters of beer.
- Tobacco: 200 cigarettes, or 100 cigarillos, or 50 cigars, or 250 g of tobacco.
- Cash: from 10,000 euros, it must be declared in writing on entry and exit. In a group, the threshold applies to each person. Cash includes banknotes, coins, bearer cheques and gold bars and coins. Undeclared cash is seized, with a fine of up to 100,000 euros or up to 3 years in prison.
If customs suspects the goods are not for your own use or are for resale, it may ask you to prove otherwise and confiscate them.
How to pack and what to check at handover
The traveler should see everything they carry. So the parcel is packed in front of them, not handed over as a closed box.
- Show every item at the meeting. The traveler does not take anything sealed.
- Add a receipt if the item is new: it makes the value easier to confirm.
- No home-made food with meat, milk or cheese.
- Take photos of the contents and of the packed parcel. The photos help both of you.
- Agree in advance who will meet the traveler in Cyprus, and share the recipient's contacts.
Who is responsible at the border
The person carrying the parcel is responsible. At customs the parcel counts as the traveler's goods. If an allowance is exceeded or an item is banned, the traveler answers for it.
Larnaca and Paphos airports and Limassol port have green and red channels. Goods above the allowances, as well as prohibited and restricted goods, are declared in the red channel. A traveler can refuse an item if they are not sure it can be brought in.
Find a traveler to Cyprus
Trips to and from Cyprus are collected on the routes page: you can see who is going and when.
If there is no suitable trip, post a request: travelers on your route will see it and respond. The price calculator suggests how much to offer for delivery.
Sources
- Cyprus Customs: channel system and allowances for travellers
- Cyprus Customs: cash control
- Cyprus Customs: prohibitions and restrictions
- Your Europe: alcohol, tobacco and cash when entering the EU
- European Commission: EU cash controls
- European Commission: personal imports of animal products
- European Commission: plants in luggage and phytosanitary certificates
- IATA: passengers travelling with lithium batteries
- Parcelane: prohibited and restricted items
Checked: November 2026. Rules change, so check the Cyprus customs website before the trip.