Paphos District is one of the six districts of Cyprus

Districts of Cyprus

Cyprus is divided into six districts , whose capitals share the same name:The districts are further divided up into municipalities.-See also:* List of cities, towns and villages in Cyprus* ISO 3166-2:CY* Districts of Northern Cyprus-External links:*...

 and it is situated in the western part of Cyprus. Its main town and capital is Paphos

Paphos

Paphos , sometimes referred to as Pafos, is a coastal city in the southwest of Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos and New Paphos. The currently inhabited city is New Paphos. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, about west of the...

. The entire district is controlled by the internationally recognized government of Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

. There are four municipalities in Paphos District: Paphos

Paphos

Paphos , sometimes referred to as Pafos, is a coastal city in the southwest of Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos and New Paphos. The currently inhabited city is New Paphos. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, about west of the...

, Yeroskipou

Yeroskipou

Yeroskipou is a coastal town in Cyprus, east of Paphos. Its current population is approximately 7,000 and it is the second largest municipality in the Paphos District. Yeroskipou, with its remarkable five-domed Byzantine church of Agia Paraskevi, and its Folk Art Museum, is a popular tourist...

, Peyia, and Polis Chrysochous

Polis, Cyprus

Polis is a small town at the north-west end of the island of Cyprus, at the centre of Chrysochous Bay, and on the edge of the Akamas peninsula nature reserve...

.

The area of the district is 1,393 km.², which constitutes the 15.1% of the total area of the island, and the population in 2007 was 76,100. Its coastal area is characterized by gulfs and coves, capes and points, beaches and tiny isles. The district can be divided into three morphological regions: the coastal plain, lying mainly below 200 metres, the hilly area extending from plain up to the igneous rocks of Paphos forest and the mountainous region, lying mainly on the igneous rocks of the Paphos forest. North-west of the District is the Akamas

Akamas

Akamas , is a promontory and cape at the northwest extremity of Cyprus with an area of 230 square kilometres. Ptolemy described it as a thickly wooded headland, divided into two by summits [a mountain range] rising towards the north...

 peninsula which contains a national park where the reproduction of the green sea turtle

Green Sea Turtle

The Green sea turtle or green turtle is a large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...

is a protected activity.