You can hire a car for a minimum of 3 days. The car can be delivered to Ercan Airport or to your house or hotel. Cars cannot be delivered to the South of the island, but a transfer from and to the airport can be arranged for you & then the hire car can be delivered to your chosen place in the North.
You need to be over 25 to hire a car and will need you driving licence and passport to complete the paperwork. You will then need to carry your driving licence and contract around with you. Petrol in North Cyprus is cheaper than in the UK, so site-seeing in your air-conditioned hire car is a must.
You could drive to Kyrenia area (Girne) to see around the harbour, Kyrenia Castle, Bellapais Abbey, St. Hilarian Castle or just walk around the city centre and have lunch or a drink while you’re there.
The Famagusta (Maayusa) area has some great history. You could visit St. Barnabas Monastery, Salamis Ruins, the old city walls or the deepest harbour in North Cyprus. Or again you might like to see the town centre. There are also some lovely beaches surrounding Famagusta that you could relax on once you have seen some of the sites.
Nicosia (Lefkoaya) might appeal more to you. You’ve got the Old City and Kyrenia gate, Selimiye Mosque, Great inn, covered bazaar. The border has now been opened so that you can walk over to the South of the island. You’ll see a difference between the North and South straight away. On the North of the island the surrounding area is narrow cobbled streets, but as soon as you cross the border it’s like any other high street. You even have Debenhams, McDonalds, Marks & Spencer, Peacocks, Next etc as well as the Greek shops.
The Karpaz Peninsula (Pan Handle) is very popular, although some people stay over night to break up the journey. There are miles of sandy beaches for you to enjoy and sometimes you are more likely to see donkeys around than people! Scattered around are ancient ruins, towns and tombs for you to explore. The beaches in the Karpaz area are also popular with the endangered Chelonia Mydas and the Caretta Caretta turtles. Also around the Karpaz area are rural traditional Cypriot villages where the locals live off the land. They will all make you very welcome to their part of the island.
They are just the main towns/villages that you can easily visit if you have a car. Apart from them you can drive up into the mountains, the views are fantastic and the villages beautiful. Or follow one of the side turnings down to a secluded and undiscovered beach.