The club scene in Ayia Napa has exploded into life over the last five years, transforming this remote sleepy fishing village into the dance capital of Europe.

Youngsters come here with drugs thinking it's Ibiza number two...the police crack down on them hard

Pete, nightclub MC

There are now 17 clubs spread over less than two square kilometres, all competing with one another to generate most noise and maximum hype.

It is a culture that depends on clever promotion and exaggerated claims.

"Come to the Castle Club, you won't just have a good time, you'll have the best time of your life - ever," a bald man with tiny gold stars on his teeth promised me.

It is not surprising that promoters and club owners have been keen to compare Ayia Napa favourably with the more established Spanish resort island of Ibiza.

Cheaper and friendlier

It seems to have worked.

Veteran males of the European clubbing scene who I spoke to - or rather shouted at, above the music - were all adamant that Ayia Napa was cheaper, friendlier, and offered 'classier birds' than those to be picked up in Ibiza.

Drugs seizures have drastically increased this year

The other difference - emphasised repeatedly and with some relief by clubbers of both sexes - was that Ayia Napa is largely drugs free. As one young woman explained, this had clear advantages.

"In Ibiza they're all off their heads on drugs, so no one's interested in getting laid."

However, according to numbers of seizures, police believe drug use in Cyprus has risen by 45% in the first five months of this year alone.

Around 120 Cypriots and 50 foreigners have been detained by police for drugs related offences since January.

These include the three Britons recently arrested and charged with trafficking and possession of ecstasy.

We have to build our houses outside Ayia Napa, in order to protect our children

Father Papageorghiou, local priest

Originally it was believed they would face lengthy jail terms, but plea bargains means they will probably receive more lenient sentences

However, drug squad chief Christakis Katsikides is adamant drugs will not be allowed to threaten the lucrative tourist trade.

"By comparison with the rest of Europe the problem here is small," he told me.

"But we want to keep it at a level we can control."

Pete, MC at the Jasmine, who had been leading the dancing from the top of the bar, welcomes a tough police line.

"Youngsters come here with drugs thinking its Ibiza number two, and the police crack down on them so hard they don't know what's hit them," he said.

"Anyway," he added with a wink, flexing his tattoos, "You don't need drugs here to have a good time."

Generation gap

It is hard to believe that only 15 years ago in Ayia Napa, elderly women who wanted to go swimming would pin their skirts between their legs and wade in fully clothed, rather than risk exposing bare flesh.

But the speed of the resort's development and the changes that came in its wake, leave many of the older generation aghast.

The locals I met appeared torn between the attractions of making money, and the need to hang on to traditional social values.

"We have to build our houses outside Ayia Napa, in order to protect our children," the parish priest Father Papageorghiou told me.

The residents of Europe's newest club capital have so far managed to keep drugs at arms length, while continuing to enjoy the economic advantages that mass tourism brings.

They cope by simply abandoning the former fishing village to the invading hoards of youngsters, leaving them to get on with the serious business of having a good time.