Buffavento Castle was probably established as a watch tower to detect Arab raiders in the 10th century. It is said that the Byzantine king Isaac Commenos fled here when Richard Lionheart invaded Cyprus in 1191. The king's daughter surrendered herself and the castle to Richard, but Isaac Commenos continued his flight to the neighbouring Kantara Castle.

The castle was extended during the Lusignan reign, like its "sister castles" St. Hilarion and Kantara. The Lusignan kings mainly used it as a political prison known as "Chateau du Lion". Buffavento is associated with a mystery: The legend says that the empress Helena lived a solitary life in the castle, only with her dog as companion. She developed leprosy and passed it on to the dog. But later she noticed that the skin of her dog began to heal. Thus, she followed the dog one day and saw it bathing in a spring far below the castle. Doing the same, she then was cured of her disease. In gratitude, she founded the monastery of Ayios Ioannis Chrysostomos at a spot near the water source.

In the 16th century, the castle had been dismantled by the Venetians in order to build additional protection for their strongholds along the coast, in Kyrenia and Famagusta. With 955 metres above sea level, Buffavento castle stands highest of the three crusader castles. However, it is the least well preserved.