Dodecanese
Rhodes
How to do Rhodes properly: stay in the medieval Old Town or photogenic Lindos, skip the Faliraki strip unless you want the nightlife, and whether you actually need a hire car to see the island.
In short
Rhodes at a glance
Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese and one of the easiest Greek islands to fly to direct from the UK. The two places worth basing yourself are the walled medieval Old Town in Rhodes Town and the whitewashed village of Lindos 50km down the east coast — most of the rest is package resorts. The headline sights are the Palace of the Grand Master and the Acropolis of Lindos (€20 each), and the east coast is where the calm, sandy beaches are. You don't need a car to do the highlights, but you do if you want the quieter southern beaches and inland villages.
Rhodes is the big, easy one — the largest of the Dodecanese, with direct UK flights all summer and two genuinely lovely places to stay rather than the wall-to-wall resorts most people imagine. The first is the medieval Old Town in Rhodes Town, a walled UNESCO core of cobbled lanes, the Palace of the Grand Master and the Street of the Knights, all of it walkable and only 25 minutes from the airport. The second is Lindos, an hour down the east coast: whitewashed houses stacked under a clifftop acropolis, with a swimmable bay on either side. Almost everything worth your time on this island sits on the calmer, sandier eastern shore.
The honest plan is to split the week between those two and skip the package strip at Faliraki unless the water park and nightlife are the point of the trip. You don’t strictly need a hire car — KTEL buses run the east coast to Lindos roughly hourly for about €6, and both towns are best on foot. A car only earns its keep when you want what the bus can’t reach: the quiet southern beaches around Gennadi, the windsurf spit at Prasonisi, or the inland villages and the Valley of the Butterflies. Come in May, June, September or October and you’ll dodge the worst of the July–August heat, when the walled town bakes at 33°C and prices climb with the crowds.
The route
A relaxed week built around two bases — the Old Town first, then Lindos — so you only unpack twice and never backtrack the length of the island. The east-coast beaches sit between the two, so you pass them as you move down.
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Days 1–3
Rhodes Town & the Old Town
Base inside or just outside the walls. Do the Palace of the Grand Master and the Street of the Knights, wander Sokratous, and use the hourly KTEL bus or a hire car to reach east-coast beaches like Tsambika and Anthony Quinn Bay. The Old Town airport is 25 minutes away by taxi (about €25–35).
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Day 4
Valley of the Butterflies or a Symi day trip
Two strong options for a day out of the centre. The Valley of the Butterflies inland is best June–September when the moths arrive. Or take the daily ferry to Symi (around 1h–1h30) for the pastel Yialos harbour — book the Nikolaos X rather than the slow tourist boats.
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Days 5–7
Lindos & the south-east
Move to Lindos (about an hour by bus or car). Climb to the Acropolis of Lindos early before the cruise crowds and the heat, swim at St Paul's Bay below the village, and drive on to the quieter southern beaches at Gennadi or the windswept Prasonisi tip if you've a car.
Where to base yourself
Pick one or two bases rather than moving every night.
Rhodes Old Town
££ mid-rangeSleep inside the medieval walls for the best first base: cobbled lanes, the Palace and Street of the Knights on your doorstep, and the airport 25 minutes away. It's atmospheric but cars can't enter the centre and the bar lanes near Sokratous get loud — pick a quieter street.
Best for: First-timers, history, walkability
Lindos
£££ premiumThe island's prettiest village — whitewashed houses under a clifftop acropolis, with two swimmable bays below. It's the photogenic base for the second half of the trip, but it's steep, donkey-and-foot only in the old core, and pricier than the resorts. Worth it for a couple of nights.
Best for: Couples, photos, the Acropolis
Kolymbia
££ mid-rangeA quiet, planned resort village roughly halfway between Rhodes Town and Lindos, with a calm clean beach and mid-range family hotels. A sensible single base if you want one stop and easy reach of both ends of the east coast, though it has little character of its own.
Best for: Families, one-base trips, value
Getting around Rhodes
You can do the highlights without a car: KTEL buses run the east coast hourly from Rhodes Town to Lindos for about €6, with shorter hops to Faliraki and the nearer beaches from €2.50. A car only earns its keep for the quieter south (Gennadi, Prasonisi) and inland villages the buses don't reach — and the Old Town is pedestrianised, so you'd park outside the walls anyway. From the airport, a taxi to Rhodes Town is around €25–35 and 25 minutes; the public bus is about €2.50 but takes 40.
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