The Best Things to Do in Rhodes
Rhodes has something no other Greek island can match: a walled medieval city you can still live in, built by crusader knights and lived in continuously since. Around it sit some of the Aegean's best beaches, a clifftop acropolis at Lindos, and a fast boat to one of the prettiest harbours in Greece. Here are the things genuinely worth your days - ranked, with what to book and what to skip.
What are the best things to do in Rhodes?
The best things to do in Rhodes are exploring the UNESCO-listed medieval Old Town and the Palace of the Grand Master, climbing to the acropolis above Lindos, swimming at Anthony Quinn Bay and Tsambika, visiting the ancient Acropolis of Rhodes, and taking the fast boat to the island of Symi. The Old Town is free to wander and best early or late; hire a car for a day to reach the east-coast beaches and Lindos, which are spread along a 50km coast.
13 best things to do in Rhodes
Ranked best-first, with an insider tip and how to book each. Prices and hours change - check before you go.
Rhodes Old Town
IconsFreeThe largest inhabited medieval town in Europe, ringed by four kilometres of walls the Knights of St John built in the 14th century. Inside is a working town rather than a museum: cobbled lanes, Ottoman minarets and Byzantine churches layered together, and people still living behind the shutters. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the single reason Rhodes stands apart from other Greek islands.
Insider tip: Free to wander and best before 10am or after 6pm, when the cruise crowds thin and the stone glows. The Street of the Knights is the showpiece, but the quiet residential lanes in the Turkish and Jewish quarters are the better wander. Avoid the restaurants directly on the main tourist drags - two streets back is better and half the price.
Palace of the Grand Master
HistoryThe fortress-palace at the top of the Old Town, built by the Knights and rebuilt by the Italians in the 1930s as a residence for Mussolini that he never used. The scale is enormous, and the ground floor holds Roman and early Christian mosaics shipped in from Kos, laid across room after room.
Insider tip: Buy the combined ticket if you also want the Archaeological Museum - it saves money and both are in the Old Town. Go at opening; the halls get warm and crowded by midday. Allow 90 minutes, and note that some upper rooms close in low season.
Lindos and its acropolis
IconsA village of white cubic houses spilling down a hillside beneath an ancient acropolis on a sheer rock, with a perfect horseshoe bay below. The temple of Athena Lindia at the top dates to the 4th century BC and the view over the coast is the best on the island.
Insider tip: The climb is steep, stepped and almost shadeless - go early morning or late afternoon and carry water. Donkeys are offered for the ascent; welfare standards vary, so walking is the kinder choice. The village lanes are lovely but rammed midday, so time your visit around the cruise-ship hours. St Paul's Bay below is the better swim.
Anthony Quinn Bay
BeachFreeA small rocky cove of impossibly clear emerald water backed by pines, named after the actor who bought the land after filming The Guns of Navarone here. The snorkelling over the rocks is the best easily reachable spot on the island.
Insider tip: It is rocky rather than sandy, so water shoes make it far more pleasant, and the beach is small and fills early in summer. Go before 10am for space and the clearest water. Parking is limited and the access road is steep. Bring a mask - the fish and rock formations are the point.
Acropolis of Rhodes (Monte Smith)
HistoryFreeThe ancient Greek acropolis on the hill above Rhodes Town, with a restored stadium, a small marble theatre and the standing columns of the Temple of Apollo. It is free, quiet and looks west over the sea, which makes it the best sunset spot near the centre.
Insider tip: Completely free and never crowded, which is remarkable given what it is. A 20-minute walk uphill from the Old Town or a short taxi. Go for sunset with a drink - locals do. There is little shade and no facilities, so bring water.
Day boat to Symi
Day tripsSymi's harbour is a natural amphitheatre of pastel neoclassical mansions rising in tiers above the water, and it is widely considered the prettiest arrival in the Dodecanese. The fast boat takes about an hour each way, with most trips also stopping at the Panormitis monastery.
Insider tip: Book a day or two ahead in summer - the boats sell out and leave early from Mandraki. Take the fast catamaran rather than the slow boat unless you want the day at sea; the slow one eats hours. Swim stops are usually included. Bring cash, since some Symi tavernas still prefer it.
Valley of the Butterflies (Petaloudes)
OutdoorsA shaded ravine with wooden walkways, streams and waterfalls where thousands of Jersey tiger moths gather on the tree trunks each summer, drawn by the resin of the storax trees. Even outside moth season it is a cool, green walk in a very dry island.
Insider tip: The moths are only present roughly June to September, and the site is a pleasant but ordinary walk outside those months, so check before you drive out. Do not clap or make noise to make them fly - it exhausts them and it is why the population has fallen. Go early for the coolest air.
Tsambika Beach
BeachFreeA long stretch of fine golden sand with shallow, calm, warm water - the best family beach on the island and a genuine contrast to the pebbly coves elsewhere. Above it, a monastery on a 300-metre rock offers a hard climb and a huge view down the coast.
Insider tip: The shallow water and soft sand make it the easiest swim on Rhodes with children. Sunbeds fill by late morning in August. The monastery steps above are a serious 300-step climb, best done early - tradition says women who climb barefoot will conceive, which is why you may see people doing exactly that.
Archaeological Museum of Rhodes
HistoryHoused in the Knights' 15th-century hospital, a beautiful vaulted building that would be worth entering empty. Inside are Hellenistic sculptures including the delicate Aphrodite of Rhodes, plus grave finds and mosaics from across the island.
Insider tip: Right in the Old Town and covered by the combined ticket with the Palace. It is cool and quiet, which makes it a good midday stop when the lanes outside are baking. An hour is plenty. The courtyard garden is a lovely place to sit.
Ancient Kamiros
HistoryThe excavated remains of a Doric city on a hillside above the west coast, abandoned after earthquakes and never built over. You get a complete street plan - houses, baths, a temple terrace and the water cistern - laid out on terraces looking at the sea, with a fraction of Lindos's crowds.
Insider tip: About 35km from Rhodes Town on the quieter west coast, so easiest by car. There is almost no shade, so morning or late afternoon. Combine it with the Kritinia castle ruins and a west-coast taverna lunch. Quieter and, for anyone who likes ruins, more rewarding than Lindos.
The medieval walls and moat
OutdoorsFreeThe dry moat that rings the Old Town is now a green walking route beneath the walls, and it is one of the best free things on the island - almost nobody uses it, so you get the whole scale of the fortifications to yourself with stone bridges overhead.
Insider tip: Enter near d'Amboise Gate and walk as far as you like; the full circuit takes about an hour. It is free and shaded in parts. The walls themselves can be walked on certain days in season for a small fee - worth checking locally, as opening is limited.
Prasonisi
OutdoorsThe island's southern tip, where a sandbar joins Rhodes to a small islet with the Aegean on one side and the Mediterranean on the other - flat calm water on one flank, breaking waves on the other. It is one of Europe's best windsurfing and kitesurfing spots.
Insider tip: It is a long drive, about 90km from Rhodes Town, so make a day of it down the quiet south. The sandbar is submerged in winter and widest in summer. Lessons and board hire are available on the spot. Even if you do not surf, standing between two seas is worth the drive.
Eat Rhodian food
Food & drinkRhodes has its own kitchen distinct from mainland Greece: pitaroudia (chickpea fritters), melekouni (a honey and sesame wedding sweet), and local Rhodian wine from the Embonas vineyards on the slopes of Mount Attavyros, which are among the oldest in Greece.
Insider tip: Get out of the Old Town's main lanes for dinner - the tavernas in the surrounding villages and the New Town's back streets cost less and cook better. Embonas is the wine village for a tasting if you have a car. Try souma, the local grape spirit, once and cautiously.
Where to stay in Rhodes
The best areas to base yourself, and who each suits.
The Old Town
First-timers and atmosphere - sleeping inside the medieval walls is the reason to come; expect cobbles, no car access and some late-night noise near the bar streets.
Rhodes New Town
Convenience - modern hotels, the beaches of Elli, restaurants and the ferry harbour, a five-minute walk from the Old Town gates.
Lindos
The postcard village - white cubic houses under a clifftop acropolis with a great bay below; beautiful and busy by day, calm at night, an hour from town.
Faliraki & the east coast
Beaches and families - the long sandy resort strip with the island's best swimming and easy access to Anthony Quinn Bay and Tsambika.
Planning your Rhodes trip
Best time to visit
May to June and September to early October are the sweet spot: sea warm enough to swim, days in the mid-to-high 20s°C, and the Old Town walkable rather than baking. July and August are hot, often above 35°C, and the Old Town's stone lanes hold the heat well into the evening - it is also when the island is busiest and priciest. Rhodes has one of the longest seasons in Greece, with swimmable sea often into late October and mild, green winters, though most resort hotels and boat trips shut from November to April. The meltemi wind blows hardest in July and August, which is a nuisance on west-coast beaches and a gift for the windsurfers at Prasonisi.
Getting around
Rhodes airport (RHO) sits on the west coast about 30 minutes from Rhodes Town by bus or taxi. In town you walk - the Old Town is entirely pedestrian and the New Town beside it is flat. Beyond that, the island is big: Lindos is around 50km south, so buses run the main east-coast route reliably but infrequently, and a rental car for a day or two is the difference between seeing two beaches and seeing six. Boats to Symi and the smaller islands leave from Mandraki harbour in Rhodes Town. Note the Old Town has almost no car access, so park outside the walls.
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