The bronze deer statues of Mandraki harbour with Fort St Nicholas and sailboats under a bright blue sky

Where to stay in Rhodes, from the Old Town to Lindos

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Fix the base and the distances before choosing a room

Rhodes packs a UNESCO medieval city, a party beach and a hilltop acropolis into one island large enough that a rental car, not a single base, decides how much of it you actually see.

Best first base Old Town

The medieval walls put the Street of the Knights and the Palace of the Grand Master inside a five-minute walk.

Getting there 1-hour flight or a 12-to-18-hour ferry from Piraeus

A short flight beats the ferry's overnight journey, but costs more; weigh time against fare for the specific trip.

Palace of the Grand Master €20, timed entry, 8am-8pm in summer

Book ahead in peak season; the ticket never bundles with Lindos's acropolis.

Lindos distance About 50 minutes from Rhodes Town

A genuine 50-minute drive or bus ride from Rhodes Town, best visited early or late in the day.

Party beach Faliraki

The island's best-known nightlife and beach-bar strip, about 13km south of Rhodes Town.

Sunniest season June through September

Long, hot, reliably sunny summers with roughly 2,780 to 3,075 sunshine hours a year.

StartBooker answer

Where should I stay in Rhodes, and how far is Lindos from the Old Town?

The medieval Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988, puts the Street of the Knights and the Palace of the Grand Master inside a five-minute walk, though its cobbles rule out wheeled luggage comfort. Mandraki, just outside the walls, holds the harbour, more hotels and beach access. Faliraki, 13km south, is the island's party and family beach strip. Lindos is a separate east-coast excursion with a hilltop acropolis above the sea. Rhodes is Greece's fourth-largest island at roughly 1,400 square kilometres, so a rental car or scooter, not a single base, is what actually determines how much of it you see.

Best first base: The medieval Old Town, inside the UNESCO walls
Getting there: A 1-hour flight from Athens, or a 12-to-18-hour ferry from Piraeus
Palace of the Grand Master: €20 timed-entry ticket, summer hours 8am-8pm
Day trip to Lindos: About 50 minutes' drive from Rhodes Town

AI-powered

Shape your Rhodes stay around the walls and the distances

Tell the planner how many nights you have, whether Faliraki's beach clubs or Lindos's acropolis matter more, and whether you're driving yourself or relying on buses. It can match your base to the drive times you'll actually face on an island this size.

Medieval stone walls and towers of Rhodes Old Town beside the sea in bright sunshine

The simplest first-time base

Base inside Europe's oldest inhabited medieval town

Old Town

Rhodes Old Town is a genuinely lived-in medieval city inside 4km of walls, still home to thousands of residents alongside the Palace of the Grand Master and the Street of the Knights.

The oldest inhabited medieval town in Europe, UNESCO-listed since 1988, puts the Street of the Knights, the Palace of the Grand Master and the Archaeological Museum inside a walk most visitors can repeat twice a day.
Sleeping inside the walls means the Old Town's lanes are yours again once the day-trippers from cruise ships and Faliraki return to their buses in the late afternoon.

Cobbled, frequently uneven streets make wheeled luggage and a late-night taxi drop-off harder than in Mandraki just outside the walls.

Four Rhodes bases, from the medieval walls to the acropolis

Rhodes is large enough that its four best-known bases genuinely don't overlap, from the medieval Old Town to a hilltop village a real drive away.

Old Town

the medieval walls, the Palace of the Grand Master and car-free lanes

Book the Old Town when Rhodes's UNESCO-listed medieval city is the whole reason for the trip.

Sleep: Lively near the main squares until late; quiet within a block or two.

Neighbourhood stay Walkable

Confirm which gate is closest to your hotel; the walled city is larger than a quick glance at a map suggests, and gates sit a real walking distance apart.

Mandraki

the harbour, modern hotels and easier vehicle access

Choose Mandraki when the deer-statue harbour and beach access matter as much as the Old Town's walls just next door.

Sleep: Resort-paced along the harbour, quieter than the Old Town's core.

Neighbourhood stay Walkable

Beach access directly in Mandraki is limited; a genuine swimming beach is a further walk or short drive along the coast.

Faliraki

beach clubs, nightlife and a genuine party strip

Pick Faliraki when the island's best-known nightlife and beach-bar scene matter more than medieval architecture.

Sleep: Loud along the main strip in peak season; quieter at the beach's family end.

Neighbourhood stay Beach

Confirm which end of Faliraki's beach a hotel actually sits on; the nightlife strip and the family-friendly stretch are genuinely different atmospheres.

Lindos

the hilltop acropolis and a genuinely different Rhodes

Base in Lindos when its acropolis and whitewashed village matter enough to skip the return drive to Rhodes Town.

Sleep: Quiet in the evening once day-trip buses and cars have left.

Neighbourhood stay Walkable

Lindos gets genuinely crowded with day-trip buses and cars from late morning to mid-afternoon; basing there rewards early mornings and evenings most.

Choose an area by the trip you want

Area	Best for	Trade-off	Getting around
Old Town	the medieval walls, the Palace of the Grand Master and car-free lanes	Cobbled, car-free streets make wheeled luggage and late drop-offs harder.	The Old Town is a pure walking base but car-free, cobbled streets slow luggage and late drop-offs.
Mandraki	the harbour, modern hotels and easier vehicle access	Less atmosphere than the Old Town itself, with limited beach access directly in the area.	Mandraki sits a short walk from the Old Town with easier car and taxi access.
Faliraki	beach clubs, nightlife and a genuine party strip	Reaching the Old Town for sightseeing means real travel time, not a walk.	Faliraki needs a bus, taxi or rental vehicle for any trip back to Rhodes Town.
Lindos	the hilltop acropolis and a genuinely different Rhodes	Every return to Rhodes Town's Old Town or airport means the same drive again.	Lindos sits a genuine 50-minute drive from Rhodes Town, not a short trip.

Match the base to the reason you're actually on Rhodes

Each of these fits a particular reason for being on Rhodes, rather than restating the neighbourhood cards above in different words.

Seeing the medieval city properly, not just passing through

This suits a first Rhodes visit built around the medieval city itself.

Skip the Old Town if wheeled luggage and vehicle drop-offs at the door matter more than atmosphere.

Easier vehicle access, still near the Old Town

Choose Mandraki when easier vehicle access and modern hotels matter as much as being a short walk from the walls.

Skip Mandraki if the Old Town's own atmosphere is genuinely non-negotiable.

Beach clubs and Rhodes's liveliest nights

Pick Faliraki when beach clubs and nightlife matter more than historical sightseeing.

Skip Faliraki entirely outside the main season, when much of its nightlife closes down.

Basing at Lindos instead of a rushed day trip

Choose this when the acropolis and village matter enough to skip the round-trip drive from Rhodes Town.

Skip an overnight Lindos stay if the return drive to Rhodes Town's airport or ferry port needs to stay short.

Touring the whole island from one base

This matters for anyone wanting to see Lindos, Faliraki and the Old Town all in one trip without relying purely on buses.

Skip this unless a rental car is genuinely part of the plan; Rhodes' size makes it impractical otherwise.

Once you know which area fits your trip, compare live availability, exact hotel locations and room details. Editorial advice here is separate from provider prices and availability.

Search Rhodes hotels →

An overnight ferry or a short flight, then buses or a rental car

Rhodes sits far enough from Piraeus that the ferry is an overnight journey rather than a same-day option, and the island's own size means a single base rarely covers everything without a rental vehicle.

Reaching Rhodes by air or by an overnight ferry

The airport bus reaches town or continues to Lindos

Diagoras Airport, code RHO, sits about 14km southwest of Rhodes Town near Paradeisi; KTEL buses run to Rhodes Town for around €3 one-way, with a combined Airport-to-Lindos fare around €8.50 for travellers heading straight there.

Flying from Athens takes about an hour

Aegean Airlines and Sky Express fly Athens to Rhodes direct in about an hour, daily year-round; it is by far the faster option compared with the ferry, which matters more on a short trip than on an island-hopping itinerary with time to spare.

The Piraeus ferry is an overnight commitment, not a day option

Blue Star Ferries sails Piraeus to Rhodes in roughly 12 to 18 hours depending on the vessel and stops, with up to ten weekly departures in summer dropping to about two a week off-season; deck fares start from around €45 to €59 in low season.

Buses for the coast, a rental vehicle for everything else

Buses cover the main coastal towns, on a summer timetable

KTEL buses connect Rhodes Town to Faliraki and Lindos with near-hourly departures in summer, priced roughly €2.50 to €5.50 one-way depending on distance; schedules thin out considerably outside the June-to-September season.

The island's real size makes a rental vehicle worthwhile

At roughly 1,400 square kilometres, Rhodes is far larger than Santorini or Mykonos, and a rental car or scooter is the practical way to reach Lindos, the island's interior villages, or a specific beach on your own schedule rather than the bus timetable's.

Rhodes Town's harbour reaches the wider Dodecanese

Dodekanisos Seaways runs daily high-speed connections from Rhodes Town's harbour to Symi in as little as 40 minutes, and to Kos, Kalymnos, Leros and other Dodecanese islands on longer routes, useful for anyone combining Rhodes with a wider island-hopping trip.

Two separate archaeological tickets, two separate rules

The Palace ticket is timed and priced on its own

The Palace of the Grand Master, the Old Town's headline monument, charges €20 for a timed-entry adult ticket, open 8am to 8pm in summer with last admission at 7:30pm; it is priced and booked separately from Lindos's acropolis ticket.

Lindos's acropolis ticket is cheap; the donkey ride now has real limits

The Acropolis of Lindos charges around €6 for entry, with summer hours 8am to 8pm shortening to 8am-3pm from November to March; donkey rides up the hill still operate but are now capped under 2024 welfare rules limiting each animal to about an hour of work a day.

Cobbles and car-free lanes shape access inside the walls

The medieval streets are uneven by design, not by neglect

The Old Town's medieval streets are cobbled, frequently sloped, and closed to regular vehicle traffic; a wheeled suitcase or a wheelchair both face a genuinely uneven surface, and a specific hotel's exact street should be checked before booking with mobility needs in mind, since access varies block by block.

Plan the ferry-or-flight choice and the two ticket sites first

Rhodes rewards planning around three things: an overnight ferry commitment versus a one-hour flight, two separate archaeological tickets with different hours, and an island large enough that a single base rarely covers everything without a rental vehicle.

A long sunny season, and one piece of settled history

Move sightseeing to the morning in peak summer heat

Move sightseeing to the morning in peak summer heat

Rhodes averages roughly 2,780 to 3,075 sunshine hours a year, with July alone seeing about 372 hours; June through September is reliably hot and dry, ideal for beach time but demanding for a midday walk through the shadeless Old Town streets.
The 2023 wildfire is history, not a current travel concern

A major wildfire in July 2023 forced the evacuation of over 19,000 people from several south-coast villages including parts near Lindos; roughly 90 percent of the island's tourism infrastructure, including Rhodes Town, Faliraki and Lindos itself, was unaffected, and the island recorded one of its strongest tourism years by 2025.
Shoulder-season months suit the Old Town's walking best

Spring and autumn keep warm, sunny weather with noticeably fewer crowds and lower prices than the July-to-August peak, a comfortable window for walking the Old Town's shadeless streets without the midsummer heat.

Price the flight-versus-ferry choice, then the two ticket sites

Weigh the flight's speed against the ferry's lower fare

Weigh the flight's speed against the ferry's lower fare

Flying Athens to Rhodes costs more than the ferry but takes about an hour against 12 to 18 hours overnight; price the time saved against the fare difference based on how many days the trip actually has to spare.
Price the two archaeological tickets and the rental car separately

The Palace of the Grand Master costs €20 and Lindos's acropolis around €6, entirely separate tickets for entirely separate sites; a rental car or scooter, needed to reach Lindos and the island's beaches independently, typically costs more per day than a single KTEL bus fare but removes the timetable entirely.
Prime locations inside the walls or on the beach carry a premium

Compare Old Town, Mandraki, Faliraki and Lindos for the same dates and room standard. Treat being inside the walls, directly on the beach or facing the acropolis as separate benefits, then decide which one will actually change the trip.

Where Rhodes visitors most often lose a day or a booking

Underestimating how long the Piraeus ferry actually takes

Underestimating how long the Piraeus ferry actually takes

The ferry from Piraeus takes 12 to 18 hours, not a few hours as some shorter Cyclades routes do; booking it expecting a same-day Athens departure and Rhodes arrival leaves a traveller stranded overnight at sea instead.
Assuming one ticket covers both the Palace and Lindos

The Palace of the Grand Master's €20 ticket and Lindos's acropolis ticket are entirely separate purchases at separate sites; assuming one covers the other, or that a combined pass exists, leaves a gap in the day's plan.
Treating Lindos as a quick trip rather than a real drive

At roughly 1,400 square kilometres, Rhodes is far larger than Santorini or Mykonos. Treat Lindos as a substantial east-coast outing and include both legs of the journey before adding another stop to the day.
Visiting Lindos in the middle of the day, at its most crowded

Arriving at Lindos mid-morning to mid-afternoon means sharing the acropolis and village lanes with the day's heaviest cruise and coach traffic; an early morning or a late-afternoon visit, or an overnight stay in the village itself, avoids the worst of it.

How many nights make sense for a first Rhodes trip?

Four to five nights covers the Old Town properly, a day trip to Lindos, and a beach afternoon at Faliraki without rushing; a week lets you add a Symi boat trip from Rhodes Town's own harbour.

Is it better to stay inside Rhodes Old Town's walls or just outside them?

The Old Town's medieval walls make it the most atmospheric base and the closest to the Palace of the Grand Master, but Mandraki, just outside the walls, offers easier vehicle access and more modern hotel choices for the same short walk to the harbour.

How far is Lindos from Rhodes Town, and is it worth an overnight stay?

About 50 minutes by car or a similar time by KTEL bus; Lindos makes a full and worthwhile day trip, and travellers who want its hilltop acropolis without the return drive often base there overnight instead.

Should I fly or take the ferry to Rhodes from Athens?

Aegean Airlines and Sky Express both fly the route in about an hour, considerably faster than Blue Star Ferries' 12-to-18-hour overnight sailing from Piraeus; the ferry suits an island-hopping itinerary more than a quick direct trip.

Can you still ride a donkey up to the Lindos acropolis?

Yes, donkey rides still operate, but 2024 welfare rules cap each animal at about an hour of work a day across five short routes, worked in pairs on alternating days; walking up remains the alternative for anyone who'd rather skip the ride altogether.

Is Rhodes really as sunny as it claims to be?

Rhodes markets itself as one of the sunniest places in Europe, averaging around 2,780 to 3,075 hours of sunshine a year, with July alone seeing roughly 372 sunshine hours; June through September is reliably hot and dry, while spring and autumn stay mild.

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How this guide was researched

Reviewed by StartBooker editorial team Travel editorial research and rewrite

Last reviewed 2026-09-10

Editorial method: Original editorial guidance based on the listed UNESCO, airport, bus operator, ticketing and ferry sources, cross-checked against independent Rhodes-focused travel and news publishers for neighbourhood character, donkey-ride regulation and post-wildfire recovery facts. Time-sensitive prices, timetables and ferry schedules are left to the linked operators.

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