Where to Stay in Rhodes: You Are Picking a Side, Not a Town

Rhodes is about 80 kilometres long, which is big for a Greek island. That length is not the thing that decides where you sleep, though.

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The thing that decides it is the wind. The prevailing summer breeze comes from the north west and hits one side of Rhodes island head on. The west coast is choppy, breezy and pebbly. The east coast, in the lee of the hills, is calm and sandy. On the same afternoon, in the same week, the sea on one side is white-capped and the sea on the other is flat. For other islands, see where to stay in Santorini.

So the real question is not which town is prettiest. It is whether you intend to swim, and that answer puts you on a side of the island before you have looked at a single hotel. If you are wondering where to stay and planning a trip to Rhodes for the first time, start there rather than with a list of accommodation.

Beach types, distances, bus links and airport positions read 10 September 2026. Rates change constantly, so check current prices yourself.

The best areas to stay in Rhodes at a glance: where it is best to stay

If you want one answer: Rhodes Town for a first trip to Rhodes, and Lindos or the east coast if the holiday is about the beach. Both are on the sheltered side, and the best beaches on the island are all along it.

The two sides of the island: the best areas in Rhodes split by wind

Before any guide to the best areas is useful, this is the split to understand.

• The west coast faces the open Aegean and takes the prevailing north-westerly straight on. Expect a breeze most summer afternoons and a sea with movement in it.
• West coast beaches are pebbly almost everywhere, from Ixia down past Ialysos. Water shoes are normal rather than fussy.
• The east coast is sheltered by the spine of hills that runs down the island, and its beaches are sand or fine shingle.
• That is why the windsurfing schools are all on one side. The wind is a feature there, not a fault, and Prasonisi at the southern tip is one of the better-known spots in the Greek islands for it.
• It is also why the west side is cheaper for the same standard of hotel with the same sea view. You are paying less because the sea is less swimmable.
• Rhodes International Airport is on the west coast, a few minutes from Ixia, which is the other reason that strip filled with large hotels.
• Rhodes is the biggest of the Dodecanese, and getting around the island takes longer than the distances suggest because the two coast roads do not join up in the middle.

Rhodes Town: the medieval old town and the new town

The city of Rhodes sits at the northern tip where the two coasts meet, and it is really two places joined together.

• Rhodes Old Town is walled, cobbled and lived in. The fortifications of Rhodes enclose a medieval town that people still live and work in, which is rarer than the brochures imply.
• The Palace of the Grand Master is the landmark at the top of the Street of the Knights, and the Hospitaller architecture around it is the reason the whole quarter is protected.
• Staying in the Old Town means small boutique hotels in converted stone houses, courtyards, and a rule that cars mostly cannot follow you in. Kokkini Porta Rossa is the best-known conversion of that type.
• The new town of Rhodes runs north and west from the walls: Mandraki harbour with its stone windmills, the Elli beach, and most of the dining options and shops.
• Elli is a city beach, pebbly and busy, and it is right there rather than good. The proper sandy beaches are further down the east coast.
• Everything is within walking distance here, which is not true anywhere else on the island, and most of the things to do in Rhodes that are not beaches are inside these walls.
• Hospitaller Rhodes is the reason the Old Town of Rhodes looks the way it does, and the museums around Rhodes Town explain it better than any plaque does.
• Best for a first trip, for anyone without a car, and for a stay of three nights or fewer.

Ixia and Ialysos: the west coast, the wind and the cheapest sea view

• Ixia starts about 5 km from Rhodes Town and runs along the west shore as an almost unbroken line of large hotels.
• This is the windsurfing and kitesurfing end of the island, and the schools are on the beach in front of the hotels.
• The beach is pebble, the sea has chop in the afternoon, and the sunsets are the best on Rhodes because you are facing west.
• Ialysos continues the same strip a little further out, slightly cheaper again, with the hill village of Filerimos behind it.
• You are close to Rhodes Town, on a frequent bus, and five minutes from Rhodes airport, which suits short stays and late flights.
• Best for value, for sea view rooms at a lower price, for windsurfing, and for anyone who does not mind a lively sea.

Faliraki: the long sandy beach and the family end

• Faliraki is about 14 km south of Rhodes Town on the east coast, and its long sandy beach is the reason it exists.
• It has two reputations and both are true. The northern end is a family resort with water sports and shallow water. The strip inland has the nightlife the town is known for.
• The area of Faliraki has the widest range of hotels on the island, from all-inclusive resorts to small apartments a street back. If you want to be close to the beach without paying Lindos rates, stay in Faliraki.
• An all-inclusive resort here usually means direct beach access, an outdoor pool or three, and a buffet that will feed a child who refuses everything else. That combination is what makes it the obvious choice for families.
• Anthony Quinn Bay and Ladiko are the two small coves just south, and they are the prettiest swimming near the town.
• Best for families, for a beach holiday with things happening, and for a first trip where you want a walk to the beach. A hotel for families with rooms right on the beach is easier to find here than anywhere else on Rhodes.

Kallithea and Afandou: close to Rhodes Town, near a beach, quieter

• Kallithea sits between the city and Faliraki and is best known for the restored 1930s thermal springs, which are now a swimming spot rather than a spa.
• Afandou is further south, has a very long shingle beach, a golf course, and far fewer people than either neighbour.
• Both are on the sheltered side and both work well if you have a car and want space without going far from the city.
• Hotels here lean towards the quieter end, including several adults-only properties with a garden and an infinity pool rather than a water slide.
• Best for couples who want the east coast and easy access to Rhodes Town.

Lindos: whitewashed houses under the Acropolis of Lindos

Lindos is about 50 km south of Rhodes Town and is the one place on the island everyone photographs.

• The Acropolis of Lindos sits directly above the village on a rock, with a temple of Athena at the top and a view down onto two bays. It is a smaller, quieter place to visit than the Acropolis of Athens and you have it largely to yourself early.
• The village itself is a maze of whitewashed houses with pebble-mosaic courtyards, and no cars get in. You walk, or you take a donkey up the hill.
• St Paul’s Bay is the small circular cove below the acropolis, almost enclosed by rock, and it is the best swim in the area.
• Staying inside the village means a converted captain’s house, often with a roof terrace and no lift and a lot of steps. Lindian Pearl Apartments and the villas around them are the type.
• Lindos Grand Resort and the larger hotels sit outside the village on the coast, which trades the atmosphere for a pool and a car park.
• It is busy in the middle of the day with visitors from the resorts and the cruise stops, and lovely at either end of it.
• Best for couples, for a second visit, and for anyone who would rather have the village than the beach.

Kiotari, Pefkos and the south: resorts and very little else

• Pefkos is just south of Lindos, a smaller and quieter version of the same coast with a good sandy beach and a walkable centre.
• Kiotari is further south again and is essentially a line of large resorts on a long beach, with the rest of the island a drive away.
• This part of Rhodes is where the newer luxury builds are, including adults-only hotels, spacious suites with a private pool, and in a couple of cases a private beach. Mayia Exclusive Resort and Spa is the landmark of that group.
• You will need to rent a car here. Buses exist but they are infrequent, and there is not enough within walking distance to fill a week.
• Prasonisi at the southern tip is worth the drive: a sand spit with the Aegean on one side and the Mediterranean on the other, and wind on both.
• Best for an all-inclusive week where you do not intend to move much.

The best hotels in Rhodes: what a hotel in Rhodes means by category

• All-inclusive resorts dominate Faliraki, Kiotari and the west coast strip. They are the reason Rhodes is cheaper per night than most of the Greek islands.
• A boutique hotel in Rhodes almost always means a stone house inside the medieval old town, ten to twenty rooms, a courtyard, and no pool.
• Adults-only properties cluster on the east coast between Kallithea and Kiotari, and are where you find the infinity pool and the quiet garden.
• A suite with a private pool is available at a fraction of what the same thing costs on Santorini, which is the strongest argument for the island at the luxury end.
• Direct beach access is worth checking rather than assuming. Several large hotels sit across a road from the sand, and being right on the beach costs more than being near it.
• A luxury hotel on Rhodes is a newer low-rise build on the south-east coast rather than a grand old name, and privacy is what it is selling.
• Book early for July and August. Rhodes has a lot of beds, but the good ones on the east coast go first.

These are listed as landmarks, not recommendations. Nobody here has stayed in them and we do not print rates. Check current prices and availability yourself.

Eating on Rhodes, and what it does to your choice of base

Where you sleep decides what dinner looks like here more than on most Greek islands, because the resort strips and the old towns feed people very differently.

• A taverna in the villages serves Dodecanese cuisine that leans on the sea and on goat, and the food is noticeably better away from the beachfront rows.
• Rhodes Town has the widest range of dining options by a distance, from the courtyards inside the walls to the seafront in the new town.
• Resort hotels on the strips mostly serve a buffet breakfast and a buffet dinner. That is the trade you make for the price and for the beach.
• Wine on Rhodes is a real thing. The island has been growing it since Ancient Greece and there are producers on the slopes below Mount Attavyros worth a stop.
• If eating out matters to you, base yourself in Rhodes Town, Lindos or Pefkos rather than on an all-inclusive strip.

Getting around Rhodes: do you need a car?

• Staying in Rhodes Town, no. The old town is closed to traffic, the buses along both coasts are frequent, and parking is the worst part of the city.
• Staying anywhere south of Faliraki, yes. Bus frequency drops away and the distances between the beaches get real.
• Most people recommend renting a car for two or three days rather than the whole trip, which is usually the cheaper answer.
• The drive from Rhodes Town to Lindos takes about an hour on a good road, and the west coast road is quicker than the east.
• Car rental is easiest at Rhodes airport on the west side, and returning it there costs you nothing in detour if you fly out from Ixia.
• A day trip to Symi by boat from Mandraki is the one excursion almost everyone rates, and it needs no car at all. Boats also run around the island to the eastern coves in season.

Should you split your stay between Rhodes Old Town or Lindos?

On an island this long, two bases often beat one, and Rhodes Old Town and Lindos are the obvious pair.

• Three nights in Rhodes Town, four in the south is the shape that works for a week. History first, then the beach.
• It saves you the hour each way that a day trip to Lindos otherwise costs, twice.
• Do it in that order, because arriving tired into a walled town with no car access is easier than doing it at the end.
• For ten days, add the far south or the west coast as a third stop rather than stretching either of the first two.
• For four nights or fewer, do not split. Stay in the city and take one day trip.

Places to stay in Rhodes by traveller: planning your Rhodes trip

• First trip, short stay — Rhodes Old Town, inside the walls.
• Families — Faliraki or Kiotari, both perfect for families, for the long sandy beach and the resorts.
• Couples — Lindos village, or an adults-only hotel around Afandou.
• On a budget — Ialysos on the west coast, or an apartment a street back from Faliraki.
• Windsurfing — Ixia for the schools, Prasonisi for the serious wind.
• No car — Rhodes Town or Faliraki, both on frequent buses.
• A quiet week — Pefkos or Afandou, on the sheltered side and away from the strips.

Planning the rest of the country? See our Greece itinerary.

Check hotels in Rhodes →

Not sure which area to book? See where to stay in Crete.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best area to stay in Rhodes?

Rhodes Old Town for a first trip. It is a walled medieval town that people still live in, everything is within walking distance, and you do not need a car. If the holiday is mainly about the beach, choose the east coast instead: Faliraki for families, Lindos or Pefkos for couples.

Which side of Rhodes has the better beaches?

The east. It sits in the shelter of the hills, so the sea is calmer and the beaches are sand or fine shingle. The west coast faces the prevailing north-westerly, which makes it breezy and choppy, and its beaches are pebbly. That wind is exactly why the windsurfing schools are all on the west side.

Is it better to stay in Rhodes Town or Lindos?

Rhodes Town if you want history, restaurants and no car. Lindos if you want the prettiest village on the island and a quiet evening once the day visitors leave. They are about 50 km apart, roughly an hour by road, so on a week-long trip the best answer is often to split your stay between the two.

Where should I stay in Rhodes with a family?

Faliraki, on the east coast about 14 km from the city. It has the longest sandy beach on the island, shallow water at the northern end, and the widest choice of all-inclusive resorts with direct beach access. Kiotari further south is the quieter alternative if you have a car.

Do you need to rent a car in Rhodes?

Not if you stay in Rhodes Town or Faliraki, which both have frequent buses and plenty within walking distance. South of Faliraki you do, because bus frequency drops and the distances grow. Most people hire a car for two or three days rather than the whole trip.

Is Ixia a good place to stay in Rhodes?

Yes, with one condition. It is close to Rhodes Town and the airport, it has the best sunsets on the island, and sea view rooms cost less than on the east coast. The condition is the wind: the beach is pebbly and the sea is often choppy. If you want to float rather than sail, book the other side.

How far is Lindos from Rhodes Town?

About 50 km, or roughly an hour by car or bus down the east coast. Buses run several times a day in season. Lindos itself is closed to traffic, so you park outside and walk in, and the climb to the Acropolis of Lindos above the village takes about twenty minutes on foot.

How many days do you need in Rhodes?

Four nights covers the old town, Lindos and one beach day. A week lets you split your stay and see the south, including Prasonisi at the tip. Ten days is enough to add the west coast and a boat day trip to Symi without ever feeling rushed.