Quick Links:
- Hotels in Rhodes – the best website for hotels in Rhodes
- The 5 Best Greek Island for Families
- The Best Beaches in Greece
- The Beaches of Rhodes
Travel Information for the Greek island of Rhodes
Steeped in history and blessed with some of Greece’s best beaches (and hotels and restaurants), Rhodes is almost the perfect destination for traveling families. The high number of tourists can overwhelm some of the most popular attractions but Rhodes is one of the larger Greek islands and finding a tranquil beach or sleepy village town can often be just a day trip away.
Attractions for Kids and Families
Rhodes (Rhodos) Town
The Old Town of Rhodes is one of the best preserved
Medieval towns in the Medditeranean and most kids will love wandering its cobblestone streets and alleys. The town beach, while not one of the islands best, makes for a nice swim after exploring the tourist attractions. The Jewish Quarter is dotted with enchanting and atmospheric hotels that most children will find exhilarating. A fun energetic excursion is a walk along the sand to Ixia beach, about 3 or 4 miles down the coast, and then taxi back.
Marine Aquarium, Rhodes Town
This fun yet simple aquarium is located a short distance from the old town. If you’re looking for an activity that’s a break from the sun this should keep the children entertained for an afternoon.
Lindos
The pedestrian only village of Lindos with the Acropolis perched over top is a magical destination for kids and families. Arrive early to avoid the crowds and the mid-day heat. The climb from the village to the Acropolis is not an easy one. A shallow protected beach lies at the base of the Acropolis.
Petaloudes, the valley of the butterflies.
From June to September the valley is swarmed with butterflies (in truth they’re Jersey Tiger Moths) and makes for an enchanting reprieve from the heat of the coasts. Get here early as it is very popular with tour groups – especially in the high season of July and August.
Beaches for Families with Children
Vlicha beach
If the town beaches of Rhodes and Lindos are too crowded this makes a good option. A slowly sloping beach makes for a good destination for children pining for some water fun.
Faliraki
This popular vacation destination has mellowed over the years making it’s beautiful shallow and calm beach a good choice for families with small kids. The nearby water park and in-town bowling alley add to the appeal.
Tsambika Beach
A quiet resort with a few restaurants and a mini market. If Faliraki is too busy for you the calm shallow waters of this beach, situated in a protected cove, might make an appealing destination.
Ferry To Rhodes
Situated at the farthest corner of the Greek island constellation, Rhodes can take anywhere from 17-24 hours to get to by ferry. If your time is limited flying will make more sense. If you do take the ferry to or from Athens you’ll have almost all the islands laid out before you like a Greek feast. A well planned trip can easily take in a half dozen other islands, all without ever feeling like you’re going much out of your way.
Ferries between Santorini and Rhodes run 2 or 3 times per week, take 7 to 15 hours and often travel overnight. Kos has the best connections with Rhodes and is on most routes back to Athens.
There are also ferries between Turkey and Rhodes with the boat from Rhodes Town to Marmaris being the shortest and most consistent. It usually runs every day from May until October. There are also day trips between Rhodes and Fethiye.
Flights to Rhodes
There are flights from Athens to Rhodes with Olympic Air and Athens Airways and flights with Aegean Airlines from Thessaloniki and Athens to Rhodes. The following budget airlines have flights from the main hubs in Europe to Rhodes:
- Aegean Airlines
- Ryanair
- EasyJet
- Air Berlin
- Air Baltic
- jet2
- FlyThomasCook
- Thomson Flights
- Lauda Air
- NIKI
- Germanwings
- TUI Fly
- Transavia
- Norwegian
[Photos by: bazylek100 and David Spender]
My Favorite Websites
I get lots of questions about booking hotels. These are my favorite sites.HotelsCombined.com – The absolute best for finding hotel deals and discounts.
Agoda.com – A great resource for hotels in Asia.
My tip for Rhodes. Fly one way: Athens to Rhodes, then island hop with the ferry on your way back to Athens. The ferry visits all the main islands -> Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos. And don’t bother booking ahead. I’d hate to be having a great time on some island and have to leave because you booked some hotel on the internet. We were there in July and August, everyone told us how busy ti was going to be and the crowds, yada yada, but we were fine. We only had 1 kid with us so I guess we were fairly flexible. A bigger family might not have that luxury, but still. Santorini was the one island we had booked ahead so I can’t comment on availability there and Mykonos we had to look for about an hour. Other than that no issues.
The food was great and unlike so many foreign cuisines it’s really pretty kid friendly. Everything seems to come with fries. But good fries like you’re eating a potato.
And the beaches too. Just about every one we visited was like it was designed for kids. Shallow and calm. Perfect water. Not sure if we were just lucky.
What else? Rent a car on Crete. Very big island and it’s nice to be able to get anywhere you want. Maybe make Crete your culture and activity island. The beaches seemed better on other islands but lots of hiking and little towns in the hills etc. Lots of sightseeing and walking.
Adios.
We did a very similar trip as Orwell above. Rhodes for 1 week, then Crete by ferry almost 1 week there, then a fast boat to Santorini. We flew to Athens from SAntorini. The most fun we had was in Rhodes. The best beaches we saw were in Crete. And the best pictures and best food and wine were on Santorini. (We were traveling with a toddler and a teen.)
The ferry is fun but breaking it up with some flights is a good idea if you’ve got some children (and their bags – uhh).
We rented a house (from a friend of a friend) for the week in Rhodes and that was really special. No idea how you’d arrange that in Greece but what a great way to experience a country. It makes you go shopping and cook meals and ask people where the market it is. A lot of fun.
Hello David,
Thanks so much for all the great info. I’m planning a trip for July 2012, with two kids 11 and 9 for 2.5 weeks. We’re thinking of flying into Turkey for 3-5 days then off to Greece. Based on comments, etc, I’m thinking:
Turkey to Rhodes with Rhodes as our anchor staying 3 days
Day trips to Kos and/or Patmos, then
Rhodes to Naxos – 2-3 days
Naxos to Santorini – day trip or maybe 1 night 2 days
Santorini to Athens – 2 days
My questions:
Boat or fly from Turkey to Rhodes?
Kos or Patmos or both? or neither?
Based on proximity, I’m feeling like we should consider CRETE as well, but because of timing, something would need to go.
I know its July, but is there one island I haven’t considered that would be the ideal off-the-beaten-path option?
Thanks so much for any advice.
Hi Scott. My thoughts:
–Skip Kos and Patmos. Rhodes has a ton to see and could easily fill 3 days. No sense wasting more time on a ferry.
–Go Rhodes to Santorini, and then Naxos and back to Athens. Naxos to Santorini would have you backtracking and there are better connections between Rhodes and Santorini than Rhodes and Naxos.
–Santorini will be crazy busy during July (and August). Be prepared and book your hotel in advance. (Can always do Santorini as a day trip from Naxos too.
–Crete is great but requires at least 5 days to even skim the surface. Save it for your next trip.
–Ikaria, Antiparos, Lesvos (close to Turkey) and Milos all come to mind when you enquired about off-the-beaten-path islands. Even these places will be busy in summer though, so don’t expect a deserted island.
Let me know if you have more questions. Have fun.
Thanks so much for the info!
Hello David,
I will be taking a cruise to Rhodes with my 6month old baby and I was wondering how to get to Lindos from the port? We want to take the bus, are the buses safe? I’m worried cause I’ll be traveling with my baby. Should I take the stroller or carrier will be best?
Help!
thank you,
Nancy
Hi Nancy. The bus ride to Lindos takes about 45 minutes to an hour and costs 4 or 5 Euros. A taxi is a bit quicker and costs 40 to 50 Euros. To get to the bus stand it’s about a 10 minute walk from the port – or a short taxi ride. The bus is safe, I suppose. For the taxi you would want a car seat but the taxi will not have one so you’d need to have your own. In Lindos, you’d want a baby carrier as a stroller would be very hard to use on the cobblestoned roads. I hope that helps a little.
Hello,
I am planning a trip in April (12-20) for Greece and the islands. We are 2 adults and 3 children. We would like to visit Athens (2 days), Ephesus (1-2 days) and would like to spend some time at a beach (1-2 days), small hikes and ancient ruins, etc. Any idea on where we should fly into (Athens, Rhodes, Kos, Volos) and the most economical way to get around? This will be our first time in the area and don’t know if we will ever be able to go back… ($$$). Any ideas on an itinerary? Ferries? Cruise? Hotels that will allow us all in one room (kids are 11, 7 and 2)? Any recommended itineraries would be appreciated.
Hi Chris. Just so you know, you probably won’t be swimming at that time of year. If you got some really unexpected warm weather it might be possible in Crete (the warmest island) but I wouldn’t plan on it. Rhodes is a great island. Maybe also Crete as it typically has more ferry connections with Athens and they run more often in the off season. It also has more flights to Athens. I’d probably fly one way and then ferry back to Athens, perhaps with a stop in Santorini as many ferries from Crete to Athens stop in Santorini.
As for hotels, the best website for finding deals is http://hotelscombined.com. It’s awesome.
It will also display a variety of options as to what size of rooms and what amenities are included before you book so it works well when you need flexibility. Good luck.
Hello, I’m really stuck trying to decide on which island to go in early august. There are 3 of us, our son is 8. We want something family orientated and I was thinking of Crete, Rhodes or Kefalonia. Somebody said Rhodes was a bit full of bars showing sky sports, selling pukka pies etc which spoils the beauty of the island. Crete looks lovely but the part where I was looking down the coast from Chania looks full of vast hotels and perhaps not so nice for walking. Basically we want somewhere near a nice beach, not too overcrowded, not too much ‘animation’ in the hotel, with a pool, somewhere we can take walks, cycle, horseride nearby, not too far from a main town, like Chania in Crete, or Lindos in Rhodes and with plenty of places to explore. I don’t know too much about Kefalonia. Any help would be very much appreciated!! Thank you.
Rhodes can certainly get very busy in August. By what you’re describing I’m thinking of Corfu. The main town is delightful and charming. Lots of great beaches, horseback riding, walking, sunsets. And it’s an easy island to get around by bus. If you’re sticking with Crete, Rethymno, Chania, and Paleochora (on the southwest coast) are all great and very walkable.
Other islands to consider: Lesvos, Ikaria, Naxos, and Folegandros (great for walking).
Good luck.
Hi David,
We love your webpage, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
My husband, 3 year old daughter and myself are planning a trip to Greece for two weeks at the end of June/early July. We will be in Kos for work for one week then 8 days left. We were thinking a few nights in Athens and the remaining 5 nights we were hoping to just relax beach side and enjoy fresh, local cuisine as much as possible. Hoping to avoid crowded party scenes!
Thanks for your advice, best wishes
Lesvos is probably your best choice in Eastern Greece if you’re looking for something quiet. Ikaria is another great option. FYI, getting from Kos (or Rhodes or Lesvos) to Athens is a long ferry ride. Good luck.
Hi David
I plan to go to Rhodes in the begning of April for 4 days.
We are family with two girls 4 and 6
My concern is that since we will not be able to swim since its going to be a little cold.
Are there enough atractions that can keep the girls busy for 4 days ?
Thanks
Rafi
I think so. The weather should be nice for walking and exploring. There are some cool things to see inland and Lindros is great. The Old Town of Rhodes is very cool too.
We have decided to go to Rhodes based on your recommendation … thank you! We have two girls, 10 and 8 … we are staying for 4 nights. Where would you recommend we stay? Which part of the island? Which hotels?
Thank you again!
We are going in July.
Hi Angela. One warning for you is that Rhodes will be very busy in July – especially after July 15. So that means two things: 1) Book early. 2) Expect crowds and try to visit attractions early in the day or in the late afternoon.
Where to stay in Rhodes? Rhodes Town and Lindos are the highlights so even though they’ll be busy I’d base yourself there.
Here are the best links for finding hotels:
Hotels in Lindos
Hotels in Rhodes City
This is a good resource if you’re looking for an apartment or villa: http://www.rodos-apartments.com/rhodes_apartments.php
Good luck.
Hi! I am planning a family vacation (Mom,Dad, 2 boys 10 and 14 years)
We still don’t know the dates, but between July and August.
We plan to spend 2 weeks there.
I cannot decide which island is the best for us.
I prefer the Cyclades but I also find interesting Crete and Rhodes.
We plan to visit Athens 1 or 2 days and then move to the Islands.
I really want to relax, but my husband and kids get bored easily. We like sandy beaches. Maybe a mix of relaxing and visits could work, but even with the guide in my hands and the web searches I am lost!.
Could you suggest something?
I think Crete or Rhodes are your best bets for a mix of cultural attractions and fun things to do. The cyclades are great but you’d probably want to keep moving (3 or 4 islands for 2 or 3 nights each) – not sure if that’s what you’re looking for.
Don’t worry too much. All the islands are great and you’ll love wherever you pick. Promise.
If you’re planning on getting around by ferry I’d visit Athens at the end of your trip. Ferries can be canceled due to high winds and rough seas and you should get back to Athens with at least a night or two to spare. By visiting Athens at the start you end up using several days at both the beginning and end. Better to collect them together at the conclusion of your trip. Just a thought.
Good luck.