Dodecanese · The island of knights
Rhodes
Rhodes is the largest island of the Dodecanese, and its walled old town, built by the Knights of St John, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best preserved medieval cities anywhere. Around it: castles, beaches and a summer that stretches deep into autumn.
The first traces of life on Rhodes are lost in the fog of myth. Tradition names the Heliades, children of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Clymene, as the first inhabitants, alongside the Telchines, a strange people said to resemble demons: skilled sailors and craftsmen who taught the early Rhodians to forge metal and work stone. Islands with better founding stories are hard to find.
Two centuries of knights
From 1306 until 1522, Rhodes was the base of the Knights of St John, until the island fell to the Ottomans. The knights left their armour, rediscovered in the nineteenth century, and something larger: a walled medieval city in such good condition that UNESCO lists it as a World Heritage Site. Inside the walls, stone streets polished by seven centuries of footsteps run past the buildings of the knights, churches, mosques, palaces and the courtyards of what was once the Old Market. The Street of the Knights, in early morning light, is the island’s time machine.
The island with everything
Rhodes is the fourth biggest island of Greece and by far the largest of the Dodecanese, layering Greece, Italy and the Levant in a way no other island does. Its beaches are among the best in the country, most of them along the eastern and southern coasts, and its infrastructure carries every pace of travel, from archaeology mornings to watersport afternoons. On Rhodes there really is something for everyone, which is exactly why it anchors our Dodecanese journeys; pair it with Symi, an hour away by boat.
Explore Rhodes
The Palace of the Grand Master
The knights’ own house, and the heaviest thing standing inside the walls: two round towers over a gate built to be looked at as much as defended. It is the building that explains those two centuries at a glance, and after dark, lit from below, it is the first thing you see of Rhodes from the water.
The Street of the Knights
The stone street that runs uphill past the buildings of the knights, inside the walls. Walk it in early morning light, before the day’s footsteps arrive: this is the island’s time machine, and the reason the old town deserves a morning of its own rather than an hour between other things.
Mandraki Harbour
The working edge of the modern town, where the yachts and the day boats tie up below the medieval line of the old city. Come back at night: the palace on the hill is floodlit, and the whole of it lands again upside down on the water.
Pairing Rhodes
Rhodes anchors the southern end of a Dodecanese route, with Symi an hour away by boat as its natural counterpart and Kos and Patmos strung to the north. Direct flights in season also make it a clean opening chapter for a longer journey.
Known first-hand
Our best picks on Rhodes
- Best Activity Lindos
The village below its ancient acropolis is one of the great set pieces of the island: five thousand years of history stacked over a white town and two beaches sharing one bay. A full day and evening may not be enough.
- Best Beach Prasonisi
At the island's southern tip, a narrow line of sand ties a small green islet to the shore, making two beaches back to back. The steady wind has made it a paradise for kitesurfers.
- Best Daytrip Seven Springs
Epta Piges: a cool oasis of springs, plane trees and hidden trails where the water runs all year and gathers into a small lake made for swimming.
- Best Dining Four Pomegranates
On an island this size the fast-food corners are easy to find and easy to skip. Four Pomegranates cooks by its own motto, that the most important ingredient is the love for the people you are cooking for, and keeps the promise on every plate.
- Best Sight Monolithos at sunset
A 5th-century castle on a cliff above the sea, beside a village of narrow streets and traditional cafes. Without any doubt, the island's best sunset.
Direct flights in season, and a summer that stretches deep into autumn. Spring is best for walking the old town.
Design
Design your experience
Tell us the occasion, the season and who is coming. One of our Epicureans will come back with a first sketch of Rhodes, and will tell you if another island suits your dates better.