Greek Isles & Aegean · Cruise port guide
Rhodes, Greece
The largest inhabited medieval town in Europe, walled by the Knights of St John, with the berth a few minutes from its gates.
Port basics
Getting ashore
Ships dock
Berth to town
The Old Town gates are about 500 m from the berth — under 10 minutes on foot.
Time in port
Typically 8–11 hours
Cruise season
Calls April to November
Currency
Euro
Language
Greek; English and Italian widely spoken
Time zone
Eastern European Time (UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer)
Nearest airport
Rhodes International (RHO) — About 14 km southwest, 25 minutes
These are the patterns Rhodes normally operates on. Berth assignments, tender arrangements and time in port vary by ship, line and day, and we confirm the specifics for your sailing once we know the dates.
About Rhodes
Rhodes Old Town is the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe, and the emphasis belongs on inhabited — people live and work inside the walls, so it is a functioning town rather than a preserved monument. The Knights of St John held the island for two centuries until the Ottomans took it in 1522, and the fortifications are theirs.
The Street of the Knights runs uphill from the harbour to the Grand Master’s Palace, lined with the inns of the different national tongues of the order. It is one of the most complete medieval streets anywhere in Europe and takes about ten minutes to walk.
The Colossus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, is traditionally placed at the entrance to Mandraki harbour, though it almost certainly did not straddle it as the engravings show. It stood for 54 years before an earthquake brought it down in 226 BC.
Lindos, 50 km south, is the other half of the island: a white village below an acropolis on a rock above the sea. The climb is steep and hot, and donkeys are offered — the same welfare questions apply as in Santorini.
Going ashore in Rhodes
Within reach on foot
- The medieval Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- The Street of the Knights, running up to the Grand Master’s Palace
- The Palace of the Grand Master itself
- Mandraki harbour, where the Colossus is traditionally said to have stood
What the port is known for
- Lindos, its acropolis and the village below, about 50 km south
- The Valley of the Butterflies at Petaloudes
- Ancient Kamiros, an excavated Doric town on the west coast
- Beaches at Faliraki and Tsambika
How ships berth here
Ships berth in the commercial harbour immediately outside the medieval walls. It is a genuine walk-off berth — one of the best-placed in the Greek islands.
Access and mobility
The berth and the harbour front are flat. Inside the walls the lanes are cobbled and uneven, though largely level. Lindos acropolis is a steep climb up stepped rock and is not accessible.
Weather and when ships call
Hot and dry, 29–33°C in July and August. Rhodes is among the sunniest places in Greece, and the Old Town’s stone lanes hold the heat well into the evening.
Cruise season
Calls April to November
Typical itinerary length
Rhodes usually appears on 7 nights Greek Isles & Aegean itineraries. April – October, busiest June to September.
Ports often paired with Rhodes
Itineraries that call here usually call at these too, so it is worth reading them together when you are comparing weeks.
Santorini
A flooded volcanic caldera with white villages along its rim — the most photographed port in the Mediterranean and the hardest to move a group through.
Kusadasi
A Turkish resort town whose reason for being on an itinerary is Ephesus — among the most complete classical cities anywhere.
Heraklion
Crete’s capital, with a Venetian harbour fortress, the best archaeological museum in Greece and Knossos a few kilometres inland.
Piraeus
The port of Athens and the largest passenger harbour in Europe, with the Acropolis about half an hour inland by metro.
Explore further
Greek Isles & Aegean cruises
Santorini, Mykonos and the Aegean islands, with Ephesus on the Turkish coast — the most scenic and the most tender-dependent Mediterranean region.
Cruise ports in Greece
Every Greece port we cover, with seasons, berthing and shore access.
All cruise ports
Browse every port guide by region, country or name.
Bringing a group to Rhodes?
We hold five cabins or more together as a single block, quote it once, and let each household book and pay separately. Tell us roughly when and how many.