Rhodes Travel Guide

Rhodes Old Town is Europe's best-preserved knightly citadel, built by the Knights Hospitaller in the 14th–15th centuries atop Byzantine and Ottoman remains, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Tall walls, the Street of the Knights and the Grand Master's Palace weave Gothic, Byzantine and Islamic strands; labyrinthine stone lanes hide Turkish baths, a Jewish quarter and craft shops. A living slice of Crusader history and the most medieval stroll in the Aegean.

The Valley of the Butterflies (Petaloudes) is a 60-hectare reserve at Epano Kalamonas in western Rhodes, where a stream, wooden bridges and small waterfalls run between stands of Oriental sweetgum (Liquidambar orientalis) whose resin scent draws the moths. From roughly June to September, peaking in July and August, thousands of Jersey tiger moths (Panaxia quadripunctaria) cluster on trunks and rocks, flashing deep red only in flight. 2026 status: after weeks of high heat and low humidity the moths left the valley several weeks early, so the operator brought its seasonal price cut forward to 25 September. A 1.3 km trail climbs from the Natural History Museum (about 150 m) to the 1484 monastery of Panagia Kalopetra (about 470 m).

The Street of the Knights is the most stately stretch of Rhodes Old Town, paved by the Knights Hospitaller in the 14th century, lined with the inns of each tongue of the Order; arcades and heraldic stone carvings keep a pure Gothic feel. The smooth pebble pavement ends at the imposing Grand Master's Palace — the most photogenic medieval frame in the whole town. Walking it is like passing through a corridor to the age of the Crusades.

Lindos is a dazzlingly white settlement on Rhodes' south coast, backed by cliffs and facing a turquoise bay, its acropolis crowning the summit — among the Aegean's most photogenic ancient sanctuaries. White lanes, vaulted cottages and donkey paths link the lower harbour; climbing the acropolis overlooks twin bays and the horizon toward Anatolia. A triangle of history, swimming and postcard beauty, and Rhodes' most lingering stop.

Built in 1577, Kahal Shalom is among the oldest synagogues in Greece, tucked deep in the lanes of La Juderia, the old Jewish quarter of Rhodes. Sephardic families settled here from the sixteenth century, and the courtyard's black-and-white pebble floor and plain prayer hall have served for more than four hundred years. The community was all but erased during WWII, and the small museum beside the courtyard preserves that memory through photographs and artefacts, a memorial bearing the names of lost families. An hour spent here is quiet and sobering, a depth of history the island's beaches never hint at.

Ancient Kamiros lies on Rhodes' northwest coast, one of the island's three great classical cities alongside Lindos and Ialysos. After the three founded the city of Rhodes in 408 BC, Kamiros faded, leaving behind a remarkably legible ancient street plan. The site steps down three terraces: a lower town of neat housing foundations, a Hellenistic stoa stretching some two hundred metres in the middle, and, crowning the acropolis, the restored temple of Athena, its columns wind-brushed above the sea. The sophisticated ancient water system is another highlight, and sparse crowds let you drift through the ruins in contemplative silence.