Rhodes beyond the package deal, the old town and two coasts

Rhodes is mostly sold as a week in a hotel on the east coast, and that skips two things. The first is a knights' fortified town that people still live in. The second is less known: the two coasts of the same island have such different weather that you choose a beach by the wind rather than by looks.

The old town, and one claim that keeps repeating

The fortified town is the work of the Knights of St John, who held Rhodes from 1309 to 1523. UNESCO listed it in 1988 as 'one of the most beautiful urban ensembles of the Gothic period', and that wording matters because of what it leaves out.

The phrase 'the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe', repeated by agencies, appears neither in the UNESCO citation nor in the official descriptions of the island. What can be said without qualification is that it is one of the few where people still live inside the walls — with flats, a school and shops, not only souvenir stalls. The practical consequence: sleeping inside the walls means having the town in the morning before the coaches unload, and in the evening once everyone has gone back to their hotels.

Two coasts, two different seas

This is the single most useful thing to know about Rhodes in advance. The west coast faces the open Aegean and takes the meltemi, the seasonal northerly — colder water, constant swell, pebble beaches — and that is exactly why Ixia and Ialysos are known for windsurfing. The east coast is sheltered and calmer. At the southern tip, at Prasonisi, the two bodies of water meet and the difference is visible to the naked eye: one side of the sandy isthmus is flat calm, the other is in waves, on the same day and in the same hour.

In practice that means the plan is made in the morning, not in advance: if it is blowing, go east; if it is not, the west coast is emptier. The island is long and mountainous down the middle, so driving end to end takes longer than the map suggests.

Lindos and the rest of the island

Lindos lies south of Rhodes town, and the temple of Athena on its acropolis dates to around 300 BC. The village is white, steep and car-free, which also means shade-free on the climb — go early in the morning. Kamiros on the west coast is one of the island's three Doric cities and far quieter than Lindos, while Petaloudes only makes sense from July to September, when the moths you go for are in the valley.

GuideThe island in more detail — beaches, villages and prices:Rhodes →

When to go and how to get there

The season is longer than the hotel brochures suggest. May, June, September and the first half of October give warm sea, bearable heat and an old town you can walk at midday. July and August bring peak prices, the most package traffic and the meltemi at full strength. Winter is mild and turns the island into a place for walking and history rather than swimming. Off season you may have to come via Athens or Thessaloniki. The ferry from Piraeus is the romantic option and an expensive one in time: twelve hours or more.

GuideIf the choice is between two big Greek islands:Crete →

On Rhodes you do not choose between history and the sea — you choose your nights. Two nights inside the walls, before the day-trip coaches arrive and after they leave, and the rest on whichever coast has no wind that day give you the island the package does not sell.