Lindos or Rhodes Town? How to Choose Your Base in Rhodes

It is the most common question we get from people planning a trip to Rhodes: should we stay in Lindos or Rhodes Town? Both are beautiful, both are historic, and they sit about an hour apart on the same coast. But they offer completely different holidays.

We run a small hotel in Lindos, so read this knowing where we stand. We will still tell you honestly when Rhodes Town is the better call, because a guest in the wrong place is not a happy guest.

The short answer

• Choose Rhodes Town if you want history, museums, lots of restaurants, nightlife and easy connections by bus and boat.
• Choose Lindos if you want a beautiful village, beaches you can walk to, calm evenings and a slower pace.
• Choose both if you have a week or more. Two or three nights in town, then the rest in Lindos, is the split most people are happiest with.

Atmosphere: medieval city vs whitewashed village

Rhodes Town is a real, working city. Its heart is the Old Town, the medieval walled city built by the Knights of Saint John and one of the best-preserved in Europe. Inside the walls you get the Street of the Knights, the Palace of the Grand Master, Ottoman mosques, tiny squares and a maze of lanes that are lovely to get lost in. Outside the walls, the New Town has Mandraki harbour, Italian-era buildings, shops and the town beach.

Lindos is a village. White cube houses and grand captains’ mansions climb the hillside below the Acropolis, a fortified rock crowned by the temple of Athena Lindia. There are no cars in the lanes, only people, the occasional donkey and a lot of bougainvillea. It is smaller, prettier and far more peaceful once evening comes.

Beaches: Lindos wins, clearly

This is the biggest practical difference. Lindos has two beaches on its doorstep: the main beach in Lindos Bay and Saint Paul’s Bay, a sheltered, almost circular cove a short walk from the village. Pallas beach, a smaller strip beside the main beach, is usually a little quieter. Further up the coast, Tsambika and the east-coast beaches are an easy drive.

Rhodes Town has Elli beach, a long, lively town beach on the northern tip, and the windier western shore. They are fine for a swim, but if your idea of a holiday involves daily sea swims in clear, calm water, Lindos is the better base. Our guide to the best beaches in Rhodes covers the whole island.

Food and evenings

Rhodes Town has far more choice: tavernas in the Old Town, fish restaurants by the harbour, bars and a real nightlife scene. You could eat somewhere different every night for weeks.

Lindos has fewer restaurants, but many of them come with rooftop terraces looking straight up at the floodlit Acropolis. Evenings here are about a long dinner and a slow walk home through quiet lanes, not clubbing. For most couples, that is exactly the point.

Sightseeing

Rhodes Town is the cultural capital: the Palace of the Grand Master, the Archaeological Museum in the old Hospital of the Knights, the walls and moat, and the Jewish Quarter. Read our Rhodes Old Town guide for how to see it well.

Lindos has one great monument, the Acropolis, plus the frescoed Church of the Panagia, the captains’ houses and some lovely walks, including the path to the tomb of Kleoboulos on the headland. Our list of things to do in Lindos covers the rest.

Getting around

Rhodes Town is the island’s hub. Buses to the east and west coasts leave from beside the New Market, and boats go to Symi and other islands. Without a car, this is the easiest place to be.

Lindos is well connected too, with a direct bus to Rhodes Town several times a day in season and day-trip boats in summer. Most people who stay in Lindos either rent a car for a few days or book a driver for specific trips. Inside the village you walk everywhere.

Families, couples and friends

Couples almost always lean towards Lindos. The combination of beautiful lanes, beaches within walking distance and quiet evenings is hard to beat, and it is one of the most popular places in Greece for weddings and honeymoons.

Families can be happy in either, but think about logistics. Lindos lanes are steep and stepped, so pushchairs are hard work, while the beaches are gentle and sandy. Rhodes Town is flatter outside the Old Town and has more to entertain older children, such as the Aquarium and the walls.

Groups of friends who want bars and late nights will find more going on in Rhodes Town, or in Faliraki up the coast.

Crowds: the Lindos timing trick

Lindos has a reputation for crowds, and between late morning and late afternoon in July and August it earns it. Coaches and cruise excursions arrive from around ten, and most have gone by five.

If you stay overnight, you simply live the other way round: Acropolis and village lanes early in the morning, beach or shade in the middle of the day, and the village again in the evening, when it is at its most beautiful. Day-trippers never see that Lindos. It is the single best argument for staying the night.

What about staying somewhere in between?

Some visitors try to split the difference with a resort halfway down the coast, such as Faliraki or Kolymbia. It can work if you have a car and mainly want beach time, but you lose the best of both: the medieval atmosphere of Rhodes Town and the village evenings of Lindos. If you are drawn to one of the two, it is usually better to commit to it.

Our verdict

If you are here for three nights or fewer and want to see as much as possible, Rhodes Town is hard to beat. If you are here to relax, swim and fall a little in love with a place, Lindos is the one. And if you can, do both.

When you are ready for the Lindos part, Lindos Comfy Suites is a family-run, 21-suite hotel on the edge of the village, a five-minute walk from the main square, with private parking so you never need to drive into the lanes. Browse the suites and book direct with us at comfysuitesrhodes.com.