A full week on Rhodes gives you time to see the island properly rather than rushing between highlights, and a day-by-day plan keeps that week balanced between culture, driving, beaches and rest. This 7-day Rhodes itinerary walks through each day in turn: the medieval Old Town, Lindos and the east coast, the quiet far south, an island day trip by boat, the green interior, the west coast with its ancient sites, and a relaxed day before departure. The pacing is deliberate, so you swim and sightsee without feeling that every hour is scheduled. Hire a car for the touring days and base yourself centrally, and the whole island opens up within easy reach. For more island guides and tours, see My Greece Tours.
This plan assumes you base yourself in Rhodes Town or a central east-coast resort and hire a car for the days that involve real driving, adapting the pace to suit your group. For background on the island as a whole, our Rhodes travel guide sets the wider context. The sections below cover the whole week in five stages, grouping the seven days so that town, south, islands, mountains and the west coast each get proper attention.
How should you spend the first two days in Rhodes Town and Lindos?
Give the first day to the medieval Old Town on foot and the second to the east coast and Lindos by car. That order lets you settle in slowly, then range further south once you have the layout of the island fixed in your head.
Day one is for arrival and the Old Town, one of the best-preserved medieval walled towns in Europe. Walk the Street of the Knights, look into the Palace of the Grand Master, and trace the walls and gates at an unhurried pace, stopping for lunch in a shaded courtyard. Because you have just arrived, keep the day light and let the cobbled lanes set the mood. Day two takes the car south down the east coast, past the resorts and beaches, to Lindos with its whitewashed village and clifftop acropolis. Start early to climb before the heat builds, then reward yourself with a swim in one of the two bays below the rock.
Lindos rewards an early arrival: the acropolis and the narrow captain’s-house lanes fill quickly once the tour buses land, so a start soon after opening keeps both the climb and the village pleasant. Break the drive back with a stop at one of the east-coast beaches, many of which have organised sunbeds and tavernas within easy reach of the road, so you finish the day with sand and sea rather than traffic. That gentle two-day opening gets you oriented before the longer drives begin. Our guide to Lindos covers the acropolis, the village and the beaches in detail, and the next section covers the far south, where the crowds thin out and the driving becomes the point of the day.
What does day three look like on the far south drive?
Day three is a long, scenic loop to the southern tip at Prasonisi, threading through quiet inland villages and near-empty beaches. It is the day the island feels remotest, so fill the tank, start early, and treat the driving itself as the attraction rather than a means to one stop.
From a central base the far south is a committing but rewarding drive, and a car is essential because buses are sparse this far down. Prasonisi sits at the very tip, a sandy isthmus where two seas meet; depending on the season it may be joined to the mainland or narrowed to a strip, and the windward side is a well-known spot for windsurfers. On the way down and back you pass through southern villages that see far fewer visitors than the east coast, with simple tavernas and long, quiet beaches where you can pull over and swim almost alone.
Keep this day loosely planned rather than tightly timed, because the pleasure is in stopping when a bay or a village looks inviting. Carry water and a picnic, since services are thin along the southern roads, and set off early both to beat the midday heat and to give yourself margin for an unhurried return in the afternoon. Our guide to the wider Rhodes itinerary covers how to fit the south alongside the rest of the island, and the next section covers day four, when you swap the car for a boat and give the driving a rest.
Which island day trip works best on day four?
Day four is a boat day, and Symi is the classic choice: a short crossing to a strikingly pretty harbour of pastel neoclassical houses, with time for a swim and lunch before returning. If you prefer, swap in another nearby island, but the point of the day is to let someone else do the navigating.
After three touring days, a day trip by boat is a natural change of pace. Symi lies a manageable crossing north of Rhodes and is the usual pick, with its amphitheatre of ochre and pastel mansions rising above the harbour of Gialos and the monastery of Panormitis often included on the longer sailings. You spend the morning at sea, a few hours ashore to wander, swim and eat, and the afternoon sailing back, with no parking or navigation to think about. Boats leave from Rhodes Town in the morning, so this is a day to be up early and down at the harbour in good time.
Symi is not the only option: other nearby islands and coastal excursions run through the season, so if you have seen Symi before or fancy a different harbour you can swap it out without upsetting the rest of the week. Whichever boat you take, book the crossing ahead in high season and check the return time carefully so you are not left waiting on the quay at the end of the afternoon. Our guide to the Symi day trip covers the crossing, the harbour and what to see ashore, and the next section covers day five, when you head inland to the green heart of the island.
How do you explore the green interior and mountains on day five?
Day five turns away from the coast into the wooded interior: the Valley of the Butterflies, the Seven Springs, the hillside wine villages and Mount Profitis Ilias. It is a cooler, shadier day of forest walks and slow lanes, and again a car makes the string of stops easy to link.
The centre of Rhodes is surprisingly green, and this day strings together its best-known natural stops. The Valley of the Butterflies is a shaded gorge famous for the Jersey tiger moths that gather there in the warmer months, best walked in the cool of the morning. Nearby, the Seven Springs is a leafy spot with streams and a small lake, popular for a wander and a coffee. The wine villages on the slopes and Mount Profitis Ilias, the island’s forested high ground, add tastings and cool air, making a natural counterpoint to the beach days on either side of it.
Because the interior is about walking and shade rather than sunbathing, this is a good day to be out early and to build in unhurried stops, letting the forest and the villages set the tempo. Wear comfortable shoes for the paths and check seasonal opening for the butterfly gorge, as the moths are only present at certain times of year and the site may be quieter outside those months. Our guide to Rhodes Old Town covers the medieval core you saw on day one, and the next section covers the west coast, the ancient sites and your relaxed final day.
What should days six and seven cover on the west coast and departure?
Day six takes the west coast and its ancient sites, Ancient Kamiros and Filerimos above Ialysos, ending with a relaxed beach. Day seven is deliberately easy: a little shopping, a final swim and departure, leaving you unhurried at the end rather than cramming in one more long drive.
The west coast is greener and breezier than the east, and it holds two of the island’s ancient highlights. Ancient Kamiros is a ruined Doric city terraced down a hillside overlooking the sea, one of the three cities of ancient Rhodes, while Filerimos above Ialysos combines a monastery, ancient foundations and a tree-lined avenue with wide views. Between the sites, the west-coast beaches are quieter and often windier, ideal for a relaxed afternoon swim once you have had your fill of ruins. Go early to the sites so you tour the stone in the cool part of the day and keep the beach for later.
Day seven should stay gentle. Use the morning for last-minute shopping in the Old Town or your resort, a leisurely coffee and a final swim close to base, keeping an eye on your flight time so the airport run is stress-free. Because the airport sits on the north-west coast, a departure day here dovetails neatly with a relaxed west-coast finish, and a morning swim near base fits easily around the drive out. This week is a template rather than a timetable, so stretch or compress it to suit your own pace, your group and the season you visit in. Plan your visit and tours through our Rhodes travel guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to hire a car for a 7-day Rhodes itinerary?
For a week that reaches the far south, the interior and the west-coast ancient sites, a hire car makes the touring days far easier, since public buses concentrate on the main east-coast resorts and thin out quickly elsewhere. This itinerary is built around having a car for days two, three, five and six, the days with the most ground to cover between scattered stops. You can still do the island by bus and organised excursions if you prefer not to drive, but you will lean more heavily on tours and accept a slower reach into the quieter corners. On the town day, the boat day and the relaxed final day you barely need the car at all, so one option is to hire it only for the driving days rather than the whole week. Whatever you choose, base yourself somewhere central so no single day’s driving feels excessive.
Where is the best place to base yourself for this week?
Rhodes Town or a central east-coast resort both work well as a single base for the whole week, which saves you packing and moving mid-trip. Rhodes Town puts you inside the medieval Old Town and close to the boat harbour for the day trip, with plenty of tavernas and shops on your doorstep. A central east-coast resort trades some of that atmosphere for easy beach access and a slightly shorter run to Lindos and the south. Either way, staying central keeps every day within comfortable reach and lets you follow the same route out and back each evening. Because the plan loops out from one base rather than hopping between towns, you can settle in, unpack once, and treat the accommodation as a familiar home for the week rather than a series of one-night stops. For a fuller comparison of areas and where each suits different travellers, our guide to where to stay in Rhodes is a useful starting point.
Can you adapt this itinerary to a slower or faster pace?
Yes, and it is designed to flex. The week is grouped into five stages across seven days, so you can lengthen the parts you like and trim the rest without breaking the flow. Travellers who want more beach and less driving can drop the far-south day or the interior day and simply repeat a favourite coast. Those who want more sightseeing can add a second island day trip in place of a relaxed day, or split the Old Town over two mornings. The Symi day trip in particular can be swapped for another nearby island if you have seen Symi before or prefer a different harbour. Early starts on the touring and boat days help you beat both the midday heat and the biggest crowds, which effectively buys you more of each day. Treat the plan as a framework and let your own pace and interests decide the final shape.