A Rhodes boat rental puts a small open motorboat, a RIB or a day cruiser in your hands for four to eight hours from a base on the sheltered east coast, driven by you on engines up to 30 horsepower and by a skipper on anything larger. Plan the rest of the trip with Greece Tours.
This page covers the hire: the licence rule, the prices, the boats, the bases, the Kallithea and Faliraki route, the southern run to Lindos, why the east coast is the rental coast, fuel, safety gear, anchoring, Symi, deposits, the season and how to book.
What is a rhodes boat rental?
The hire of a small open motorboat, a RIB or a day cruiser for four to eight hours from a base on the sheltered east coast, driven by the renter on engines up to 30 horsepower or with a skipper on anything larger.
Rhodes is 78 km long and the rental market sits almost entirely on the east side, because the north-west coast takes the meltemi head on and is given over to windsurfing rather than day boats. A rhodes boat rental base states this at booking and puts it in the agreement.
The bases are at Kallithea, Faliraki, Afandou, Kolymbia, Stegna near Archangelos, Lindos and Pefkos, each serving the bays within an hour of its own beach. The rhodes boat rental price reflects it, litre by litre.
A handover takes fifteen to twenty minutes: the controls, the anchor, the fuel gauge, the radio or the phone number, and a marked chart of where the boat may and may not go. A rhodes boat rental is quoted on that, and the listing says so plainly.
The season runs from late April to the end of October. Outside it the bases haul the boats out and the east-coast beaches empty completely.
Do you need a licence for a rhodes boat rental?
Not for engines up to 30 horsepower, which Greek law lets any adult of 18 or over drive after a briefing. Above 30 horsepower the base checks an original national boat licence, or it sends a skipper with the boat.
The 30-horsepower ceiling comes from the Greek general port regulations and every licensed base on the island applies it identically. Every rhodes boat rental day is planned around it before the lines come off.
Where a licence is required it is checked as the original document and photographed for the file, because the insurer asks for it on any claim. A rhodes boat rental fills first on that count in July and August.
An International Certificate of Competence alongside a national licence in another language is the combination that never causes an argument at the desk. This is what a rhodes boat rental delivers along the sheltered east coast.
Photo identification stays with the base for the duration of the hire, and a second named driver is written onto the agreement rather than swapped at sea.
What does a rhodes boat rental cost?
From 150 to 280 euros a day for a licence-free 30-horsepower boat carrying four to six, 300 to 600 euros for a larger RIB with a skipper, and 800 to 2,500 euros for a crewed yacht or catamaran day charter.
Fuel is charged separately on return against the gauge. A small boat working the Kallithea to Ladiko stretch burns 25 to 50 euros of petrol, and a 150-horsepower RIB running to Lindos and back burns 150 to 300. A rhodes boat rental is quoted on that, and the listing says so plainly.
Half-day blocks of four hours cost 60 to 70 percent of the day rate, and in July and August the morning block is the one worth taking. The rhodes boat rental route is set by it more than by distance.
A skipper, where optional, adds 120 to 220 euros and is the best-value line on the invoice for a party that has never handled a boat. The rhodes boat rental fleet is prepared for it from late April to October.
A card deposit of 300 to 800 euros is held and released on return, and the figure is stated before the booking rather than at the pontoon.
Which boats can you hire on Rhodes?
Licence-free open boats of 4.2 to 5.2 metres with 20 to 30 horsepower outboards, 6 to 9 metre RIBs with 100 to 300 horsepower, traditional wooden caiques with a skipper, and 12 to 20 metre motor yachts and catamarans for crewed days.
The small open boat is the island workhorse: a bimini for shade, a cooler, a boarding ladder, a sun pad forward and a bench aft, comfortable for four and workable for six. This is what a rhodes boat rental delivers along the sheltered east coast.
RIBs earn their money on the run south to Lindos, covering 30 km in under an hour and taking the short east-coast chop on their tubes rather than through the deck. Renters on a rhodes boat rental meet it within the first hour afloat.
The wooden caiques run at 8 to 12 knots with proper shade and cushions, and they are the choice for a family with grandparents or small children aboard. A rhodes boat rental starts with this settled at the handover.
Catamarans take eight to twelve guests with two crew, a galley and two heads, and they sail from Mandraki and Faliraki rather than from a beach.
Where are the Rhodes rental bases?
Kallithea and Faliraki north of the middle of the east coast, Afandou and Kolymbia below them, Stegna beside Archangelos, and Lindos with Pefkos in the south, plus Mandraki in Rhodes Town for the crewed charters.
Kallithea is the base for the caves and the bays immediately around the old thermal springs, and it sits fifteen minutes by road from Rhodes Town. The rhodes boat rental fleet is prepared for it from late April to October.
Faliraki has the largest fleet and the most water-sports traffic, and it serves Ladiko, Anthony Quinn Bay and Traounou in either direction. That is the rhodes boat rental difference against a shared cruise.
Stegna and Lindos put a renter closest to the southern bays, St Paul’s Bay and Navarone, which are the best water on the island and too far from the northern bases for a small boat. The rhodes boat rental timetable is built on it rather than on the clock.
Parking at the beach bases is paid and scarce after 10:00, and most operators arrange a transfer rather than expect a car.
What does the Kallithea and Faliraki route cover?
Kallithea Springs and its rock coves, Traounou caves, Anthony Quinn Bay, Ladiko, Faliraki’s long sand, and the small unnamed inlets on the headlands between them, across 8 km of coast reachable in under an hour.
Anthony Quinn Bay is the one everybody comes for: a narrow rock-walled inlet with pine above and water that reads green over a pale bottom, named after the actor who bought land here while filming The Guns of Navarone in 1960. A rhodes boat rental starts with this settled at the handover.
Traounou is a pair of sea caves under the Kallithea headland that a small boat enters at a walking pace on a calm morning, and the light inside turns the water electric blue. A rhodes boat rental carries the jackets and the ice for it.
Kallithea Springs itself is the 1929 Italian spa complex with domed pavilions and mosaic terraces, and a rental boat sees it from the water side that the ticket holders photograph from above. Bases brief it at the pontoon before a rhodes boat rental leaves.
Ladiko is the sheltered horseshoe next to Anthony Quinn with a single taverna, and it is the lunch stop on this run rather than a swim stop.
What does the southern route to Lindos cover?
Tsambika, Stegna, Agathi and its cave, Feraklos castle, Lindos Acropolis from the sea, St Paul’s Bay and Navarone Bay, over 25 km of coast that suits a RIB or a full day in a small boat from Stegna.
Seeing the Lindos Acropolis from the water is the reason this run exists. The fourth-century BC temple of Athena Lindia sits on a 116-metre rock with the Hellenistic trireme relief cut into the cliff below it. The rhodes boat rental timetable is built on it rather than on the clock.
St Paul’s Bay is the near-enclosed cove under the acropolis where the apostle is said to have landed in 51 AD, reached through a gap in the rock a few metres wide. The rhodes boat rental season turns on this more than on the calendar.
Agathi, known as Golden Beach, has fine orange sand and a cave in the northern headland, and Feraklos castle stands on the ridge above it as the largest Knights’ fortress on the island. It decides which rhodes boat rental class fits the party.
Tsambika is the long sand under the monastery rock, and the water off it drops slowly enough to anchor a small boat close in on a calm morning.
Why is the east coast the rental coast?
The meltemi blows from the north-west across the Aegean from May to September, and the mountain spine of Rhodes shelters the east side from it. The west coast takes the full wind and is used for windsurfing and kitesurfing instead.
Prasonisi at the southern tip is the clearest illustration: a sand isthmus with flat water on one side and a two-metre swell on the other, and it is a world-class board spot rather than anywhere to take a hire boat. Bases brief it at the pontoon before a rhodes boat rental leaves.
Ialysos and Ixia on the north-west run the same way, with schools along the whole front and a permanent chop by mid-morning in summer. A rhodes boat rental base states this at booking and puts it in the agreement.
On the east side the wind arrives as a gentle offshore breeze at Kallithea and Faliraki and barely reaches the water at Stegna and Lindos. The rhodes boat rental price reflects it, litre by litre.
A strong meltemi still shuts the whole coast. Above force 6 the bases cancel outright, which happens on about one day in seven in July and August.
What is included and what is extra on a rhodes boat rental?
Included: the boat, third-party insurance, life jackets, an anchor, a bimini, a cooler with ice, a boarding ladder and the briefing. Extra: fuel, the skipper where optional, snorkel gear, a paddleboard and any mooring fee.
Fuel is the line that catches people. It is measured against the gauge on return at the pump price, and a boat driven hard all day costs more in petrol than the hire itself on the larger engines. It decides which rhodes boat rental class fits the party.
Food is not supplied. The bases sell a basic cool-box hamper at 20 to 50 euros, and most parties stop at a supermarket on the way. Every rhodes boat rental day is planned around it before the lines come off.
Snorkel sets and paddleboards run 10 to 25 euros a day each, and a number of operators include them free on the bigger boats. A rhodes boat rental fills first on that count in July and August.
Mooring at a beach jetty in Lindos or Stegna costs 20 to 60 euros in high season, while anchoring off the swim line anywhere is free.
What safety equipment comes with the boat?
Life jackets for everyone aboard including child sizes, an anchor and chain, a fire extinguisher, flares, a first-aid kit, a bailer, a torch, oars or a spare drive, and a VHF radio or a waterproof phone pouch.
The list is set by Greek regulation for the boat’s category and the port authority inspects it. A base that cannot show where each item is stowed is trading outside its own licence. The rhodes boat rental price reflects it, litre by litre.
The briefing covers the locker, not just the list. A renter opens it and sees the flares and the extinguisher before the lines come off. A rhodes boat rental is quoted on that, and the listing says so plainly.
Children under twelve wear the jacket for the whole hire on most agreements, and the bases carry sizes down to 15 kilos. The rhodes boat rental route is set by it more than by distance.
The base number and the coastguard number go into the renter’s phone before departure, and the phone goes into the pouch the base supplies.
What are the rules on anchoring and swimming?
Anchor outside the yellow buoys that mark the bathing zone, in sand rather than seagrass, at three to eight metres, with the engine off and the ladder down before anyone enters the water.
The buoy line sits 200 metres off an organised beach in Greek waters and the coastguard works the Faliraki and Kallithea stretch through July and August. A rhodes boat rental fills first on that count in July and August.
Posidonia seagrass is protected by law and anchoring in it is an offence. From the surface sand reads pale gold and seagrass reads dark, and the habit of looking before dropping is the most useful thing the briefing teaches. This is what a rhodes boat rental delivers along the sheltered east coast.
Anthony Quinn Bay fills with boats by 11:00 and the inner part is roped for swimmers, so a rental anchors at the mouth and the party swims in. Renters on a rhodes boat rental meet it within the first hour afloat.
One adult stays aboard whenever the rest swim ashore, because an unattended boat at anchor remains the renter’s responsibility.
How much fuel does a day use?
A 30-horsepower boat working the Kallithea to Ladiko coast burns 10 to 20 litres, about 25 to 50 euros. A 150-horsepower RIB running Faliraki to Lindos and back burns 70 to 130 litres, about 180 to 330 euros.
Speed sets the bill more than distance. A RIB at 12 knots uses roughly a third of what it uses at 28, and the hour saved on the Lindos run costs about 60 euros in petrol. The rhodes boat rental route is set by it more than by distance.
The gauge is photographed at handover and again on return by the bases worth using, which removes the argument at the end of the day. The rhodes boat rental fleet is prepared for it from late April to October.
Fixed fuel packages at a small premium suit a party that wants one number and no reconciliation. That is the rhodes boat rental difference against a shared cruise.
A boat returned empty is refuelled by the base and charged with a service fee on top, and every agreement on the island states it.
Skippered or self-drive on Rhodes?
Self-drive suits a slow day within sight of the base on the sheltered northern bays. A skipper suits the long southern run to Lindos, any boat above 30 horsepower, a party with small children, and a first visit to the island.
The skipper’s value is local knowledge rather than steering. He knows which bay stays flat when the breeze swings, which jetty takes a boat without a fee, and where the water is clear when the swell is up. Renters on a rhodes boat rental meet it within the first hour afloat.
The cost gap is 120 to 220 euros a day, which across six people is 20 to 37 each for a day with no decisions to make. A rhodes boat rental starts with this settled at the handover.
Self-drive on a calm forecast around Kallithea and Ladiko is genuinely straightforward, and the bases watch the wind and call. A rhodes boat rental carries the jackets and the ice for it.
Groups celebrating take the skippered boat for the simple reason that nobody then has to stay sober to drive.
Can you take a hire boat to Symi?
No. Symi lies 24 nautical miles across open water from Rhodes Town and every rental agreement on the island forbids the crossing on a licence-free boat. The trip is made on the scheduled fast boats and the excursion craft instead.
The channel between Rhodes and Symi funnels the meltemi and builds a short steep sea by mid-morning, which is exactly what a 5-metre open boat handles worst. That is the rhodes boat rental difference against a shared cruise.
The base marks the permitted area on the chart at handover, and the boats carry a tracker on many fleets. The rhodes boat rental timetable is built on it rather than on the clock.
The organised day trips run from Mandraki and Kolymbia and take 50 to 90 minutes each way depending on the vessel. The rhodes boat rental season turns on this more than on the calendar.
Chalki on the west side is the same answer for the same reason, and the ferry from Kamiros Skala covers it in 90 minutes.
What about deposits, damage and insurance?
A card deposit of 300 to 800 euros is held and released within a week. Third-party insurance is included by law, hull damage sits against the deposit, and a damage waiver costs 15 to 40 euros a day with an excess.
The common claims are a bent propeller off a rock, a torn RIB tube and a lost anchor, and all three come out of the deposit before any waiver applies. A rhodes boat rental carries the jackets and the ice for it.
Photograph the boat at handover, propeller and tubes and upholstery included. The bases worth using do the same and send you the set. Bases brief it at the pontoon before a rhodes boat rental leaves.
Personal accident and belongings sit outside the boat’s policy, and many travel insurance policies exclude watercraft entirely. A rhodes boat rental base states this at booking and puts it in the agreement.
The waiver reduces liability rather than removing it, and the excess figure belongs on the agreement in writing.
What do you bring on board?
Swimwear, a towel, reef-safe sun cream, a hat, sunglasses with a strap, a light long-sleeved layer for the run home, cash for a taverna, and a dry bag for phones and papers.
Reflected light off the water doubles the exposure, so a four-hour day on an open boat burns skin that stays fine on a sunbed. The rhodes boat rental season turns on this more than on the calendar.
Soft shoes or bare feet only, because hard soles mark the deck and every base asks for shoes off at the transom. It decides which rhodes boat rental class fits the party.
Soft bags rather than hard cases, since the lockers on a small boat are shaped for nothing else. Every rhodes boat rental day is planned around it before the lines come off.
Two litres of water a person is the minimum in July, and the cooler with ice that the base supplies keeps it cold all day.
When is the best time for a rhodes boat rental?
Late May to the middle of June, and September. The sea holds 23 to 26 degrees, the meltemi is weaker than in high summer, the rates drop 20 to 30 percent and the bays hold a fraction of the August boats.
July and August are the windy months. The boats still run, but the afternoons close in and the popular coves carry fifty boats at a time. A rhodes boat rental base states this at booking and puts it in the agreement.
September is the single best month on the island. Warm water, light air, long golden evenings and a coast that empties from the second week. The rhodes boat rental price reflects it, litre by litre.
October closes the season on a day-by-day forecast, and most bases pull the fleet out by the end of the month. A rhodes boat rental is quoted on that, and the listing says so plainly.
Late April and early May are cold in the water at 18 to 20 degrees and carry the lowest prices of the year.
Can you fish, snorkel or dive from the boat?
Snorkelling yes, anywhere outside the swim lines. Recreational line fishing is permitted for visitors in most cases without a licence. Scuba diving from a private boat is restricted to designated zones and licensed centres.
The snorkelling is best on the rock at Anthony Quinn, at Traounou and around the Ladiko headland, where the bottom stays visible to fifteen metres. Every rhodes boat rental day is planned around it before the lines come off.
Spearfishing is regulated, banned within 200 metres of a beach and prohibited with scuba, and no rental base carries the gear. A rhodes boat rental fills first on that count in July and August.
Diving is run by centres at Kallithea, Faliraki and Lindos with their own boats, and a hire boat cannot legally drop divers outside the permitted areas. This is what a rhodes boat rental delivers along the sheltered east coast.
Anything lifted from the seabed is an offence, and the waters around Rhodes carry enough ancient wreckage for that rule to be enforced.
How does hiring compare with an organised cruise?
A shared cruise costs 40 to 90 euros a head with lunch, a fixed route and 40 to 100 passengers. A rental costs 150 to 600 euros for the boat, carries only your party, and goes where you choose inside the base’s limits.
The arithmetic turns at about four people. Below that the shared boat is cheaper and simpler, and above it the private boat wins on money and on comfort together. A rhodes boat rental is quoted on that, and the listing says so plainly.
Time is the real difference. The shared boats give 40 minutes at each stop, while a rental can spend the whole afternoon in one cove. The rhodes boat rental route is set by it more than by distance.
The organised trips reach Symi and Chalki, which a small rental cannot. Those sit at Rhodes boat trips. The rhodes boat rental fleet is prepared for it from late April to October.
Parties book both across a week: one cruise for the islands and one rental day for the bays. The crewed end of the market sits at Rhodes yacht charter.
What happens if the weather turns?
The base cancels and refunds or reschedules, normally by 08:30 on the morning of the hire. A boat already out is recalled by phone, and the renter runs for the nearest sheltered bay rather than back to base.
The decision belongs to the base and not the renter, and every agreement says so plainly. This is what a rhodes boat rental delivers along the sheltered east coast.
A shortened day is refunded pro rata by the operators worth booking, with the terms stating cash or credit. Renters on a rhodes boat rental meet it within the first hour afloat.
Kallithea, Ladiko and Stegna are the three shelters depending on where the wind sits, and the base names the one to run for at handover. A rhodes boat rental starts with this settled at the handover.
Check the forecast the evening before. The Greek meteorological service and the standard wind apps both give the Dodecanese a dedicated panel.
How do you book a rhodes boat rental?
Three to seven days ahead in June and September, and two weeks for the first three weeks of August. State the party size, whether a skipper is wanted and which boat class. Free cancellation to 24 or 48 hours is standard.
Take the morning block. The bases run 09:00 to 17:00 and 10:00 to 18:00, and the earlier slot gets the flat water and the empty coves. The rhodes boat rental fleet is prepared for it from late April to October.
Confirm the fuel policy, the deposit figure and the permitted area on that boat, because all three vary between operators on the same beach. That is the rhodes boat rental difference against a shared cruise.
Ask the boat’s year and engine hours on the licence-free class, since a ten-year-old outboard makes a different day from a two-year-old one. The rhodes boat rental timetable is built on it rather than on the clock.
Bring the licence original where the boat needs one, and the same card for the deposit as for the booking.
What is Anthony Quinn Bay and why do all the boats go there?
A narrow rock-walled inlet 3 km south of Faliraki with green water over a pale bottom, pine above the cliffs and no sand at all, named after the actor who bought the surrounding land while filming The Guns of Navarone in 1960.
The bay was called Vagies before the film. Quinn bought roughly 4,000 hectares of the coast from the Greek government, the sale was later annulled, and the name stuck to the cove regardless. A rhodes boat rental starts with this settled at the handover.
What makes it work from a boat is the geometry. The inlet is about 100 metres deep and 40 wide, walled on both sides, so the water stays flat when the coast outside is ruffled. A rhodes boat rental carries the jackets and the ice for it.
The bottom is rock and shingle with sea urchins on the shallow ledges, which is why almost everyone swims off the boat rather than wading in from the pebble.
It fills fast. By 11:00 in August there are thirty boats at the mouth and the shore is shoulder to shoulder, and by 17:00 it is nearly empty again.
The rental fleets at Kallithea and Faliraki are ten and twenty minutes away respectively, which is why it is the first stop on almost every itinerary they hand out.
What is at Kallithea Springs from the water?
A 1929 Italian spa complex of domed rotundas, colonnades and mosaic terraces built around a mineral spring, set in a rock cove with a swimming platform, 8 km south of Rhodes Town.
The architect Pietro Lombardi built it during the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese, in a style that mixes Art Deco with Ottoman and Byzantine motifs and works far better than that description suggests. The rhodes boat rental timetable is built on it rather than on the clock.
The springs stopped flowing in 1967 and the complex fell derelict for three decades before a restoration reopened it in 2007 as a beach and event venue. The rhodes boat rental season turns on this more than on the calendar.
From the water the whole terrace and rotunda sit above a small rock cove with pebble beaches on either side, and the snorkelling on the north side of the headland is the best within reach of Rhodes Town.
A hire boat anchors outside the swim line and the party goes ashore by ladder and fin, or simply photographs the frontage and moves on to the caves.
How does a rental day fit around the island’s other activities?
A morning on the water and an afternoon inland works best: the boat from 09:00 to 14:00 while the sea is flat, then Lindos Acropolis, the Valley of the Butterflies or the medieval Old Town when the wind gets up.
Rhodes Old Town is the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe, walled by the Knights of St John from 1309, and it is at its best in the late afternoon when the cruise crowds have gone. Bases brief it at the pontoon before a rhodes boat rental leaves.
The Valley of the Butterflies in Petaloudes holds Jersey tiger moths in their thousands from June to September and sits in shade all day, which makes it the right choice on a hot afternoon. A rhodes boat rental base states this at booking and puts it in the agreement.
Lindos itself deserves an evening rather than a midday visit, since the acropolis rock holds heat and the village lanes are white-walled and shadeless at noon.
Parties running the boat on one day and a jeep or quad route on another cover both coasts of the island in a week without ever repeating a view.
What mistakes do first-time renters make?
Booking the afternoon block, ignoring the fuel reconciliation, anchoring in seagrass, overloading the boat, and setting out for Lindos from a northern base in a 30-horsepower hull that will not get back before the wind.
The afternoon block is the single most common error on this coast, because the meltemi is a morning-calm and afternoon-blow pattern almost every day in summer. It decides which rhodes boat rental class fits the party.
Overloading is the next. A boat rated for six adults handles badly with six adults plus coolers, and the rating is a legal limit rather than a suggestion. Every rhodes boat rental day is planned around it before the lines come off.
Distance is the third. Faliraki to Lindos is 30 km each way, which a 30-horsepower boat covers at 10 to 12 knots in about three hours round trip with nothing left for stops.
The fourth is leaving the phone loose on a seat. It goes over the side on the first wake, and the dry bag the base supplies exists for exactly that reason.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need a licence to rent a boat in Rhodes?
Not for engines up to 30 horsepower, which Greek port regulations let any adult of 18 or over drive after a briefing. Above 30 horsepower the base checks an original national boat licence or supplies a skipper.
What does a Rhodes boat rental cost?
From 150 to 280 euros a day for a licence-free boat carrying four to six, 300 to 600 euros for a larger RIB with a skipper, and 800 to 2,500 euros for a crewed yacht or catamaran. Fuel is charged separately on return.
Can you take a hire boat from Rhodes to Symi?
No. Symi lies 24 nautical miles across open water and every rental agreement on the island forbids the crossing on a licence-free boat. The scheduled fast boats and the excursion craft from Mandraki make the trip instead.