The Street of the Knights, known in Greek as Odos Ippoton, is a cobbled medieval avenue in the Old Town of Rhodes and one of the best-preserved and most famous medieval streets in Europe. Running uphill through the former knightly quarter, it is lined with the austere stone inns once occupied by the Knights of Saint John, and it remains free to walk and largely untouched by modern shopfronts. Plan tickets and tours through My Greece Tours.
This page sits within our wider Rhodes travel guide and focuses on a single, atmospheric landmark. The sections below cover what the Street of the Knights is, the inns or auberges of the different tongues, what the street looks like and what you can see, where it is and how to visit, and the practical tips that make the visit better.
What is the Street of the Knights?
The Street of the Knights, or Odos Ippoton, is a cobbled medieval avenue in the Old Town of Rhodes. It was the main street of the Collachium, the knightly quarter where the Knights of Saint John lived, running uphill from the old Hospital towards the Palace of the Grand Master at the top.
The street takes its name and its character from the Knights of Saint John, the military religious order that governed Rhodes through the late medieval centuries. Their walled quarter, the Collachium, was the heart of the fortified town, and this avenue was its spine. Along it the order built its lodging houses, administrative buildings and chapels, giving the street a deliberate, planned formality that still reads clearly today. Unlike the tangled lanes of the surrounding Old Town, the Street of the Knights was conceived as a dignified processional route, connecting the institutions of the order. Walking it is one of the clearest ways to understand how the knights organised their daily life within the medieval city.
The avenue links two of the most important monuments in Rhodes: the medieval Hospital of the Knights at its lower end, now home to the Archaeological Museum, and the Palace of the Grand Master at its crest. This pairing made the street the ceremonial and functional axis of the knightly town. Our guide to Rhodes Old Town covers the wider walled city and its gates, and the next section covers the inns, or auberges, of the tongues.
What are the inns (auberges) of the tongues?
The inns, or auberges, were the lodging houses of the different tongues, or langues, of the Order of Saint John. Each tongue was a national grouping, such as France, Italy, Spain, Provence, Auvergne and England, and each maintained its own inn along or near the street, bearing carved coats of arms above its doorway.
The order organised its members by language and region into these tongues, and every tongue ran its own auberge as a residence and meeting place for its knights. The most prominent of these line the Street of the Knights itself, presenting a sequence of formal stone facades to the visitor. Above their Gothic doorways you can still read carved escutcheons, heraldic shields and inscriptions that identified each nation’s lodging. The Inn of France is among the most celebrated, with rich heraldic decoration, while the inns of Italy, Spain, Provence and Auvergne each contribute their own carved details to the streetscape. Together they turn the avenue into an open-air record of the order’s international membership.
Reading the coats of arms as you climb is one of the great pleasures of the street, because each shield ties a particular building to a particular nation and grand master. The heraldry is restrained rather than flamboyant, in keeping with the disciplined character of a religious military order. Our guide to things to do in Rhodes covers the island’s wider attractions, and the next section covers what the street looks like and what you can see along it.
What does the street look like and what can you see?
The Street of the Knights presents a remarkably uniform, austere stone facade running uphill along a cobbled surface. You can see the inns of the tongues with their carved coats of arms, escutcheons and Gothic doorways, arches spanning the street, and chapels, with the Palace of the Grand Master closing the view at the top.
The overall impression is one of restraint and harmony. The buildings share a similar honey-coloured stone, comparable heights and a sober, fortress-like manner, so the street feels like a single composition rather than a row of unrelated houses. Pointed and round arches occasionally span the carriageway, framing the climb and adding to the sense of enclosure. The cobbled paving underfoot, the small windows, the projecting balconies and the carved heraldic panels all reward slow, close looking. Because the street is largely free of modern shopfronts, signage and clutter, the medieval fabric dominates the view in a way that is rare among Europe’s living cities, and this is much of what gives it its reputation.
Much of what survives so coherently is the result of careful restoration carried out during the Italian occupation of the island in the early twentieth century, which consolidated and reinstated the medieval appearance of the inns. At the top of the climb the Palace of the Grand Master rises as the street’s grand finale. Our guide to the Palace of the Grand Master covers that fortress-palace in detail, and the next section covers where the street is and how you visit.
Where is the Street of the Knights and how do you visit?
The Street of the Knights lies inside the walled Old Town of Rhodes, in the northern Collachium quarter. It runs from near the medieval Hospital, now the Archaeological Museum, uphill to the Palace of the Grand Master. The street itself is open and free to walk on foot at any time.
Reaching the street is simply a matter of entering the Old Town and making your way to its northern quarter. The walled town is pedestrianised, so you arrive on foot through one of the medieval gates, and the avenue is easy to locate between its two anchoring monuments. Many visitors begin at the lower end beside the former Hospital of the Knights, climb the gentle slope past the inns, and finish at the Palace of the Grand Master, although walking it in the opposite direction works equally well. The street is a public thoroughfare rather than a ticketed site, which means you can wander it freely and return as often as you like during your stay.
The buildings that bracket the street are separate attractions with their own opening arrangements, and visiting them turns a short walk into a fuller half-day. The former Hospital houses the island’s main archaeological collection, while the palace at the top is a major museum in its own right. Our guide to the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes covers the Hospital building and its galleries, and the next section covers the tips that help you visit the Street of the Knights well.
What tips help you visit the Street of the Knights?
Visit the Street of the Knights early in the morning or late in the day, when the light is soft and the crowds thin, to enjoy its quiet, atmospheric character. Wear comfortable shoes for the cobbles and the slope, look up to spot the carved coats of arms, and combine the walk with the museum and palace at either end.
Timing makes a real difference here. In the middle of the day the Old Town fills with visitors, and the narrow avenue can feel busy, but early morning and the last hours before dusk return the street to the hushed, almost solemn mood that first made it famous. The low sun also rakes across the carved stone, throwing the heraldic shields and Gothic mouldings into sharp relief and making them far easier to read and photograph. Sturdy, flat shoes are sensible because the cobbles are uneven and the gentle gradient is constant, and a refillable water bottle is welcome in the warmer months when the enclosed stone holds the heat.
Plan the walk as part of a longer route through the Collachium so that the street links naturally to its neighbouring monuments rather than standing alone. Arriving with a little background on the tongues and their heraldry transforms a pretty street into a legible historical document, so it is worth reading ahead. Plan your visit and tours through our Rhodes travel guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Street of the Knights free to visit?
Yes. The Street of the Knights is a public thoroughfare within the walled Old Town of Rhodes, so walking along it is free and possible at any time of day. There is no ticket and no gate for the street itself, and you can stroll it as often as you wish during your stay. What does carry separate admission are the major buildings at each end of the avenue: the former Hospital of the Knights at the lower end, which now houses the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes, and the Palace of the Grand Master at the top. Each of these is a ticketed museum with its own opening arrangements, and many visitors pay to enter both as part of the same outing. The inns of the tongues that line the street are generally appreciated from the outside, as their facades, doorways and carved coats of arms are the main attraction, so you can enjoy the heart of the experience without spending anything at all.
How long does it take to walk the Street of the Knights?
The street itself is short and the walk from the area near the former Hospital up to the Palace of the Grand Master takes only a few minutes if you simply stroll from end to end. In practice, though, most visitors spend considerably longer, because the interest lies in stopping frequently to study the inns of the different tongues, read the carved coats of arms and inscriptions, and take in the arches and Gothic doorways that punctuate the climb. Allowing perhaps half an hour for an unhurried walk with photographs is realistic. If you intend to combine the street with the two great monuments that bookend it, the Archaeological Museum in the old Hospital and the Palace of the Grand Master, then you should set aside a half-day or more, since both reward a proper visit. Pacing the walk slowly, rather than rushing through, is the best way to appreciate why this avenue is considered one of the finest medieval streets in Europe.
Why is the Street of the Knights so well preserved?
The Street of the Knights owes much of its exceptional state to a combination of original quality and later restoration. It was built as the deliberate, formal axis of the Collachium, the quarter of the Knights of Saint John, using durable local stone and a consistent architectural manner, which gave it a coherence that survived the centuries better than more haphazardly built streets. In the early twentieth century, during the Italian occupation of Rhodes, an extensive programme of restoration consolidated and reinstated the medieval appearance of the inns and the streetscape, repairing damage and removing later accretions. Just as importantly, the avenue has been kept largely free of modern shopfronts, signage and commercial clutter, so the historic fabric is allowed to dominate the view in a way that is rare among Europe’s living cities. The result is a street that reads almost as a single medieval composition, which is precisely why it ranks among the best-preserved and most famous medieval streets on the continent.