Rhodes Old Town: what is free, what needs a ticket, and is the Grand Master's Palace worth it?
What you can see for free in the medieval Old Town of Rhodes, which places need a ticket, whether the Palace of the Grand Master is worth the entry, and how Lindos fits into the same trip.
In 1856 lightning struck the old church of the Knights of St John at the top of the town of Rhodes. Gunpowder had been stored in the vaults beneath it and forgotten. The explosion destroyed the church, killed hundreds of people and brought down most of what was left of the building next door: the palace of the Grand Masters, who had ruled the island from 1309 to 1522.
The palace you pay to enter today was built on those ruins between 1937 and 1940, when Rhodes belonged to Italy, as a residence for the governor and a showpiece for the regime. Its floors are ancient mosaics, lifted from the island of Kos. None of this makes it less worth seeing, but it changes the question. In Rhodes the truly medieval things are mostly in the street, and free.
The town in one paragraph
The Knights Hospitaller, driven out of the Holy Land, took Rhodes in 1309 and spent two centuries fortifying it. The north of the town was theirs, with the palace, the hospital and the inns of the order. The south was the town of everyone else. In 1522 Suleiman the Magnificent besieged it for six months. The knights sailed away on the first day of 1523 and later settled on Malta. The Ottomans stayed until 1912, the Italians until the Second World War, and the island has been Greek since 1947. People still live inside the walls, which is why there is no gate to pay at.
What is free
- The walls and the moat. About four kilometres of wall ring the town. The dry moat between the lines of defence is a public walk for much of the circuit, with stone cannonballs still lying in heaps.
- The gates. The d'Amboise Gate of 1512, on the west side, takes you over a bridge and through a bend between two fat towers. The Marine Gate faces the harbour.
- The Street of the Knights. A straight cobbled street climbing from the hospital to the palace, lined with the inns of the "tongues", the national groups the order was divided into. Look for the coats of arms above the doors. Before nine in the morning it is empty.
- The lower town. Hippocrates Square with its fountain, the bazaar street of Sokratous, the Mosque of Suleiman from outside, and the Square of the Jewish Martyrs, which remembers the community deported in July 1944.
The dry moat of the Old Town, a public walk between two lines of wall. Photo: Jorge Láscar, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
What needs a ticket
- The Palace of the Grand Master. The courtyard, the great staircase, the upper halls with their mosaics, and two exhibitions on ancient and medieval Rhodes on the ground floor. Allow an hour to an hour and a half.
- The Archaeological Museum, at the foot of the Street of the Knights. It fills the knights' hospital of the 15th century, and the building, with its courtyard and its long ward upstairs, is as much the exhibit as the statues.
- The walk on top of the walls. A stretch of the ramparts opens to visitors at limited times, with a ticket of its own. Ask at the palace, where the walk starts.
- The Kahal Shalom Synagogue, of 1577, the oldest in Greece, with a small museum beside it. It opens to visitors in season and asks for a contribution.
The gate of the Grand Master's Palace, between its two round towers. Photo: Julian Lupyan, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
Is the palace worth it?
The gate and the outer walls, the most photographed part, you see without paying. Inside, you are in a 1930s idea of a medieval palace, furnished with real ancient floors and with two good exhibitions. It is worth an hour if you like mosaics, if you want the story of the knights told in one place, or if it is noon in August and you need thick walls around you.
If you have time and money for one interior only, the Archaeological Museum gives you the more authentic building. If you plan to see both, ask at the first desk whether a combined ticket is on offer that day.
The courtyard of the palace, as rebuilt in the late 1930s. Photo: Julian Lupyan, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
Lindos, the other ticket
The second great site of the island is about fifty kilometres down the east coast, an hour or more by bus from Rhodes town. Above a white village, a rock stands more than a hundred metres over the sea. On top, inside a castle of the knights, are the columns of a Hellenistic stoa, a monumental staircase and the small Temple of Athena Lindia.
The way up is on foot, a quarter of an hour of polished stone steps with no shade. Go at opening time or in the last hours of the afternoon. At the bottom of the final stair, look for the ship carved into the rock face more than two thousand years ago.
Lindos from the sea: the castle walls on the rock, the white village below. Photo: Ввласенко, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
What our partner sells
- An entry ticket to the palace with a digital guide. Entry booked ahead, with a guide on your phone. The listing gives little detail, so check what it names before you pay.
- An entry ticket to the Acropolis of Lindos with a digital guide. Entry to the site. Nothing in the listing mentions transport: getting to Lindos is your own affair.
- An audio tour of the Old Town. About two hours, starting at the d'Amboise Gate, in the partner's app. No entry to anything.
- An audio walk through the Jewish quarter. About two hours, starting by the palace. Tickets along the way are not included.
These are the tickets and audio walks our partner sells in Rhodes, with today's prices:
-
on WeGoTrip
Museum & Attraction Tickets Acropolis of Lindos: Entry Ticket + Digital Hellenic Heritage Guide
Book on WeGoTripfrom3,572 RSD
-
on WeGoTrip
Museum & Attraction Tickets Palace of the Knights of Rhodes: Entry Ticket + Digital Guide
Book on WeGoTripfrom3,572 RSD
-
on WeGoTrip
History & Heritage Medieval Town of Rhodes: Audio Tour of the Old Town
Book on WeGoTripfrom588 RSD
-
on WeGoTrip
Walking Tours Rhodes: Self-Guided Audio Walk Through the Jewish Quarter
Book on WeGoTripfrom1,175 RSD
Sold and delivered by WeGoTrip. You book on their site at their price; Viaqui may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
When to go
Rhodes is a cruise port. From mid-morning to mid-afternoon in season the main streets of the Old Town are packed, and the palace with them. Walk the Street of the Knights and the moat early, keep the interiors for the last two hours before closing, and come back after dark, when the day visitors have gone. Hours shorten in winter: the current ones are on our page for the Palace of the Grand Master.
From here
Outside the walls to the north, Mandraki harbour has its three windmills and the two bronze deer on columns at the entrance. To the west, a half-hour walk uphill, the ancient acropolis of Rhodes has a stadium and the columns of a temple of Apollo, open and free. For more on the medieval town, the Acropolis of Lindos and the rest of Rhodes, or to fit the island into a longer trip, open the trip planner for Greece.
Cover photo: Julian Lupyan, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
Frequently asked questions
Is Rhodes Old Town free to enter?
Yes. It is a lived-in town and its gates are open at all hours. The streets, the Street of the Knights, the gates and the moat cost nothing. Only a few places inside ask for a ticket.
Is the Palace of the Grand Master in Rhodes worth it?
It is worth an hour for its ancient mosaic floors and its exhibitions on the history of Rhodes. Know that most of the building is a reconstruction of 1937 to 1940. The gate and outer walls can be seen without a ticket.
Can you walk the moat of Rhodes for free?
Yes. The dry moat around the medieval town is a public walk for much of its length. The walk on top of the walls is a different thing: it opens at limited times and has its own ticket.
How long do you need in Rhodes Old Town?
Half a day covers the Street of the Knights, the palace or the Archaeological Museum, the lower town and part of the moat. A full day lets you see both interiors and walk the whole moat.
How far is Lindos from Rhodes town?
About fifty kilometres down the east coast, an hour or more by bus. The Acropolis of Lindos has its own ticket, separate from anything in Rhodes town.
