Rhodes

Most people come to Rhodes to swim, and the east coast is where they stay. From Faliraki south past Kolymbia, Tsambika and Stegna to Lindos, the shore is a chain of wide bays and small coves with clear, sheltered water. The sand is often mixed with fine shingle. Anthony Quinn Bay and Ladiko have rocky inlets for snorkelling, Tsambika has a long sweep of soft sand under a monastery hill, and the little bay of St Paul's sits below the acropolis at Lindos. Rhodes Town has its own beach at Elli, on the northern tip.

The west coast faces the prevailing wind and has more pebble and rougher water. At the far south, Prasonisi has calm water on one side of its sandbar and waves on the other. The sea is warm enough to swim from late May to October and reaches about 25°C in August. The busiest beaches are crowded with rows of sunbeds in high summer.

Eating well on Rhodes means leaving the resort strips. The good meals are in family tavernas in the inland villages and the quieter harbours, and among the meze places in the newer parts of Rhodes Town, where locals eat. Look for pitaroudia (chickpea fritters), matsi pasta, slow-cooked goat, grilled fish sold by weight, and the anise spirit souma. Embonas and the slopes of Mount Attavyros produce local wine and honey.

The hotel belt along the north and east coasts is mostly buffets and identical menus, and the restaurants in the Old Town's main lanes are aimed at passing tourists. There is a small upmarket tier around Lindos and in Rhodes Town, but there is little fine dining. Rhodes suits travellers who are happy with long, simple meals by the sea more than those planning a trip around food.

The medieval Old Town of Rhodes is one of the most complete fortified towns in Europe. The Knights of St John built it, and the Ottomans and later the Italians added to it. Visitors walk the cobbled Street of the Knights, with the inns of each order lining it, to the Palace of the Grand Master. Mosques, a synagogue, Byzantine churches and Turkish fountains are scattered through the lanes inside the walls. The Archaeological Museum is in the old Knights' Hospital, and outside the walls the dry moat makes a walk of its own.

There is more beyond the town. The acropolis of Lindos sits on a cliff above white houses and two bays. The ancient city of Kamiros lies on a hillside on the west coast, and Filerimos has a monastery and the remains of an ancient acropolis. On Monte Smith, the acropolis of ancient Rhodes has a restored stadium and theatre. The Italian-era waterfront in Mandraki harbour completes a varied heritage that takes several days to see.

Rhodes has a real summer party scene, concentrated in a few places. Faliraki is the loud one, with a strip of bars and clubs that fills with young package travellers and runs until dawn in July and August. In Rhodes Town, a single lane of bars in the Old Town goes late, and the new town around Mandraki and the beachfront has cocktail bars and a few clubs. Lindos has stylish bars on rooftops and in courtyards and a couple of late spots that attract an older, better-heeled crowd.

Away from these places, evenings in the coastal resorts end at the hotel bar. The scene runs from late spring to early autumn and largely closes outside those months.

Most of Rhodes is low, pine-covered hills with dry valleys between them. The landscape is pleasant rather than dramatic. Mount Attavyros, which rises to 1,216m above the wine villages of the west, is the one real climb. The Valley of the Butterflies is a shaded gorge where tiger moths gather in midsummer, and Seven Springs is a cool, wooded stream valley. Quiet back roads and footpaths link the inland villages, and they are best walked in spring and autumn, because summer heat makes hiking hard work.

The island's outdoor highlight is wind. At Prasonisi on the southern tip, steady winds and a sandbar between two seas make one of the Mediterranean's best-known windsurfing and kitesurfing spots. The windy west coast also suits sailing, and there is diving off the east coast.

The best day out is by sea. Symi is about an hour or so away by fast boat, and its harbour of pastel neoclassical houses climbing the hillside is one of the most photographed in the Dodecanese. The monastery of Panormitis is often combined with it. Smaller, quieter Halki can be reached from the west coast at Kamiros Skala. Ferries also cross to Marmaris on the Turkish coast in about an hour, giving a taste of another country.

On the island itself, there are outings to the wine village of Embonas, the castles of Monolithos and Kritinia on their crags, the hill village of Archangelos with its pottery, and the old spa rotunda at Kallithea. The list is pleasant but short, and much of it depends on boat schedules and summer seas.

Rhodes works well for a beach vacation with children. The east coast between Faliraki and Lindos has calm, shallow bays with gently sloping sand, such as Tsambika, Afandou and Kolymbia. Big resort hotels along the coast are built around pools, kids' clubs and easy routines. A large water park above Faliraki and the aquarium at the northern tip of Rhodes Town are the main attractions made for children. The Valley of the Butterflies and the ramparts of the Old Town also go down well.

The limits are heat and terrain. July and August are hot for small children, and the steep, stepped lanes of Lindos are hard going with a pushchair. Greek culture is warm towards children, and families eating late in tavernas are part of the evening.

Rhodes Town is easy on foot. The Old Town is compact and car-free, and the harbour and new town are a short walk away. Public buses run from the town down both coasts, with the best service along the east coast to Faliraki and Lindos, which is about an hour by bus. Away from that corridor, services thin out, especially towards the south and the inland villages.

Many visitors hire a car for a few days. The main roads are good, distances are modest, and the drive from the town to Prasonisi takes about an hour and a half. Parking is tight near Lindos and the Old Town walls in summer. Boats from Mandraki harbour make the trips to Symi and other islands.

Shopping on Rhodes is mostly souvenirs. The lanes of the Old Town, above all Sokratous Street, are lined with stalls selling jewellery, leather, sponges and copies of ancient pottery. The new town around Mandraki has ordinary Greek high-street fashion and a few better boutiques. For local crafts, look for hand-painted ceramics in the Lindian style, made in Archangelos and around Lindos, lace and embroidery in the villages, and honey and wine from Embonas. It is a pleasant browse rather than a reason to come.

Rhodes is a middle-priced island. A large stock of package hotels and all-inclusive resorts keeps prices moderate along the north and east coasts, and village tavernas and buses are reasonable. Prices go up in July and August, in the boutique hotels of the Old Town, and above all in Lindos, which is the island's most expensive place to sleep and eat. Visitors who stay in the quieter resorts or the new town and eat where locals eat will find it fair value for a Greek island in summer.

Rhodes has little in the way of performing arts. The main local tradition a visitor can see is Greek folk dance, performed in season by a long-established company in a small theatre in the Old Town. In summer there are open-air concerts and events in the medieval moat, the ancient stadium and a few other historic settings, and tavernas sometimes put on live bouzouki music. There is no regular opera, orchestra or theatre season.

Rhodes has no bathing culture of its own. The springs at Kallithea once supplied a spa, but the Italian-era rotunda that survives there is a sight, not a place to bathe. Wellness on the island means the spas of the big resort hotels along the east coast and around Lindos, with massage and treatment rooms of good quality but no local character.

For a slower pace, go south. Villages such as Lahania, Asklipio and Gennadi have whitewashed lanes, a church square and a kafeneio or two where older men play backgammon. The evenings are long, quiet meals and walks after dark under clear skies, with none of the noise of the northern resort strip. Spring and autumn are the most restful seasons, when the heat eases and the island slows down.