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Rhodes International Airport, officially Diagoras after the island’s most celebrated ancient Olympic champion, sits on the west coast just north of the village of Paradisi, roughly 14km south-southwest of Rhodes Town along the coast road. Its single runway handles well over six million passengers a year, and the terminal splits into two interconnected buildings, with the older section covering both arrivals and departures while the newer wing handles departures only.
For most visitors, the airport is only the start of a longer journey, since Rhodes stretches roughly 77km from north to south and the resort someone is heading to changes the calculation considerably. Rhodes Town, Ixia and Ialysos sit within a 15 to 20 minute drive, Faliraki is a further stretch south along the east coast, and Lindos is a genuinely long haul at around 50km, closer to an hour on the road than a quick hop.
Four broad options cover almost every arrival. The public RODA bus is the cheapest way into Rhodes Town, a fixed-tariff taxi rank sits directly outside arrivals for anyone who wants a metered price without booking ahead, a pre-booked private transfer suits groups or the long run out to Lindos where certainty over cost matters most, and a hire car makes sense for anyone exploring the island independently.
This guide works through every option with the real fares, routes and journey times behind each, so a specific flight and destination can be matched to the right choice before landing. It also covers what is genuinely available inside the terminal itself, from WiFi to currency exchange, so nothing here needs to be assumed rather than checked, and the official Rhodes Airport site is worth bookmarking for anything that changes between seasons.
Distance and Drive Time from Rhodes Airport
Diagoras Airport sits on the island’s west coast, so the drive to any resort depends heavily on which stretch of coastline it sits along. The table below sets out approximate distance and drive time by road from the airport to Rhodes Town and the main resort areas, matching the fixed taxi fares and journey times covered later in this guide.
| Destination | Distance from Airport | Approx. Drive Time |
|---|---|---|
| Rhodes Town | ~14 km (8.7 mi) | 20-25 min |
| Ixia | ~10 km (6 mi) | 15-25 min |
| Ialysos | ~8 km (5 mi) | 15-25 min |
| Kremasti | ~5 km (3 mi) | around 10 min |
| Kallithea | ~14 km (8.7 mi) | 20-25 min |
| Faliraki | ~17 km (10.5 mi) | 25-30 min |
| Afandou | ~24 km (15 mi) | 30-35 min |
| Kolympia | ~26 km (16 mi) | 35-40 min |
| Lindos | ~50 km (31 mi) | around 55 min |
Comparing Your Rhodes Airport Transfer Options
With four genuinely different ways to leave Diagoras Airport, it helps to see journey time and price side by side before choosing, especially since the right answer changes considerably depending on the resort. The table below covers the main options to Rhodes Town, Faliraki and Lindos, each explained in full further down this page.
| Option | Rhodes Town | Faliraki | Lindos | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RODA Bus | ~35-40 min, €2.50 (£2/$3) | Change bus in Rhodes Town | Change bus in Rhodes Town | Budget travellers, light luggage |
| Taxi (fixed fare) | ~20-25 min, €25 (£21/$29) | ~25-30 min, €30 (£26/$35) | ~55 min, €75 (£64/$86) | No booking needed, metered certainty |
| Private Transfer | ~20-25 min, from €28 (£24/$32) | ~25-30 min, from €45 (£38/$52) | ~55 min, from €95 (£81/$109) | Groups, heavy luggage, fixed price |
| Car Hire | ~20-25 min self-drive | ~25-30 min self-drive | ~55 min self-drive | From €15-40+ (£13-34+/$17-46+)/day, island-wide exploring |
Best if you want daily housekeeping and a front desk. Filter by area first, then by price.
Check availabilityBest for families, or any stay past about four nights. A kitchen and a washing machine start paying for themselves.
Browse rentalsBest for double-checking. Runs the same Rhodes search across several booking sites so you are not leaving money behind.
Compare pricesBus Routes and Tickets from Rhodes Airport
Two separate companies run buses from Diagoras Airport, and knowing which one to look for saves a wasted wait at the wrong stop. RODA operates the year-round service into Rhodes Town, the company behind the island’s blue urban and western suburban services, while KTEL Rodou runs the orange coaches covering the eastern resort coast and adds a direct seasonal route to Faliraki each summer.
RODA’s stop sits roughly 300 metres to the left of Terminal door 1, in front of a small outdoor café, rather than immediately outside arrivals. A one-way fare into Rhodes Town costs around €2.50 to €3 (£2-3/$3-4), paid in cash straight to the driver, and the journey takes roughly 35 to 40 minutes depending on traffic through Kremasti and the western suburbs.
Departures run frequently, from around 05:15 in the morning until close to midnight, though exact timings shift between summer and winter schedules and are worth checking with RODA directly before travelling. Buses arrive at the West Side terminal on Averof Street, tucked behind the New Market building, a short walk from the harbour and the Old Town’s walls.
During the summer season, KTEL Rodou also runs a direct Line 25 service straight from the airport to Faliraki, avoiding the need to change buses in town at all. It departs roughly hourly, takes about 30 minutes, and costs around €3.50 (£3/$4) one way, a fare confirmed as current through the end of September before the winter timetable takes over.
With two companies and more than one route in play, it helps to see them side by side rather than piece the detail together from separate schedules. The table below covers the direct airport services alongside the two onward KTEL Rodou routes already mentioned elsewhere on this page.
| Route | Where It Goes | Frequency / Season | Fare | Journey Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RODA Airport to Rhodes Town | Diagoras Airport to the West Side terminal, Averof Street | Year-round, roughly every 20-30 min, 05:15-midnight | ~€2.50-3 (£2-3/$3-4) | ~35-40 min |
| KTEL Rodou Line 25 (seasonal) | Diagoras Airport direct to Faliraki, via Kalithea Avenue | Summer season only, roughly hourly | ~€3.50 (£3/$4) | ~30 min |
| KTEL Rodou Town to Faliraki | West Side terminal, Rhodes Town to Faliraki | Year-round, frequent in summer | ~€2.50 (£2/$3) | ~30-35 min |
| KTEL Rodou Town to Lindos | West Side terminal, Rhodes Town to Lindos | Year-round, several times daily | ~€5.50 (£5/$6) | ~70-80 min |
Tickets for both companies are bought the same everyday way, with cash handed to the driver as you board, since neither RODA nor KTEL Rodou sells tickets from a machine at the airport stop itself. KTEL Rodou is the exception for advance planning, since its online e-ticketing platform lets the Line 25 fare and other east-coast routes be booked before travelling, an option RODA does not currently offer.
There is no genuinely useful dedicated app for either bus company, since RODA has no current app of its own and the municipality’s separate Rhodes Public Transport initiative has drawn user complaints about failing to load properly. The honest recommendation is Moovit, a free general transit app that covers both RODA’s town routes and KTEL Rodou’s island-wide lines with regularly updated timetables, making it a more reliable way to check a specific departure before setting out.
Anyone continuing on to Kolympia or Lindos outside the Faliraki season should still plan on changing buses in Rhodes Town, since neither RODA’s airport route nor the seasonal Line 25 runs past Faliraki itself. For most of the year, the safer assumption remains that a resort journey beyond Rhodes Town or Faliraki involves two separate buses and two separate tickets rather than one continuous ride.
Taxi Fares from Rhodes Airport
A taxi rank sits directly outside the arrivals hall, staffed by the blue and white cabs used across the island, and no booking is needed since cars generally wait there through the day and into the evening. Rhodes runs a published fixed-fare system for airport journeys rather than relying purely on the meter, which removes most of the guesswork over what a trip should cost.
The standard daytime tariff, running from 05:00 to midnight and already including a €2.85 (£2/$3) airport surcharge, works out at around €25 (£21/$29) for Rhodes Town and about €20 (£17/$23) for Ixia. Ialysos, slightly nearer still, typically comes to around €17 (£14/$20), with each of these three drives taking somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes.
Faliraki, further south along the coast, sits at roughly €30 (£26/$35) and takes closer to 25 to 30 minutes, while Kolympia further along the same road comes in around €45 (£38/$52) for a journey nearer 35 to 40 minutes. Lindos is in a different bracket entirely given the real distance involved, with a fixed daytime fare of around €75 (£64/$86) for a drive of roughly 55 minutes.
Fares roughly double between midnight and 05:00 under the night tariff, and a small extra charge applies for luggage over 10kg, so a late arrival should expect a noticeably higher total. A minimum charge of around €3.72 (£3/$4) also applies, though it rarely comes up on an airport run.
These figures come from Rhodes’s published fixed-fare list rather than a personal quote, so it is worth confirming the driver is using the standard tariff, particularly during the busiest weeks of high summer. Paying in cash remains the norm, and while card readers are increasingly common, carrying enough euros to cover the fare is the safer habit.
Booking a Private Transfer from the Airport
A pre-booked private transfer works differently from a taxi in one key respect: the price and pickup are agreed before landing, with a driver waiting in arrivals holding a name board rather than a queue to join. Most operators track the incoming flight automatically, so a delay on the inbound leg does not leave anyone standing at an empty pickup point.
For the short run into Rhodes Town, Ixia or Ialysos, a pre-booked transfer typically starts from around €28 to €35 (£24-30/$32-40) for a standard car, a modest premium over the taxi tariff in exchange for a confirmed price and a driver expecting a specific arrival. That trade-off matters most on a first visit or a red-eye landing, when not having to hunt for a rank feels worth the extra cost.
Faliraki and Kolympia sit in a middle bracket, with a private car typically running from around €45 to €55 (£38-47/$52-63), broadly in line with the taxi fare but fixed in advance rather than metered. For Lindos, where the drive runs to around 50km and closer to an hour on the road, a pre-booked transfer generally starts from around €95 to €110 (£81-94/$109-127), reflecting both the distance and a single car committed to one group for the return leg too.
This kind of transfer suits particular travellers more than others, including groups splitting a fare, anyone with heavy luggage or a mobility need, and late-night arrivals once the RODA bus has stopped for the day. For a short solo trip staying close to Rhodes Town, the fixed taxi tariff or the bus usually works out cheaper without losing much convenience.
Booking a few days ahead, rather than arranging something after landing, generally secures a better price and guarantees a car is actually available during the busiest stretches of summer. Most operators take bookings through a comparison site or directly with a local transfer company, and confirm the vehicle and total price in writing before the trip itself.
Compare Airport Transfer Companies
Pre-booking your airport transfer can save time and reduce stress when you arrive. Whether you need a private taxi, shared shuttle or executive transfer, comparing providers can help you find the best price and service for your journey.
We’ve selected three trusted airport transfer companies so you can compare prices, vehicle options, cancellation policies and customer reviews before you travel.
Hiring a Car at Diagoras Airport
Diagoras Airport hosts a wide spread of car hire brands, with desks for names including Avis, Hertz, Sixt, Europcar, Enterprise, Budget, Alamo and Thrifty, alongside local Greek operators such as Rhodium, all reachable from the arrivals hall rather than a separate building outside. Most desks sit within a short walk of the baggage carousels, making pickup straightforward for anyone flying in with a booking already confirmed.
Daily rates swing enormously with the season, and a small car costing as little as roughly €15 to €20 (£13-17/$17-23) a day in the shoulder months can easily rise past €40 (£34/$46) a day at the height of August. It is worth comparing prices for the specific travel dates rather than assuming a single figure applies year round, since excess and damage cover also vary considerably between operators.
For anyone holding a licence from the UK, the US, Canada, Australia or an EU country, no International Driving Permit is currently required to drive in Greece, since these licences are accepted directly provided they are printed in the Latin alphabet. Visitors whose home licence uses a different script, such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters, should arrange an International Driving Permit in advance, since this is enforced consistently rather than left to chance.
Road conditions across Rhodes are genuinely good by Greek island standards, with the main routes to Rhodes Town, Faliraki, Lindos and the airport itself well surfaced and clearly signed, and rougher going mostly limited to unpaved tracks down to quieter beaches. The coast road south towards Lindos is a proper two-lane carriageway for most of its length, making the roughly hour-long drive considerably less stressful than the distance alone suggests.
A hire car earns its cost mainly outside Rhodes Town, since the medieval Old Town’s cobbled core is pedestrianised and effectively closed to private cars, leaving nothing to gain by driving into a part of the city nobody can park inside anyway. The New Town has metered blue-signed car parks costing roughly €1.50 (£1/$2) an hour plus reasonable free street parking further out, so a car left overnight rarely causes a problem provided it stays clear of the Old Town’s gates.
Check Car Rental Prices in Rhodes
For travellers planning to drive around Rhodes, comparing rental prices in advance can help you find a vehicle that matches both your itinerary and budget.
Checking Discover Cars alongside EconomyBookings gives you two comparison sources rather than relying on a single set of results.
Facilities at Rhodes Airport
Diagoras Airport provides free WiFi across the terminal according to its own official site, alongside free charging points for phones and laptops in the seating areas, so keeping devices topped up while waiting is straightforward. The airport’s services page also lists lost property and a first aid desk among its core passenger services, both worth knowing about before rather than after something goes wrong.
Food and drink options split between the landside area before security and the airside departure lounges, running to a genuine handful of cafés and a couple of sit-down options rather than a single kiosk, though the exact mix of brands shifts year to year. It is a smaller spread than a major hub offers, so anyone with a long connection is better off eating properly before joining a queue.
Two paid-access lounges operate seasonally on the second floor airside, the Goldair Handling Lounge and a second lounge formerly branded Filoxenia and now marketed as The Lounge Rhodes, both typically running from spring through October. Neither is confirmed to include a shower, so travellers wanting real rest facilities should not assume one is available on the strength of a lounge pass alone.
Currency exchange runs through a OneXchange desk in arrivals, and ATMs from Eurobank, Euronet and Piraeus Bank are placed across both landside and airside sections for anyone needing euros in hand. Rates at airport exchange desks tend to run less favourably than a bank in town, so changing only what covers the first taxi or bus fare is the sensible approach.
Dedicated left-luggage storage inside the terminal is not clearly confirmed on the airport’s own site or in the independent guides checked for this piece, so anyone needing to store bags for several hours should confirm directly with Fraport Greece rather than assume a staffed desk exists. A dedicated in-terminal pharmacy is likewise unconfirmed, unlike at some larger European hubs, so a specific medical need is better sorted in Rhodes Town itself.
Rupert’s Handy Travel Tips
I’ve watched plenty of travellers assume every Rhodes resort is a quick hop from the airport, so let’s get the real distances sorted first.
- Know your resort before you choose a transfer: Rhodes Town, Ixia and Ialysos are close, but Lindos is a genuine 50km away, closer to an hour than a quick ride.
- Trust the fixed tariff, don’t haggle: Rhodes publishes set taxi fares from the airport, so there’s no need to negotiate, just confirm the driver is using the standard rate.
- Carry cash for the RODA bus: tickets are sold by the driver and card payment isn’t guaranteed, so keep a few euros in coins and small notes handy.
- Book a private transfer ahead for Lindos: the long run out east is exactly where a pre-booked, fixed-price car earns its keep, especially in peak summer.
- Don’t expect to drive into the Old Town: a hire car is brilliant for exploring the island but the medieval core is pedestrianised, so park in the New Town instead.
Want to meet the reindeer behind our travel tips? Find out more in our page Who is Rupert?.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far is Rhodes Airport from Rhodes Town?
Diagoras Airport sits roughly 14km south-southwest of Rhodes Town, a drive that typically takes around 20 to 25 minutes depending on traffic through the western suburbs.
What is the cheapest way to get from Rhodes Airport to Rhodes Town?
The RODA public bus is the cheapest option at around €2.50 (£2/$3) one way, though the 35 to 40 minute journey is slower than a taxi or private transfer.
Is there a direct bus from Rhodes Airport to Faliraki or Lindos?
Not as a reliable year-round service; the standard route is the RODA bus into Rhodes Town followed by a separate KTEL Rodou bus onward, though KTEL has published a seasonal summer timetable for an airport to Faliraki link.
How much is a taxi from Rhodes Airport to Lindos?
The published fixed daytime tariff is around €75 (£64/$86) for the roughly 50km, hour-long drive, considerably more than the fare to Rhodes Town or Faliraki given the distance involved.
Do I need an International Driving Permit to hire a car in Rhodes?
Not if your licence is from the UK, the US, Canada, Australia or an EU country and is printed in the Latin alphabet; visitors with a licence in a different script should arrange one in advance.
Can I drive into Rhodes Old Town?
No, the medieval Old Town’s cobbled core is pedestrianised and closed to private cars, so a hire car or taxi can only get as close as the New Town’s car parks just outside the walls.
Where is the taxi rank at Rhodes Airport?
It sits directly outside the arrivals hall, and no advance booking is needed since cars generally queue there throughout the day and into the evening.
Is WiFi free at Rhodes Airport?
Yes, free WiFi is available across the terminal according to the airport’s own official site, alongside free charging points in the seating areas.
Is there luggage storage at Rhodes Airport?
A dedicated left-luggage desk inside the terminal is not clearly confirmed by the airport’s own site or independent guides, so it is worth checking directly with the airport’s operator, Fraport Greece, before relying on one.
Further Reading
Landing is only the first leg for plenty of Dodecanese trips, and plenty of visitors combine Rhodes with a hop to a neighbouring island. Our guide to the Rhodes to Kos ferry covers the crossing in detail, a useful read for anyone extending a Rhodes trip onward by sea rather than flying straight home.
We are also building out a wider Rhodes content cluster on this site. Anyone continuing onward by sea should look at our Ferry Routes from Rhodes hub, covering crossings to the rest of the Dodecanese, on to Turkey and the overnight run to Piraeus, while our Things to Do in Rhodes guide covers the Old Town, Lindos and the rest of the island once you’ve landed.
