Shore excursions from Rhodes

Do cruise ships dock at Rhodes, or tender?

They dock. The port’s characteristics page on the Hellenic Ports Association’s cruise portal lists six quays of 1,955 metres in all with 7 to 13 metres of water, ships up to 380 metres long, one passenger terminal and no anchorage at all; the port’s profile counts six piers for cruise ships and calls Rhodes a home port as well as a port of call. The Municipal Port Fund of South Dodecanese, which runs the port, puts the capacity of the Tourist Port and the Akandia port together at five cruise ships and more than 10,000 passengers and crew in a day. Which quay your ship gets is not published: the Fund allocates berths through its e.Berth platform, where the ships file their arrivals and the Port Manager confirms them, and it prints no schedule of calls, so the planner above carries no schedule link. Your ship’s own programme is the word on your call, and the ticket above prints the port’s facts with the date we read them.

How far is the Old Town from the cruise port?

Close, but no official page gives the walk a figure, so we print the road: the Palace of the Grand Master, at the top of the Street of the Knights, is 2 min and 2 km from the cruise quay by car, routed on OpenStreetMap without traffic. The forum question, whether the Old Town can be walked from the ship, has no official answer in minutes: the Ministry’s portal counts 10 minutes on foot to the Palace from Mandraki, the harbour north of the Tourist Port, and the Port Fund gives the Kolona port beside it direct access to the Medieval City, so the walls are near; how many minutes from your gangway depends on the quay, which the port does not publish. Further out, the acropolis on Monte Smith is 6 min and 4 km, Filerimos hill 21 min and 14 km, Kamiros 43 min and 34 km and Lindos 1 h 7 min and 50 km, which is where a car earns its price.

Where does the driver wait at the Tourist Port?

At the passengers’ exit of the cruise terminal, with your name on a sign. The portal’s profile describes the terminal with duty-free shops, waiting rooms, shops and an information desk, and the Fund lists a Home Port Lounge, a passenger waiting area with medical facilities, a ticket kiosk for the boats to Turkey and designated parking for excursion buses with a safe way to them; the vehicle waits where the port keeps its spaces for tourist buses and taxis, and the driver walks you to it. The port area is guarded by the Port Police and a private security company under the ISPS code, so the driver waits at the exit and not at the gangway. Tell us the ship’s name and its times when you book; if your ship lies at a quay away from the terminal, one message to the driver, whose phone and WhatsApp are on your confirmation, settles the spot.

When should we leave the ship?

As soon as the ship is cleared. The characteristics page puts the clearance at 10 to 120 minutes whether the call comes from inside the Schengen area or from outside it, with every passport checked and stamped and passengers going ashore on the ship’s ID; the range is the port’s own figure, so give us the ship’s arrival time and the driver is at the exit from then on. Our day ends 90 minutes before all-aboard, and the booking form refuses a tour that does not fit between your arrival and that margin. With no tender to queue for, the margin is the only buffer to think about, and the Old Town, where all three tours end, is 2 min from the quay.

Which tours fit a Rhodes port call?

Each card above prints the call its tour needs: the hours sold plus the margin. The 4-hour tour needs five and a half hours in port and stays in the north of the island: the acropolis on Monte Smith, Filerimos hill with its monastery and the path to the cross, 90 minutes on foot in the Old Town, 52 minutes of driving in all. The 5-hour tour needs six and a half and spends 137 of its minutes on the road to Lindos and back, for 95 minutes at the acropolis and an hour at the Palace. The 8-hour day needs nine and a half hours in port, a long call, and circles by Filerimos, Kamiros and Lindos before the Old Town. A call that fits none of them: the custom tour form takes your hours and your stops, and the office answers with a day and its price.

What does a private shore excursion cost per person?

The price is for the vehicle, so the share falls as the party grows. On the 4-hour tour four guests pay 100 EUR a head and six 67 EUR; on the 5-hour tour four pay 125 EUR each and six 83 EUR; the 8-hour day starts from 700 EUR per group and the office confirms it for your party. On top come the tickets, paid at the gates: 20 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr) for the Palace of the Grand Master and 20 EUR (checked 14 Oct 2026, hh.gr) for the acropolis of Lindos, with the date we read them; Kamiros and Filerimos print theirs on the 8-hour and the 4-hour page. Your ship also pays the State a cruise fee for every passenger it lands at Rhodes, highest from June to September and lowest in winter, under Law 5162/2024; the line pays it, nothing is paid at the quay, and the ticket above gives the figures. Lunch, a licensed guide and a tip are extra; the tipping guide says what is usual.

Can we see Rhodes on our own from the ship?

The Old Town, yes, on foot, when your quay is near the gates: the walls, the Street of the Knights and the Palace of the Grand Master, open daily until 20:00 from April to October and closed on winter Tuesdays, with the walk on the walls at midday on weekdays in the summer months and a ticket of its own. The portal lists arranged spaces for tourist buses and taxis at the port and the Fund the parking of excursion buses, without hours or fares, so we print none. What a car adds is the island: Lindos is 1 h 7 min away by road and Kamiros 43 min, and the acropolis on Monte Smith, free to enter, is 35 minutes on foot from the Medieval City by the portal’s count and 6 min from the quay by car. The Rhodes page compares the three tours, and the driver-or-guide guide says who may guide where.

What if we are late for the ship?

The plan is built so that it does not happen: the margin before all-aboard that the form enforces, the Old Town as the last stop of all three tours a short drive from the quay, and a driver who shortens a stop rather than the margin. Rhodes being a dock, there is no last tender to catch; all-aboard is the deadline, and the day is planned to it. We do not promise the return to the ship; we promise the plan above and a phone that is answered. If the ship changes its quay or its times, write as soon as you know, and the driver moves with it.