Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands and officially the sunniest spot in Europe. That statistic alone explains a lot about the place: the light here is extraordinary, turning the medieval stone walls of Rhodes Old Town golden in the late afternoon and making the sea off Lindos an almost unreal shade of blue.
The island has two distinct pulls. Rhodes City in the north is dominated by one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the Mediterranean, built by the Knights of St. John in the 14th century and still very much lived in. Six thousand people call the Old Town home, going about their lives in buildings that have stood for six hundred years. Below the walls, the modern town spreads out with its waterfront cafes and harbour full of day-trip boats.
The south of the island is quieter and more traditionally Greek. Lindos, about 50 kilometres down the east coast, has a stunning ancient acropolis perched on a cliff above a whitewashed village. Beyond Lindos, the roads get emptier and the beaches get wilder. The ruined city of Kamiros on the west coast is one of the most atmospheric ancient sites in the Aegean, far less visited than it deserves.
Between the two poles, the interior is surprisingly green, with pine-forested hills and the famous Valley of the Butterflies (Petaloudes), where millions of Jersey tiger moths gather in a cool, shaded gorge during summer. The west coast tends to be windier and better for surfing; the east coast is calmer and better for swimming.
