Rhodes International Airport to Faliraki
About 25 km across the island; in season there's a direct airport bus for €2–4, and taxis run €25–35 in around twenty minutes.
Rhodes's biggest package resort, on the east coast below Rhodes Town — a long sandy bay, a water park, and a nightlife strip that gave the place its reputation, though the north end is family territory.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Faliraki, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €30). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €2) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €2 | €30 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €4 | €30 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €8 | €30 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €2, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Bus / shuttle
Cheap and direct when it's running, but it's a summer service on a limited timetable rather than an all-year hourly link. Out of season you ride into Rhodes Town and change at the KTEL station.
Where to catch it: The one east-coast route that runs from the airport without a change in Rhodes Town; board at the arrivals-side stop.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Roughly €25–35 by day and about twenty minutes. Faliraki spreads over several kilometres of coast, so name the hotel — the gap between the north end and the strip is a good ten minutes of driving.
Where to catch it: Straight across the island on the ring road; one of the quicker resort runs from this airport.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
One fixed price for the car whatever time the charter lands. Faliraki's big hotels have proper drop-off loops, so you arrive at reception rather than on the main road.
Where to catch it: Child seats can be requested at booking, which is why the family end of Faliraki books ahead rather than joining the rank.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsShuttle
Per person, so couples beat the private car comfortably. The trade is time — you may be the last of five drops, turning twenty minutes into three quarters of an hour.
Where to catch it: A minibus that gathers several parties in the hall and works down the east coast hotel by hotel.
Best for budget travellersFaliraki & Rhodes in photos
Buying tickets in Rhodes
Rhodes has no rail and two separate bus companies, which is the thing to get straight on day one. KTEL runs the green intercity coaches covering the island — the airport line into Rhodes Town (about €3), the seasonal direct service to Faliraki, and the east-coast route to Lindos (roughly €5.50 onward from town). RODA runs the blue urban buses in and around Rhodes Town only. A KTEL ticket buys you nothing on a RODA bus and the two use different stands at the Averof terminal. Pay the driver or the kiosk in cash; there is no island travel card. The airport stop is outside the arrivals terminal to the right, and services thin out considerably in the evening.
Taxi scams & safety in Rhodes
Rhodes taxis work to a published tariff rather than negotiation, which removes most of the usual friction — reckon on €27–29 into Rhodes Town on the daytime rate and a fixed fare near €75 for Lindos. Two legitimate charges catch people out and are not scams: the night tariff, and the fixed pricing on long runs like Lindos and Pefkos. Use the rank outside arrivals rather than accepting an approach inside the hall. The genuine risk here is car hire: photograph the vehicle from every angle before leaving the lot, read what the excess actually is, and be wary of a very low headline rate attached to a large deposit. One practical point rather than a safety one — no vehicle enters Rhodes Old Town or Lindos village, so every journey to either ends on foot over cobbles.
Getting from RHO to Faliraki
Faliraki has something no other Rhodes resort does: a direct bus from the airport. Every other east-coast destination makes you cross the island, change at the KTEL station in Rhodes Town and come back out again. Faliraki gets a through service — in season, at least, and that qualification is the whole story of this route.
The direct coach exists from roughly May to October
KTEL runs an airport-to-Faliraki service through the summer for somewhere between €2 and €4, avoiding the change in town entirely. It takes about forty minutes with stops. When it is running it is the obvious choice, and it is the reason Faliraki feels closer to the airport than Kolymbia or Afandou despite being a similar distance. The catch is that it is seasonal and runs to a limited daily timetable rather than every hour, so check the board as you leave arrivals. Out of season, or if your flight falls between departures, you are back to the two-stage journey through Rhodes Town, which turns twenty-five minutes into some ninety minutes.
Twenty minutes by road, and the meter is fair
By car it is a straightforward run across the island's waist and down the coast — about twenty minutes and €25 to €35 on the daytime tariff. That is one of the shorter resort fares from this airport, and it makes the taxi a reasonable proposition even for two people. Rhodes taxis publish their rates rather than haggling, so the number you are quoted is the number you pay, with the usual uplift after dark.
Which Faliraki you booked changes the drop-off
The resort is longer than it looks. The northern end towards Kallithea is quiet, family-oriented and hotel-heavy; the centre has the beach and the shops; the southern strip is where the bars are. Between the extremes is a good ten minutes of driving. A bus stop in the middle is fine if your hotel is central and a twenty-minute walk if it is not, so look at where your accommodation actually sits before deciding the €3 coach beats the €30 cab. Naming the hotel rather than the resort is what gets you to the door.
Shared shuttles work out cheapest for two
The charter operators run minibuses that collect several parties from the arrivals hall and work down the east coast dropping each at reception — roughly €10 to €18 a head. For a couple that lands at about €30 total, door to door, which undercuts both the taxi and a private car while still avoiding the walk from a bus stop. What you pay is time: you might be the fourth of five drops, so budget three quarters of an hour rather than twenty minutes. On a bright afternoon that costs you nothing; at two in the morning it feels longer.
Families and the child-seat problem
Greek law requires appropriate seats for young children and a taxi rank cannot promise one. Booking a transfer at €30 to €45 lets you specify exactly what you need — a booster, a rear-facing seat, two of each — and have it fitted when the car arrives. That single constraint is why the family end of Faliraki books ahead as a matter of course rather than queueing. The per-vehicle pricing helps too, since a family of four compares one car against four separate fares.
A car is for the island, not the strip
Hire desks quote €25 to €55 daily. Faliraki itself is walkable, most hotels have parking, and the beach is at the bottom of the hill — none of that argues for a car. What does is everything within half an hour: Kallithea Springs, Epta Piges, the road up to Filerimos, and Lindos an hour south. Rent for two or three days midweek and you will see more of Rhodes than a fortnight of coach excursions would show you.
Short version: check whether the seasonal direct coach is running before anything else — at €3 it is unbeatable. If it is not, or your hotel is at the far end of the strip, a €25–35 taxi or a shared shuttle at €15 a head both beat an hour and a half of changing buses in town.
