Rhodes International Airport to Ixia & Ialyssos
Closest resort area to RHO at 8 km; the airport bus passes through for around €2–3, and a taxi is €15–22 in a quarter of an hour.
The windward strip between the airport and Rhodes Town — big seafront hotels facing a pebbled shore, and enough breeze that it became the island's windsurfing and kitesurfing base.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Ixia & Ialyssos, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €22). 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 | €22 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €4 | €22 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €8 | €22 | 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
The cheapest ride from this airport and barely a quarter of an hour. Tell the driver your hotel when you board — the strip runs for several kilometres and the stops are spaced along the main road above it.
Where to catch it: The airport coach runs along this coast on its way into town, so you get off partway rather than at the terminus.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Twelve minutes and a modest fare, which makes this one of the few Rhodes runs where the taxi is barely worth agonising over. The night tariff still applies after dark.
Where to catch it: The shortest resort fare on the board, straight up the coast road.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
Windsurfers should mention board bags at booking — they don't fit every saloon and this coast is exactly where people arrive carrying them.
Where to catch it: For twelve kilometres the value is a car already waiting when a midnight charter lands, not the journey itself.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
Well placed as a base — you're between the airport and the old town with the west coast road running south past Kamiros. The wind that makes the surfing good also makes the beaches less comfortable for lounging.
Where to catch it: Ten minutes up the coast, and most hotels along here have their own parking.
Best for travellers who want to exploreIxia & Ialyssos & 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 Ixia & Ialyssos
Eight kilometres, twelve minutes, and the cheapest ride this airport offers. Ixia and Ialyssos sit on the windward coast between the runway and Rhodes Town, which means the airport coach passes straight through them on its way into the city — you get off partway rather than at the terminus, and it costs two or three euros. For a strip lined with large seafront hotels, that is an unusually easy arrival.
Tell the driver where you are staying
The one thing to get right. The coach runs along the main road above the hotel strip and the stops are spaced along several kilometres of it, so "Ixia" is not a single destination. Say the hotel name when you board and the driver will tell you which stop to use — they do this constantly and it costs nothing. Get it wrong and you have a fifteen-minute walk along a busy road with a case, which rather undoes the two-euro saving.
The wind is the point, not a drawback
This coast faces north-west into the meltemi, and by mid-afternoon in summer it is blowing hard enough that the sea is white. That is why Ixia became the island's windsurfing and kitesurfing base and why the beach is pebbled rather than sandy — the water shifts everything. If you came for flat blue calm you have booked the wrong side of Rhodes and should be looking at Faliraki or Kallithea across the island. If you came with a board, you are in exactly the right place and the schools are along the front.
Board bags and what fits in a taxi
Which raises the arrival problem specific to this strip. A nine-foot board bag does not go in a standard saloon, and the rank outside arrivals is mostly saloons. Metered fares here are €15 to €22 for twelve minutes, cheap enough that the taxi is barely a decision — but only if the vehicle takes your kit. Booking a transfer at €22 to €32 lets you state oversized luggage when you reserve, so an estate or a van turns up instead. Anyone flying in with equipment should sort this before they land rather than at the kerb.
Between the airport and the old town, which is the appeal
Ixia's position is genuinely convenient. Rhodes Town's medieval walls are fifteen minutes north — walkable along the coast if you are energetic, a few euros on the RODA urban bus if not — and the airport is ten minutes south, which makes departure mornings relaxed in a way they are not from Lindos. The strip itself has the big hotels, several of them with their own beaches and pools, and Ialyssos village sits inland with the ordinary shops and tavernas that resorts often lack.
Filerimos is the reason to look uphill
Behind the strip the ground rises to Mount Filerimos, where a monastery, the remains of ancient Ialyssos and a cypress-lined Way of the Cross sit on a plateau with the whole west coast below. It is a fifteen-minute drive or a determined walk, and it is the thing most people staying on this coast never get around to. Worth doing early in the morning before the tour coaches arrive.
Hiring here makes more sense than in most resorts
Expect €25 to €55 a day, and most hotels along this strip have parking, which removes the usual objection. You are also well placed: the west coast road runs south past Kamiros to Monolithos, the old town is north, and the airport is close enough that returning the car costs no time. If you want to see Rhodes rather than one beach, this is a good base to drive from — the wind that spoils the swimming makes the rest of the island more appealing anyway.
Bottom line: two or three euros on the airport coach and a word with the driver about your hotel. Book ahead only if you are carrying boards, and consider a car for a few days because this coast is better placed for touring than for lying still.
