Rhodes International Airport to Kallithea
About 20 km across the island; no direct airport bus, so it's a change in Rhodes Town or a taxi at roughly €28–38.
A quieter stretch of the east coast just south of Rhodes Town, best known for the restored 1920s Kallithea Springs — an Italian-built art deco spa on a rocky cove that is now a swimming and diving spot.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Kallithea, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €32). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €5) 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 | €5 | €32 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €10 | €32 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €20 | €32 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €5, 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
Taxi
Roughly €28–38 by day. Kallithea's hotels are spread along the coast road with steep drives down to the water, so the exact property matters more here than the resort name.
Where to catch it: Across the island on the ring road, then south along the east coast.
Best for small groups in a hurryBus / shuttle
Around six euros with the change and an hour and a quarter door to door. Fine in daylight travelling light; awkward with cases on a late arrival.
Where to catch it: Airport coach into the KTEL station, then an east-coast service towards Faliraki and Lindos that passes Kallithea.
Best for solo & budget travellersPrivate transfer
Fixed per car. This is the sort of route where the public option technically exists and nobody sensible uses it on arrival day.
Where to catch it: The hotels here sit above the sea on private access roads, and a driver with the booking takes you down rather than leaving you at the junction.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
Sensible base for touring the east coast — Rhodes Town is fifteen minutes north, Faliraki five minutes south, and the coast road runs on to Lindos.
Where to catch it: Twenty-five minutes across the island; hotel parking is generally available along this stretch.
Best for travellers who want to exploreKallithea & 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 Kallithea
Kallithea is twenty kilometres separate it from the runway, and served by no direct bus at all. Everything public goes through Rhodes Town, which turns a twenty-five-minute drive into an hour and a quarter with a change. For a stretch of coast that markets itself on peace and quiet, arriving here is oddly more complicated than reaching the busy resorts either side of it.
What you are actually coming for
The Kallithea Springs — Terme Kalithea — are the reason this stretch of coast has a name. The Italians built a thermal spa here in 1929 in an extraordinary art deco and Moorish style, all white domes, colonnades and mosaic floors set into a rocky cove. It fell derelict for decades and was restored in the 2000s. Today you pay a small entry fee to walk the terraces and swim off the rocks in water that is startlingly clear, and it doubles as a wedding venue and film location. It is nothing like a beach resort and that is the point.
The hotels are above the sea, on private drives
This is the practical detail that decides how you should arrive. Kallithea's accommodation is not a strip along a promenade — it is a series of large hotels set on the hillside above the coast road, each reached by its own steep access drive down to a private terrace and a set of steps to the water. A bus leaves you on the main road at the top. A taxi at €28 to €38 takes you down the drive to reception. In July, with luggage and a slope, those are not equivalent outcomes.
The bus route, for completeness
KTEL airport coach into the Averof terminal in Rhodes Town, about €3. Then any east-coast service heading for Faliraki or Lindos, which passes Kallithea, another €3 or so. Around six euros in total and roughly an hour and fifteen minutes including the wait. It is a genuine option for someone travelling light on a morning flight. With cases, children or an evening arrival it is the wrong call, and the hillside makes it worse than the timings suggest.
Where a booked car earns its premium
Transfers run €32 to €46 for the vehicle. What that buys over the rank is a driver who has your specific hotel rather than a resort name — and here the hotels are set well apart with unmarked turnings off a coast road that has few landmarks. It also buys a fixed price on a route where the meter would otherwise be running through Rhodes Town's evening traffic. For two people the gap over a taxi is small enough to be worth it on a late landing.
Fifteen minutes from the old town, five from Faliraki
The position is genuinely good once you are settled. Rhodes Town's medieval walls are a quarter of an hour north, Faliraki's beach and nightlife five minutes south, and the coast road runs on towards Lindos. That makes Kallithea a reasonable compromise for people who want a quiet base with things within reach — provided they have a way of reaching them, which brings us to the last point.
A car changes this stay more than most
Rates run €25 to €55 a day and the hotels here have parking, which is not true everywhere on Rhodes. Without one you are dependent on a coast-road bus service that runs to a summer timetable and a long walk up your hotel's drive to reach it. With one, the whole east coast opens up and Rhodes Town is a fifteen-minute drive with parking outside the walls. Of all the Rhodes resorts in this guide, this is the one where hiring on arrival makes the most sense.
Worth knowing that the Springs charge an entry fee and close in the early evening, so an afternoon swim there needs planning rather than wandering down after dinner. The rocky coves either side of the complex are free and open.
In short: no direct bus, so it is €28–38 in a taxi, €32–46 for a booked car that finds the right driveway, or an hour and a quarter and two coaches if you are counting every euro and travelling light.
