Rhodes International Airport to Kolymbia
About 33 km down the east coast; the Lindos coach passes it for around €6 via Rhodes Town, or a taxi at €38–50.
A purpose-built resort on the east coast, laid out along a eucalyptus avenue that runs from the main road down to a sheltered bay — quiet, family-oriented and close to the Seven Springs valley.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Kolymbia, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €40). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €6) 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 | €6 | €40 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €12 | €40 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €24 | €40 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €6, 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 avenue down to the bay is about a kilometre and dead straight, which is a pleasant stroll and a long haul with suitcases. Most of the hotels are along it rather than at the top.
Where to catch it: Airport coach into town, then the east-coast service; Kolymbia's stop is on the main road at the top of the eucalyptus avenue.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
The taxi takes you all the way down the avenue to the hotel, which is the practical difference from the coach. The night rate applies on late charters, of which Rhodes has many.
Where to catch it: Forty minutes across and down the island on the day tariff.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
Per vehicle rather than per head, so a family of four compares one car against four coach tickets and a kilometre of walking.
Where to catch it: Booked ahead the price holds whatever hour the charter arrives, which on this island is often after midnight.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
The resort is self-contained but small, so a car stops it feeling limiting after a week — Tsambika beach, Epta Piges and Archangelos village are all within fifteen minutes.
Where to catch it: Forty minutes; most Kolymbia hotels have parking.
Best for travellers who want to exploreKolymbia & 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 Kolymbia
You will know Kolymbia when you see it: a dead-straight avenue of eucalyptus trees running a kilometre from the main road down to the bay, planted by Italian settlers in the 1930s when they drained this coast for farming. It is beautiful, it is completely flat, and it is where the coach drops you — at the top, by the highway, with the hotels strung out along its length below.
A kilometre is nothing on foot and a lot with cases
That is the entire arrival calculation here. The KTEL coach reaches Kolymbia via a change in Rhodes Town for around six euros in total, an hour and a half with the wait, and sets you down at the junction. If your hotel is near the top of the avenue you have a pleasant five-minute stroll under the trees. If it is down near the bay, you have twenty minutes of wheeling a case along a road with intermittent pavement, and in August that is done in thirty-degree heat. Look at where your accommodation sits on the avenue before deciding six euros beats forty.
The taxi goes all the way down
Forty minutes from the airport and €38 to €50 on the daytime tariff, and it takes you to the hotel entrance rather than the junction. That is the practical difference and it is worth the money for most people arriving with luggage. The night rate applies after dark, which on Rhodes matters more than it sounds — this island takes a great many charter flights that land between eleven at night and two in the morning, and the coaches have long finished by then.
Why so many hotels and so little village
Kolymbia was built, not grown. There is no old centre, no fishing harbour, no square with a church that predates the guidebooks — it is a planned resort laid out along that avenue, with supermarkets, tavernas and a couple of bars serving the hotels. That gives it a specific character: quiet, family-oriented, easy to navigate, and slightly lacking in the accidental charm that older Greek resorts have. People who want the beach and a pool are happy; people who want to wander a village are better off up at Archangelos.
The bay is small and the crowds concentrate
The beach at the bottom of the avenue is a compact pebble cove with clear water and a jetty, and it fills up in the middle of the day. Ten minutes north is Tsambika, a long stretch of proper sand with a monastery on the rock above it, which is the better beach and the reason a lot of Kolymbia guests end up wanting wheels. Traganou beach and its caves are five minutes south. None of these are reachable by any useful bus.
Booking ahead removes two problems at once
A transfer at €40 to €55 for the vehicle solves the late-landing question and the avenue question together — fixed price whatever the hour, and a driver who takes you to the door rather than the highway. Priced per car, so a family of four compares one vehicle against four coach tickets plus a kilometre of walking. That comparison generally settles it, which is why most of the package traffic here is pre-booked rather than improvised.
A car for the coast, not the resort
€25 to €55 a day, and most Kolymbia hotels have parking. The resort itself needs nothing — everything is on that one avenue — but Tsambika, Epta Piges, Archangelos and Lindos are all within half an hour, and the alternative is negotiating a summer coach timetable for each trip. For a week or more, hiring turns a pleasant but small resort into a decent base.
Tsambika is ten minutes north and worth the trip
The one excursion everyone staying here ends up making. Tsambika is a long crescent of genuine soft sand — rare on this coast, where most beaches are pebble — with a monastery perched on the rock above it, reached by a road that climbs to a car park and then three hundred steps. The beach fills in August and is nearly empty in June. There is no useful bus, so it is a short taxi or a hire car, which is one more entry on the running list of reasons people here end up renting for a few days.
Simply put: the avenue decides it. Top of the hill, take the coach for six euros. Bottom of the hill or landing after midnight, pay the €38–50 and be dropped at reception.
