A visit to Lindos, Rhodes and the Acropolis

On our recent holiday to Rhodes, Greece, several people told us that we must visit Lindos. So so we made sure to fit in a trip one afternoon, and we are very glad that we did!

Lindos is generally accepted as the best archaeological site on Rhodes. The Lindos Acropolis stands at the top of a large hill, surrounded the maze of streets that forms the town of Lindos covering the slopes below, filled with cobbled streets and attractive whitewashed buildings. We were dropped off by our taxi in the main square, with beautiful views out to sea along with the town and historic buildings.

From the bottom of the hill you need to climb up to reach the Acropolis. It's well signposted, but there are several different routes. Really you just need to keep heading upwards and you can't get lost! The first part of the walk takes you through beautiful little cobbled streets, well shaded from the sun. They are lined with shops selling all sorts of different goods - clothing, tableware, tourist souvenirs like postcards and magnets, honey and olive oil based products, lots of gorgeous things! The prices all seemed very reasonable too and there was no hassling to buy. 

Then the climb continues up the more open side of the hill. It's a bit steep and uneven, but not too difficult to walk up as long as you go carefully. There are donkeys available which will take you to the top of the hill via a longer and more gentle route, which is also an option for pedestrians to use. The Acropolis is situated right at the top, and once you have paid to enter the site there some more climbing over uneven ground and steps, but nothing too strenuous. 

The Acropolis site is big and a bit confusing at first. The site has been built and rebuilt over the centuries by many different civilisations so it's a bit of a jumble of different bits of stonework, but there are plenty of informative boards in English and in Greek to explain what you are looking at and which parts of the structure are original to which era.

You can see the main structures and columns, most of which have been restored over the years. But anything loose that could be taken away, like statues and other artefacts, has been removed. While some is displayed on the island, much of it is now as far away as Denmark (some of the archaeologists were Danish) so instead of statues for example all you can see is the blocks with foot holes where a statue would have once stood - like at the bottom of the photo below:

It's a very impressive site, and the remaining columns and steps give you a good idea of what it has looked like at various points in its history. There are some lovely views from the top across the beautiful blue sea and surrounding countryside.

If you are visiting the island of Rhodes I think that Lindos is definitely one of the must-see sights.

We visited the Acropolis in October 2021. Entrance to the Acropolis was 12 Euros for adults and 6 Euros for children. The whole Acropolis site is outdoors, and we were not asked for proof of Covid-19 vaccination to enter. 

We travelled to Lindos from our hotel just north of Faliraki by taxi. It took about forty-five minutes and cost 52 Euros each way, which was clearly posted at the taxi rank and agreed before we got in. The taxi driver dropped us in the main square where the path begins to the Acropolis, and we easily found a taxi here to take us back to the hotel. There are also frequent and very cheap buses available to travel around the island of Rhodes, however for this longer journey we took a taxi because we found on a shorter journey that the bus was very crowded and it would have been uncomfortable to stand for that long.