It will be our pleasure to welcome you to Rhodes!
Discover Rhodes through our private tours and shore excursions and maximize your stay on the island. Let us drive you through the beauty of this magnificent island and share its history with you. All our tours are private and flexible and can be adjusted to the needs of any group. We can optimize your day so that you can see as many monuments as possible at your own pace.
Browse our Rhodes private tours and shore excursions and feel free to send us your comments and special requests. Our travel specialists can custom tailor our tours to match your interests or even create a totally new program just for you.
Come and explore the countryside of the Island of Rhodes combined with some free wine and souma tasting experience in three traditional wineries.
You will be able to taste a big variety of fresh wines. At each stop you may be also given small portions of appetizers to complement your taste of the wine. You will be able to taste also some olives, cheese and home-baked bread from the region.
The wine tasting is absolutely free and you aren’t obliged to purchase anything. Of course, a bottle of wine will be a wonderful souvenir from Rhodes, or maybe a bottle of original olive oil with no conservatives, or just a small bag of mountain herbs for your tea in the winter. All products are fully natural and with origin from this gorgeous mountain village.
Our Wine tour will start from the Old Town, the Mandraki harbour together with the area where was the Colossus of Rhodes. Then we will visit the ancient Acropolis of Rhodes. Next in our program is the famous Fillerimos Hill. For the summer months we can substitute this stop with a refreshment stop at the Butterfly Valley. If you want to see both attractions we will need to extend the duration of the tour. From there we will head toward the mountain village of Emona for winetasting. Then we will return back to your starting point.
6 hours
From April till October
We can start at any time which is convenient for your group
Your driver will meet you at the reception desk of your hotel or if you are coming on a cruise – at the pier, at the correct dock, with a sign on the car showing your name. We will be waiting for you just outside your ship.
There are Butterflies in the Butterfly Valley only for the period between end of June till mid of September. If you prefer we can sibstitue the stop at Filerimos hill with a vistit to the Valley. To see both places we need to increase the duration of the tour to 7 hours.
We can also include a stop for fabolous lunch in a superb tavern in the mountain village or on the West coast line, right next to the sea.
Rhodes Wine Tour + Butterfly Valley – duration 7 and a half hours
Rhodes Wine Tour + Lunch in a traditional tavern – duration 7 hours
Kindly note that our drivers are not official licensed guides. According to the Greek Law they cannot guide you inside any archeological sites or museums. If you wish to learn historical events, you must be accompanied by an official guide during your excursion. We, as General Tourism Office, can book a tour guide for your group with an additional cost. Please let us know when you choose your excursion and we will arrange it for you.
We will start our tour with a drive around the walls of the Old Town of Rhodes – the biggest inhabited medieval town in Europe. It was built in 1300s from the knights of the order of St. John. The Medieval Town of Rhodes is inscribed in the World Heritage Sites List of UNESCO. This list recognizes the exceptional value of a cultural site so that it may be protected for the benefit of all Humanity.
If you want we can extend the duration of the tour with 1 hour and you can have also some free time to go through the Old town and explore it on your own.
Mandraki port is situated in the new part of the town where you will see some very impressive monumental Italian style buildings. Here at the harbor entrance is believed that once stood the great statue of the Colossus of Rhodes – one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World. We will stop for pictures of the area and you will be able also to enter and see the Church of the Annunciation which is the biggest Orthodox church in the town with very beautiful handmade paintings on the walls and spectacular chandeliers.
The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the most ambitious and tallest statue( between 30 to 33 meters high) of the Hellenistic period. The statue was a depiction of the Greek Titan Helios and was meant to celebrate the victory over the Dimitrios the Besieger (ruler of Cyprus) in 305 BC. It has a striking resemblance to the Statue of Liberty in the United States. The Colossus of Rhodes existed for no more than 56 years when a strong earthquake destroyed it. In the seventh century A.D., the Arabs conquered Rhodes and broke the remains of the Colossus up into smaller pieces and sold it as scrap metal. Legend says it took 900 camels to carry away the pieces. A sad end for what must have been a majestic work of art.
Now we will continue through the city and see more of the great Italian architecture. We will stop for pictures also at the Northen tip of the island where the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas meet each other. Then we will drive to Monthe Smith Hill where you can enjoy exceptional panoramic views of the city and the seashore, and also visit the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, the impressive open-air ancient Stadium and the Amphitheatre.
Next in our program is the famous Filerimos Hill. This place was used as the citadel of the ancient town of Ialyssos. The hill includes the foundations of the temple of Athena Polias, an Early Christian basilica, and a small subterranean Byzantine church. There is a road that sets off from the square that leads to the westernmost point of the hill. The road to Golgotha used by Catholics was dotted with holy icon-stands and bronze reliefs. At the end of the road of Martyrdom stands an 18 meters tall cross raised by the Italians in 1930.
For the Summer period between the end of June and mid-September, we can substitute the stop at Filerimos Hill with the beautiful Valley of Butterflies. The valley is a natural reserve, unique of its kind. You can enjoy a peaceful walk and admire the nature and the butterflies. Your driver will wait for you on the other side of the park. If you want to see both Filerimos Hill and the Butterfly Valley than we need to increase the duration of the tour.
Our next stop is the picturesque and lively village of Embona.
Winery in Rodos follows a tradition of 2,400 years! In order to eliminate poorer quality grapes, Rodians destroyed vineyards on the Lindos – East Coast side, where the climate is too hot and dry and now all the growth is concentrated on the western side, around the village of Embonas. Here are located many small vineyards in specific cooler microclimates where granite stones in the soil help by increasing humidity which in turn improves the flavor.
Embona village is located on the slopes of Mt. Ataviros (Rhodes’s highest peak at 3,986 feet) is where you’ll find Rhodes’s wine country. Embonas is the wine capital of Rhodes. The area specializes in two wines. Athiri is a vibrant and fruity white wine that has tropical fruit and honey tones. It pairs well with poultry, pork, pasta, grilled fish, and white cheeses. Mandilaria is a rich and intense red wine that has hints of pomegranate and pairs well with grilled and stewed meats, spicy sauces, and mild cheeses. Other popular reds in the area include Xinomavro, Cabernet, Grenache, and Syrah. “Athiri”, a very old local variety of white grape, is grown in vineyards on lower slopes below Embonas while mountain regions produce a better quality of the red grape.
Embonas may not have any picturesque architectural features; however, it is one of the most popular suggestions for a trip inland in Rhodes that combines folklore, a lively atmosphere, and good food. Here we will stop at least at three different winery producers where you will be able to taste a big variety of fresh wines. At each stop, you may be given small portions of appetizers to complement your taste of the wine. You will be able to taste also some olives, cheese and home-baked bread from the region.
The wine tasting is absolutely free and you aren’t obliged to purchase anything. Of course, a bottle of wine will be a wonderful souvenir from Rhodes, or maybe a bottle of original olive oil with no conservatives, or just a small bag of mountain herbs for your tea in the winter. All products are fully natural and with origin from this gorgeous mountain village.
We will return back to the city of Rhodes and we can leave you directly to your hotel or ship or at any point of interest
Fantastic Day Out
Our guide and driver for the day, Nicholas, was brilliant. He was so friendly, yet professional, knowledgeable and fun. We really felt we had seen Rhodes by the end of the day. The butterfly valley was beautiful although we were so grateful to Nicholas for dropping us at the top so we only had to walk down! We loved the wine tasting ,the old town drive through and all the view points around the island. Yes, it wasn’t cheap but well worth the extravagance!
Lovely day
We had a great day out yesterday with driver Nikos. He planned the day around what we told him we’d like to see, and nothing was too much trouble. Also stopped at a pottery where we saw pots being made, which was fascinating, and another stop for a tasting of very nice local wines. Nikos is a 100% gentleman and you could not get a better guide for the island.
Thank you Nikos.
Great day out highly recommend.
Maria efficiently organized our day tour and provided email confirmation of our requested itinerary.
Our driver Nikolas was waiting for us just before the arranged time and greeted us warmly. We quickly felt comfortable with him and asked him many questions about the island and living on Rhodes. He was extremely knowledgeable and informative. We followed our schedule but also fitted in trip to a wine tasting after we talked about the wines we had had so far on our holiday. Nikolas quickly realised that walking up and down butterfly valley would be too strenuous for our party and kindly took us to the top so we just walked down. The sheer numbers of butterflies were amazing. We opted for a traditional traverna for lunch and were greeted by a family you provided a fabulous lunch with a beautiful view.
Nikolas stopped at lovely points for us to take photographs.
He also recommended a beach and traverna for us to visit on the following day.
This really is the best way to see so much of the island and to get a feel for island life. Thank you once again.
