Greek Islands: Rhodes, Symi, Kos and Patmos

Arrive in Rhodes

Rhodes airport (RHO) to your hotel by the medieval city

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Rhodes
• Environ 18 min de route

Soir

Most guests connect through Athens; to join the evening walk and dinner, plan to land by about 4 pm, and the exact meeting time comes with your final itinerary. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the week: how the ferries and luggage work, why Lindos starts at opening time, and what we do if the wind moves a sailing. Then we walk in through one of the gates into the old town as the stone turns gold, past the arches of the ruined Church of the Virgin of the Burgh, lit up at night, to a welcome dinner at a taverna in the lanes: mezze, grilled fish or meat, and a first glass of Rhodian wine.

Compris

• Pick-up at Rhodes airport (RHO)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Evening walk into the medieval city
• Welcome dinner in the old town

The medieval city of Rhodes

Rhodes old town: the Street of the Knights, the Palace of the Grand Master, the walls and Mandraki harbour

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Rhodes

Matin

We start in the morning, before the cruise passengers come in, with a licensed local guide. We walk up the cobbled Street of the Knights, lined with the inns where knights from each language of the order lodged, to the Palace of the Grand Master, rebuilt by the Italians in the 1930s and full of mosaics brought from Kos.

Après-midi

Then down through the old Jewish quarter, past the Kahal Shalom synagogue, to a sit-down lunch on a quiet square. The afternoon is free for a rest, the Archaeological Museum in the old hospital of the knights, or a swim at Elli beach. Late in the day your guide walks the group along the outside of the walls and round to Mandraki harbour, where the deer statues stand on the columns at the harbour mouth, a likely site for the Colossus.

Compris

• Guided walk of the medieval city with a licensed guide
• The Street of the Knights
• The Palace of the Grand Master, entry included
• The Jewish quarter and the Kahal Shalom synagogue (outside)
• Sit-down lunch in the old town
• Late-afternoon walk round the walls to Mandraki harbour

Lindos at opening, lunch in the hills

Rhodes town to Lindos, then the hill village of Asklipieio, and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Rhodes
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

We leave Rhodes town after an early breakfast and drive about an hour down the east coast to Lindos, to be at the acropolis when it opens. The climb from the village is about 15 to 20 minutes on steps, and early morning is the only cool and quiet time up there: by late morning the coaches arrive and the rock has no shade. A licensed guide shows us the Temple of Athena Lindia, 116 m above the sea, the stoa, the knights' castle walls around it, and the ship carved in the rock at the foot of the stairs. Below are St Paul's Bay and the white village. We walk down through Lindos's lanes and its captains' houses, with time for a coffee, then drive about 15 minutes inland to Asklipieio, a village in the hills with a Byzantine church covered in painted frescoes and a ruined castle above.

Après-midi

Lunch is long and local, at a village taverna. We are back in Rhodes town by mid-afternoon, with the rest of the day free.

Compris

• The Lindos acropolis at opening, with a licensed guide and entry included
• Walk through Lindos village
• Asklipieio village and its frescoed Byzantine church
• Lunch at a village taverna

Ferry to Symi

Rhodes to Symi by ferry, then Gialos harbour and the Kali Strata

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Symi
• En traversier

Matin

A mid-morning ferry takes us north-west from Rhodes to Symi, about an hour to an hour and a half depending on the boat; we book the seats and handle the luggage. The arrival is the reason to come: the boat turns into a narrow bay ringed by tall neoclassical houses painted ochre, cream and rose, built when Symi was rich from sponge diving and boatbuilding in the 19th century.

Soir

We stay one night in Gialos, the harbour. Day boats from Rhodes fill the quay from late morning to mid-afternoon, so after lunch on your own we keep things easy, and your guide leads the walk in the late afternoon, when the light is warm and the visitors have sailed. The Kali Strata, a broad stone stairway of about 500 steps, climbs to Ano Symi, the old upper town, with its windmills and a view straight down into the harbour. The evening is free for dinner on the quay: Symi shrimp, small, fried and eaten whole, is the dish to try.

Compris

• Ferry tickets from Rhodes to Symi, with luggage handled
• Guided late-afternoon walk up the Kali Strata to Ano Symi
• Sunset over the harbour

Ferry to Kos and the Asklepion

Symi to Kos by ferry, then Kos town and the Asklepion

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Kos
• Environ 18 min de route

Matin

The morning on Symi is free and quiet before the day boats arrive: a swim off the rocks at Nos beach, a short walk from the harbour, or coffee on the quay.

Après-midi

Around midday we take the ferry north-west to Kos, about two to three hours, often calling at Tilos and Nisyros on the way; this route does not run every day, so our dates are set around it. We land in Kos town, our base for two nights, and walk past the plane tree of Hippocrates, the old tree where the father of medicine is said to have taught; Hippocrates was born on Kos around 460 BC. In the late afternoon, when it is cooler, we drive about ten minutes to the Asklepion, the sanctuary of the healing god Asklepios, laid out on three terraces on a hillside of pines. A licensed guide explains how patients came here to sleep, bathe and be treated, and from the top terrace you look across the strait to Turkey.

Soir

The evening is free in Kos town.

Compris

• Ferry tickets from Symi to Kos, with luggage handled
• The plane tree of Hippocrates and the ancient agora in Kos town
• The Asklepion with a licensed guide, entry included

Nisyros: into the volcano

Kos town to Kardamena, day boat to Nisyros, the Stefanos crater, Nikia and Mandraki

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Kos
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

We drive about 30 minutes to Kardamena on the south coast for a morning boat, about an hour across, landing at Mandraki.

Après-midi

A van takes us up into the old caldera, a flat green floor inside a ring of hills, to the Stefanos crater, which we aim to reach before midday, when it is cooler and before most of the day groups. A path leads down into the crater: the ground is warm, yellow with sulphur, and small vents hiss and smell of eggs. The volcano last erupted in the 19th century and is watched by scientists today. Then we drive up to Nikia, a village on the crater rim with a pebbled square and a view straight down into the caldera. Lunch is in Mandraki, at a taverna below the monastery in the castle cliff, before the boat back to Kos in the late afternoon.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Day boat from Kardamena to Nisyros and back
• The Stefanos crater with your guide, entry included
• Nikia, the village on the crater rim
• Lunch in Mandraki

Ferry to Patmos

Kos to Patmos by ferry via Kalymnos and Leros, then Skala

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Patmos (Skala)
• Environ 12 min de route

Matin

A free morning in Kos town: walk the harbour road under the walls of the castle of the knights, see the Roman excavations behind it, or have a last swim. Late in the morning we take the ferry north to Patmos, about two and a half to three hours, with stops at Kalymnos, the island of sponge divers, and Leros, so you watch the islands go by from the deck. We choose a sailing that does not need a pre-dawn pickup, and the time comes with your final itinerary. Patmos is small and quieter than Kos, and we stay two nights in Skala, its port.

Soir

After settling in, your guide walks the group round the harbour and up the short climb to the chapel on the hill above it for the view over the bay at sunset. On the skyline is Chora, the white town with the fortified Monastery of St John at its top, where we go tomorrow. Dinner is free: the port has good tavernas and fish.

Compris

• Ferry tickets from Kos to Patmos, with luggage handled
• Transfer from the port in Skala
• Sunset walk above Skala harbour with your guide

Patmos: the cave and the monastery

Skala to the Cave of the Apocalypse, the Monastery of St John and Chora

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Patmos (Skala)
• Environ 18 min de route

Matin

Both open in the morning and keep short hours, and cruise groups come up mid-morning on some days, so we go at opening. The van takes us up the hill to the Cave of the Apocalypse, a small grotto inside a chapel where the monks show the rock ledge said to have been John's pillow. Then on to Chora and the Monastery of St John, founded in 1088 and built like a castle, with battlements, frescoed chapels and a treasury of icons, vestments and old manuscripts.

Après-midi

We walk down through Chora's lanes of white mansions built by ship-owning families, to lunch on a terrace with the view over the islands. The afternoon is free: your guide can point you to Grikos or Kambos for a swim.

Soir

Tonight is the farewell dinner in Chora.

Compris

• The Cave of the Apocalypse
• The Monastery of St John and its treasury, entry included
• Walk through Chora
• Lunch in Chora
• Farewell dinner

Leros and the flight to Athens

Patmos to Leros by fast boat, then Leros airport (LRS) to Athens (ATH)

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 18 min de route

Matin

After breakfast we take a fast boat south to Leros, about 45 minutes, with a last look back at Chora on its hill. Patmos has no airport, and the ferry straight to Piraeus is seven hours or more, so we fly instead.

Après-midi

A van meets us at the port for the short drive to Leros airport, where a flight of about an hour, included with a checked bag, lands at Athens International Airport (ATH) in the early afternoon. The plane is small, so keep to about 15 kg in the hold; your guide checks the group in and stays until everyone is through. If the Leros flight does not fit the day, we use the fast boat to Kos instead and fly from there, which ends an hour or two later.

Soir

Plan a flight home that leaves Athens after about 6 pm, or tell us and we add a night in Athens or more time on Patmos. Your final itinerary has the boat and flight times, set when we confirm the group.

Compris

• Fast boat from Patmos to Leros, with luggage handled
• Transfer to Leros airport (LRS)
• Flight from Leros to Athens (ATH) with a checked bag