Renting a car in Rhodes will give you the greatest freedom and opportunities to discover the backwaters, pristine beaches and mountain towns.

Even in Rhodes, the general guidelines for renting a car apply and if you're new to this segment, read our article How to rent a car abroad for the first time.

Car rental companies and where to book a car?

Rhodes is a tourist island with all the amenities and all the major international car rental companies operate here, usually offering the best prices and conditions.

You will find the most deals and also the lowest prices when you rent a car directly at the airport.

However, there are also a huge number of small local car rental companies in the centre of Rhodes, or in the resorts of Ialyssos, Faliraki, Lindos or Lardos. Their prices are often lower than the larger international rental companies, but the rental conditions can be significantly worse.

We rented a car directly at the airport and used booking.com's comparison engine to book. We specifically rented a car through Record Go and everything was completely hassle free.

Compare rental deals online, book in advance and save up to 30% compared to booking a car at the last minute:

• Car rental at Rhodes airport
• Car rental in Faliraki
• Car rental in Kolymbia
• Car rental in Lindos
• Car rental in Pefki
• Car rental in Kiotari

Do you have experience with renting in Rhodes outside the airport? Which company did you rent a car from? Share your tips with travellers from around the world in the comments below.

Rhodes car rental prices

A simple rule of thumb applies to prices: the more days you rent a car, the less you pay per day. There are significant price differences between the high and low seasons.

If you are heading to Rhodes in the high season from mid-June to mid-September, we recommend booking your car at least 1 month in advance. Prices rise significantly as the date approaches.

Price examples:

• 7-day holiday rental - from 245 eur
• 7-day rental in low season - from 150 eur
• book a car in Rhodes

Scooter rental and prices

The freedom of movement plus the breeze in your hair is highly contagious and once you get on a scooter, you won't want to get off.

However, scooter rentals are not nearly as prevalent on Rhodes as on other Greek islands. Moreover, the prices are not particularly different from renting a car, so if you're going in more than one, the cost of renting a scooter is not worth it.

You'll pay around 40 eur for one, and you can usually only book on the spot.

International driving licence and other documents

Rhodes is part of the European Union, so there is no need to get an international driving licence. The rental company will also accept a national driving licence from any EU country.

In case you hold a driving licence from a non-EU country, Norway, Switzerland or Iceland, get an international driving licence with your licence.

Car rental companies usually require a credit card to rent a car, and will often lend you a debit card, but either on less favourable terms or with a very high deposit often exceeding even 1 000 eur.

Price of petrol in Rhodes

You will pay on average for a litre of petrol 1,90 eur.

Petrol in Rhodes is generally among the most expensive in Europe and the average is always higher than on the Greek mainland or in Western European countries.

How do petrol stations work?

You'll find petrol stations in large numbers on the circular main road around the island, most logically in the more unpopulated northern half of the island. South of Lindos you will come across about 3 or 4 petrol stations.

Most of the petrol stations are self-service. You drive up to the stand, pump your own petrol and then go to the shop to pay.

Some of the smaller stations (such as Aegean or Avin) may be manned. In this case, you don't have to get out of the car at all, you just tell the attendant how many litres or how much money you want to fill up for and then pay the attendant directly.

You can always pay by cash or card.

Road quality and traffic density

The main roads around the island are of good quality and mostly newly repaired.

There are no motorways on Rhodes, but part of the road from Rhodes Town to Faliraki has two lanes in each direction.

The roadway is very narrow in places and if you venture into the interior of the island, you will often just barely avoid oncoming traffic.

Drive with double caution and expect the worst from other drivers. The combination of tourists from all over Europe unfamiliar with the conditions and crazy Greeks who are among the worst drivers in Europe is a warning in itself.

Traffic is heavy in the resorts in the northern half of the island. By contrast, in the south you'll have the roads to yourself.

The junctions are quite well signposted and there is always a signpost with a sign in both the Greek alphabet and the Latin alphabet. At smaller junctions, however, directional signs are usually an afterthought.

Traffic regulations

When driving, it's a good idea to bear in mind that compliance with traffic laws in Greece in general - and Rhodes in particular - is significantly lower than in other European countries.

The most surprising thing is probably the wild overtaking even in the most unlikely places. In these cases, pull over to the side of the road, slow down and carry on without stress.

On the other hand, Rhodes is a slightly safer destination than other Greek places in this respect, because especially in summer the ratio of locals to tourists on the roads is roughly even and tourists tend to obey the rules much more.

The general traffic regulations are very similar to all European countries.

The maximum speeds are as follows:

• 50 km/h in the village
• 90 km/h outside the municipality

In the vast majority of sections, the speed limit is reduced to 50 km/h or 60 km/h outside the village, but in 10 days of driving around Rhodes, we literally didn't meet anyone who was speeding.

Parking

You'll find parking lots at every beach or monument, the vast majority of which are free.

The only town with paid parking is Lindos, where all official car parks charge a flat rate of 7 eur for the whole day (often you can only pay in cash).