I'm planning to visit Rhodes in october. I see the island is not that small: Google Maps tells you'll need roughly a hour by car to travel from north to south.
I would like to be based in Rhodes old town (in the very north) and I'm wondering if I must rent a car in order to see some nice spots outside the city or if the main attractions (beaches, other interesting towns, etc.) are well served by public transport.
It's hard to agree with Mhche's answer here. Unless you have a very limited number of places you want to visit and are just going to take a few trips to the larger towns or villages along the coast, I would strongly advice against using public transport.
Even if the buses travel fairly regularly through the "suburbs" of Rhodes City and to some extent down the east coast, at least to Lindos and Gennadi, the time tables for the villages on the west coast and in the interior parts of the island are very sparse. From Monolithos, there is e.g. just one bus in the morning going to Rhodes City and another bus in the late afternoon going from Rhodes and back, of course only Mo-Fr. This is the case for several other villages as well, if they have a bus connection at all.
At least between Rhodes City and Lindos, the main road on the east coast is not particularly close to the coast. If you want to go the beaches or see any of the spots along the coast, expect to leave the bus at the main road and walk the rest.
Bus tickets are more expensive than the 3 euros mentioned by Mhche. Travelling from Rhodes City, expect to pay about 5€ to Lindos or 10€ to the south of the island.
Taxis are also rather expensive on Rhodes. A taxi from Rhodes City to Lindos will cost about 60€, to the southern parts of the island expect to pay more than 100€. Unless ordered and agreed upon in advance, don't expect to find available taxis "on command" in the rural parts of the island.
Don't expect the bus drivers to speak English.
The traffic is not that bad on Rhodes, so alternatives to renting a car could be to rent a bike or moped. With some luck, you may get a bike for 5€/day and a moped for 10€/day. But even the coastal roads can be quite hilly, so don't underestimate riding a bike in the warm Rhodes weather :)
Unfortunately October is not included in the summer timetables of the local buses, so assume that buses will be much less frequent from October onwards.
On the other hand, as mentioned earlier, renting a car will be much cheaper, so it is recommended. Enjoy!
Depends on your budget, if you have money to rent a car then do it. Almost every time at all Greek islands the price to rent a car comes from 30-40 euros to 60-70 euros per day, depending on the car. As far as you are going on October then, fortunately for you, you will be lucky on prices because of the low traffic of tourists at that period.
Otherwise if you want to use public transport then do it, tickets on buses of the islands cost about 3 euros (for one way road) but going among the island so you could use them to explore the place and of course you could ask them for suggestions, they know better! Mind if you would like to take a taxi then to ask before for the cost of the road, otherwise someone will want to treat you and will ask you much more money. So be careful to avoid that.
My suggestion is if you can wake up at morning and you can end you exploration almost at 20:00-21:00 hours (after that hours you probably will have to wait long and maybe buses don't come,so better to be sure), then use public transport. If you want to be more relax and you can afford rent a car. Don't worry all buses goes everywhere on the island so that is not the problem.Depends on your money and how you want to explore the place.
At any case I wish you "Καλά να περάσεις στην Ρόδο", it is pronounced like "Kala na perasis stin Rodo (the name is Rodos in greek not Rhodes, that's English)" and means "Have fun at Rodos".
I would recommend car rentals, especially now the prices are slightly cheaper.
I found that renting from the airport is more hassle-free.
