---
node: dest_lindos
type: destination
slug: lindos
title: "Lindos"
lead: "Lindos is a whitewashed village on the east coast of Rhodes under an acropolis a hundred and sixteen metres up. The temple of Athena Lindia at the top stands inside a castle the Knights built around it."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: dest_lindos.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20210826-Lindos-DJI_0205.jpg"
image_author: "Thomas Berwing"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

The sanctuary was the island's most important cult site long before the city of Rhodes existed, and the fourth-century BCE temple sits behind a monumental stairway and a Hellenistic colonnade. Halfway up the approach, a trireme is carved into the living rock as the base of a lost statue. Below, the village lanes are closed to cars and the old captains' houses keep courtyards paved in black and white pebble mosaic, the choklakia work particular to the Dodecanese.

## Highlights

Walk up rather than taking a donkey; it is fifteen minutes and the animals' handling has been criticised for years. The ship relief is easy to pass without noticing, so look left on the stairs. Saint Paul's Bay below the acropolis is almost enclosed by rock and is calmer than the main beach.