Car hire Rhodes airport: pickup, deposit and Old Town

Car hire Rhodes airport works a little differently from what many travellers expect. The three companies Vrooem offers at Diagoras airport (RHO), Green Motion, Surprice and Let’s Drive, have no desk in the arrivals hall: a representative or a shuttle meets you in or just outside arrivals. This guide shows where each one finds you, which card the deposit needs and how late you can land, then covers the rules that matter once you drive away: the controlled access to Rhodes Old Town, the walk up to the Acropolis of Lindos and ferries to Symi.

The rules were checked on 30 September and 1 October 2026 against the companies’ own terms and location pages, the airport, the Municipality of Rhodes and EU and UK government sites. Green Motion and Surprice set terms per country or station, so your booking’s terms have the final word.

Car hire Rhodes airport: where each company meets you

The airport lies at Paradisi, according to its own GPS page. Green Motion places it about 14 km southwest of Rhodes Town, and Let’s Drive puts the drive into the city along the Ialyssos to Katavia provincial road at about 25 minutes. The terminal is open 24 hours a day.

Searching for car hire in the Rhodes airport terminal? The airport’s car rental page lists six companies with desks in arrivals, and the three on Vrooem are not among them. Instead, they meet you as described in their location data and in the pickup instructions on every Vrooem booking:

Company	Where you are met	Office address
Green Motion	A representative in the arrivals hall, then a shuttle bus. Green Motion asks you to call +30 2241081001 for details	7th km Tsairi, airport avenue
Surprice	A representative right outside arrivals gate 5, holding a sign with your name	Ialysos to Katavia provincial road 29, Paradisi
Let’s Drive	A shuttle bus just outside the arrivals terminal, 2 minutes to the office	Kremasti to airport provincial road

So after baggage reclaim: look for Green Motion’s representative inside the hall, walk out through gate 5 for Surprice, or step outside to wait for the Let’s Drive shuttle. Let’s Drive’s return instruction is just as short: the car goes back to its office.

Opening hours and late landings

The terminal is open day and night; the rental offices keep set hours:

• Surprice: its Rhodes station terms give normal hours of 07:00 to 22:00, all year round. From 22:01 to 06:59 a handover is on request at an extra charge, and that charge may also apply on national holidays. Turning up more than 4 hours after the booked time without a phone call can be treated as a no-show, although an exception may be made when flight details were shared in advance. When you bring the car back you have 2 hours of leeway; after that Surprice bills an extra day.
• Let’s Drive: the Rhodes airport station works from 08:00 to 22:00, seven days a week. A night handover, between 22:00 and 08:00, costs extra per rental, and a late return is billed per hour.
• Green Motion: the airport branch works from 08:00 to 21:00 daily, public holidays too, according to the branch data it sends Vrooem (30 September 2026). Its Greek terms, written for bookings on its own website, treat 21:01 to 07:59 as out of hours: a handover then costs extra, with a further charge for less than 24 hours’ notice. A car is held for 2.5 hours after the booked time; without a flight number, for 2 hours or until closing, and staff do not wait after closing time.

Always add your flight number to the booking. And for an early flight home, a return before 07:00 with Surprice, or before 08:00 with the other two, is an out-of-hours return to arrange in advance.

The deposit: which card, how much and low deposit options

Each of the three needs a credit card in the main driver’s name for the deposit; a debit card will not do.

Company	Card for the deposit	Amount	Released
Green Motion (Greek terms)	Visa or Mastercard credit card, valid at least 2 months after the return	By car group and package. Smallest groups: 806 euros with Basic, 403 with Plus, 202 with Premium, 150 with Premium Plus	Up to 14 working days, longer for some cards
Surprice (Rhodes terms)	Visa or Mastercard credit card, non-embossed accepted, valid at least one month after drop-off	The car’s excess, lower with SCDW; FDW takes the excess to zero, but a deposit is still held for parts the cover leaves out	At the end of the hire; can take 15 to 25 working days
Let’s Drive	Credit card in the driver’s name; cash and debit cards not accepted for the deposit, and Diners and Amex not accepted for payment	Matches the excess of your cover, with a floor of 250 euros, full cover included. Under basic CDW: 800 euros for mini and economy cars up to 1,700 euros for 7 and 9 seat minivans	After the hire, unless fines or uncovered damage apply

Is there car hire at Rhodes airport with no deposit? Not with these three. The smallest blocks come with Green Motion’s Premium Plus, which pairs a zero excess with a 150 euro deposit for every car group in the deposit table of its Greek terms, and with Let’s Drive’s SCDW, which sets the excess to zero and the block to 250 euros.

Surprice accepts debit cards, and cash up to 500 euros, to pay for the rental, and Green Motion takes debit and prepaid cards for rental charges, but neither for the deposit. If the Surprice deposit cannot be blocked, extra cover may become compulsory, and Let’s Drive counts it as a no-show when the driver cannot present a valid credit card with sufficient limit. Green Motion’s figures come from its Greek terms for direct bookings; Vrooem shows its four packages, each with its own deposit, before you pay. How a deposit differs from the excess is set out in our guide to deposit and excess on a hire car.

Fuel, mileage and cover

All three use a same-level fuel rule: return the car with the fuel you received. Surprice adds a refuelling fee to any missing fuel and does not refund extra fuel. In Green Motion’s Rhodes offers on Vrooem (30 September 2026), Basic and Plus followed the same-level rule and Premium and Premium Plus were full to full, so check your voucher. Our fuel policy guide explains the settlement.

Surprice includes unlimited mileage at Rhodes. Green Motion Greece limits Basic to 150 km and Plus to 250 km per day; Premium and Premium Plus are unlimited.

Before a day on rural roads, know what standard cover leaves out. Surprice excludes tyres, rims, glass, clutch and interior, offers an optional Extra Plus for tyres, glass and mirrors, and no option covers the undercarriage or roof; Green Motion’s Greek terms keep windows, mirrors, wheels, tyres and the undercarriage outside the excess unless stated otherwise.

Licence, passport and age

Company	Documents	Age
Green Motion (Greek terms)	Physical licence held at least 1 year (2 for premium and luxury cars and vans); non-EU drivers also need an IDP, except UK licence holders	21 with a young driver surcharge, 23 or 25 without, by car group; senior surcharge from 74
Surprice (Rhodes terms)	Physical passport or ID card; licence at least one year old; UK drivers show the photocard; non-EU customers also show an IDP; no digital copies	20 with a surcharge, 23 to 72 without, surcharge from 73; under 23, car groups A to D only
Let’s Drive	Passport, licence issued at least one year before, credit card in the driver’s name; non-EU citizens also need an international licence	21 minimum; young driver fee up to 23, senior fee from 74 to 78

Green Motion notes that an EU or EEA licence is sufficient. GOV.UK confirms that UK drivers can use their photocard licence in Greece, while warning that hire companies often ask for more. Here, Let’s Drive and Surprice both ask non-EU customers for a permit, so a 1968 IDP keeps the handover simple. Our guides on what to bring when renting abroad and young driver surcharges go into more detail.

Driving on Rhodes: speed, fuel and road surfaces

Rhodes drives on the right and has no toll roads, according to Green Motion. The Greek rules come from the EU’s Your Europe portal (last checked by the EU on 10 January 2025), the island details from Green Motion’s Rhodes page:

• Speed: 50 km/h in built-up areas, 90 km/h outside them; Green Motion adds 110 km/h on highways and says speed cameras are in use.
• Alcohol: the limit is 0.5 g/l, and 0.2 g/l for novice and professional drivers and for motorcyclists.
• In the car: hands-free phones only, seat belts and child restraints compulsory, and a warning triangle, first-aid kit and fire extinguisher on board.
• Roads: mostly well maintained, but rural and mountain roads can be narrow or winding, so drive with care in the hills and small coastal villages.
• Fuel: fill up before a long drive into remote areas; most stations take cards, but some cash helps. The EKO station 5 km from the airport, towards Rhodes Town, is a handy stop before the return.
• Emergencies: dial 112.

Check the surface rule before following a track to a remote beach. Let’s Drive keeps its cars on asphalt roads, whatever the category; Surprice may cancel the cover if a car is driven off road; and Green Motion’s Greek terms exclude accidents that result from off-road driving. Unsure about the gearbox for the hills? Read automatic or manual.

Rhodes Old Town: leave the car outside the walls

The medieval town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and since Easter Tuesday, 14 April 2026, its gates have worked under controlled access. The rules, published by the Municipality of Rhodes:

• No permit, no entry: a vehicle without a valid entry permit may not enter; permanent residents use special permits.
• Suppliers: delivery vehicles may pass only between 06:00 and 09:00.
• Symi Square: no vehicle may enter or leave through the Symi Square entrance.
• Pedestrian streets: under municipal decision 140/2025 these include the Street of the Knights, Sokratous street from Ippodamou street to Ippokratous Square, and Ermou and Aristotelous streets.
• Checks: police and traffic police check daily for illegal parking and for cars entering through one-way exit gates.

A hire car has no entry permit, so if you are looking at car hire for Rhodes Old Town, plan to park outside the walls and walk in. Green Motion gives the same advice and warns that fines are enforced in restricted areas. Staying inside the walls? Ask your host before arrival where to leave the car and how to get your luggage to the door.

Lindos, Prasonisi and the rest of the island

Green Motion recommends a car for anything beyond Rhodes Town, naming Lindos, Prasonisi and remote beaches.

• Lindos: Visit Greece, the Greek National Tourism Organisation’s site, puts it 50 km from Rhodes Town’s central bus station. You reach the Acropolis on foot, along the cobbled path through the village. From 1 November to 31 March the site opens 08:00 to 15:30, last admission 15:10, closed on Tuesdays; in summer 08:00 to 20:00.
• Prasonisi: at the island’s southernmost point, where, in Let’s Drive’s words, the Mediterranean meets the Aegean. Two sandy beaches flank a strip of land leading to a small islet that becomes a peninsula in summer, a favourite with surfers.
• Nature and history: Let’s Drive points to the Valley of the Butterflies, part of the Natura 2000 network, the Seven Springs, where a tunnel leads to a lake, the Hellenistic and Roman ruins of Kamiros and the ancient acropolis of Ialysos.
• Beaches: Faliraki’s beach runs for 6.5 km and Afantou’s coastline for about 5 km, while Tsambika’s shallow water suits young swimmers, according to Let’s Drive.

Ferries, the port and hotel handovers

Let’s Drive suggests extending a Rhodes stay with Kos, Symi, Tilos, Halki or Kastellorizo, noting regular ferry connections all year. With the car, the rules differ:

• Surprice: ferries are not allowed from any of its destinations, nor are border crossings.
• Green Motion Greece: its Greek terms state that ferry transfer is not permitted from Rhodes (nor from Kos or Samos), and the car must stay in Greece for the whole hire.
• Let’s Drive: moving the car by boat, or driving outside Greece, needs its written permission.

So for a day on Symi, the simplest plan is to leave the car on Rhodes and sail as a foot passenger.

Arriving by ferry? Vrooem lists Rhodes Port as a separate pickup point, so check the location on your voucher. Green Motion’s representative meets you at the harbour, and you call the branch to arrange the spot or report a delayed ferry; Surprice meets customers at the port’s main entrance. Green Motion’s data also lists Rhodes Port as a drop-off for cars collected at the airport, with a one-way fee under its Greek terms. Surprice one-way hires are strictly on request, by email before the hire starts.

Looking for a hotel drop off? Surprice’s Rhodes terms list the hotel reception desk as a handover point, with delivery and collection at an extra charge per kilometre, plus an office at Avenue Iraklidon 32 in Ixia. Green Motion has branches named Faliraki, Ialysos, Lindos and Downtown, each by shuttle with a meeting point agreed by phone. On its own website, Let’s Drive lists the airport as its Rhodes station.

Your Rhodes airport checklist

1. Note your meeting point: the arrivals hall and a phone call for Green Motion, gate 5 for Surprice, the shuttle outside for Let’s Drive.
2. Pack your physical passport and licence, and a Visa or Mastercard credit card in the main driver’s name with room for the deposit.
3. Check that every mark is on the damage report, and photograph the wheels, windscreen, fuel gauge and odometer.
4. Refuel before the return (Green Motion names the EKO station 5 km from the airport, towards Rhodes Town, as the nearest) and allow time for the return check.

Booking car hire at Rhodes airport on Vrooem

Three companies are bookable on Vrooem at Rhodes airport: Green Motion, Surprice and Let’s Drive. A search we ran on 30 September 2026, for a hire from 4 to 11 November, returned 46 cars: 19 from Green Motion, 14 from Let’s Drive and 13 from Surprice. Twelve of them were automatics, and 11 were people carriers with 7 or 9 seats, offered by all three. More on each in our Green Motion, Surprice and Let’s Drive guides.

Every Vrooem booking comes with a free travel eSIM: mobile data from the moment you land, handy for ringing Green Motion’s branch or pulling up your voucher at gate 5. Island hopping or heading to the mainland? See car hire in Crete, car rental in Athens and renting a car in Greece.

Sources

Checked on 30 September and 1 October 2026: Rhodes airport car rental, Rhodes airport GPS location, Rhodes airport information and opening hours, Green Motion Rhodes airport, Green Motion location data for Rhodes airport, Rhodes Port and Rhodes Downtown, Green Motion locations, Green Motion Greece terms, the Rhodes airport “Full rental terms” on the official Surprice booking site, Let’s Drive Rhodes airport, Let’s Drive terms and conditions, Let’s Drive on Rhodes sights and Rhodes beaches (in Greek), Municipality of Rhodes on access to the Medieval Town (in Greek, published 14 April 2026), Visit Greece on Rhodes, Visit Greece on Lindos, road rules in Greece and GOV.UK travel advice for Greece. Pickup routes and Green Motion’s office hours: supplied by the rental companies, as shown on Vrooem on 30 September 2026. Car mix: Vrooem search of 30 September 2026.