A marina opening in Greece these days is good news in itself. If it then opens on one of the most beautiful islands to visit, namely the island of Rhodes, and it is also modern and super-accessorised … it is even more good news.

So here the very recent opening of the Rhodes Marinas is to be welcomed, especially since this marina is actually a project that began years ago and ended up getting bogged down due to Greek economic deficits. But the funds to finish it have been found, and although still not complete, it is open and active and offers as many as 382 berths, which on paper when the work is finished will become 563. Only 10 percent of these 382 berths, moreover, are intended for charter companies; finding a berth in Rhodes, in short, now seems decidedly less utopian than it used to be.

Rhodes Marinas is located east of Rhodes Town, 2.5 km from the old town; instead, it is directly southeast of the town’s large commercial port and a little further from the port of Mandraki, until now the only option for boaters traveling to the island (almost always crowded in high season). Reaching the old town and the town in general is no problem thanks to the numerous and all in all inexpensive cab rides (there is also a bus as an alternative).

On paper, the Rhodes Marinas is a super port in every aspect, starting with the areas occupied. In reality, this is not yet the case, in the sense that at the moment large areas are still under construction and at the end of 2015 there were still no bars, restaurants, cafes, stores, gymnasium, and everything else promised by the project; but what matters, from a strictly yachting point of view, is that the berths are ready and functioning, the toilets and laundry room are there, surveillance ditto, same for the columns with water, electricity, and telephone connection.

As for arriving at the ports, and in Rhodes in general, it does not present any particular problems; be careful only if you are arriving from the north, at the northern end of the island the depths are shallow and there are outcropping rocks. The entrance inside the marina is very smooth, inside the depths range from 5 to 6.50 meters. There are 382 berths as mentioned, all equipped with mooring lines. Yachts and longer boats can moor sideways along the first part of the inside of the breakwater.

On the first north pier, the one that forms the entrance to the ports, is the fueling station; at the time of writing it is not yet operational (spring 2016) but should be by the beginning of the season. In any case, one can refuel at the ports via mini-tankers. At the south end of the harbor, on the other hand, is the area for storage and dry berths, 220; again, for now there is only the slip but soon there will be two 250- and 400-ton travel lifts.
As mentioned, stores, supermarket, bar, café, restaurant, gym, scooter rental, and more will be coming in the near future: for now you have to be content to cross the street and find everything you are looking for in Rhodes.

Each berth is equipped with water, electricity, telephone jack, and internet connection (wi-fi, broadband available at an extra cost). A cctv service is already installed and active along the frnagiflutti and video surveillance is in place throughout the ports; the control tower allows monitoring of entrances and surveillance is provided 24 hours a day. Within the port, one moves around via an electronic card, which allows access to the docks.

And now for the sore point: the prices. Which in absolute terms are not very high, but they are certainly higher than the Greek average. Anyway, transit fares have a 70 percent markup over standard fares, water and electricity have a base rate of 20 euros and then you pay per cubic meter (7 €) and per kWh (0.39 €). All boats under 12 meters f.t. are charged as if they were this length.