Symi sits just north of Rhodes, close to the Turkish coast, and almost every visitor arrives on a day boat from Rhodes, spends a few hot midday hours by the water and leaves by mid-afternoon. That works, and the crossing is easy. The island is better with a night in it.
Diagram by Greece Trips. Free to reuse with credit - CC BY 4.0.
The crossing
From Rhodes Town, on either a fast catamaran or one of the slower excursion boats. Both run frequently in season and the difference is comfort and time rather than destination.
We print no durations or fares. They are set per season by each operator and they change. Check the day’s sailings, and check the last boat back if you are going for the day.
Some excursion boats include a stop at Panormitis, the large pilgrimage monastery at the southern end of the island, before continuing to the main harbour. That is worth knowing when choosing which boat to take, because it changes the shape of your day considerably.
Where it lands, and what you see
The boat lands at Gialos, the harbour, and the first impression is the whole point of the island: tiers of colourful neoclassical mansions climbing the steep sides of a bay like the seats of an amphitheatre.
They are painted in ochre, terracotta, faded blue and cream, with pediments and decorated window frames, and they went up when this was one of the wealthier islands of the Aegean, built by merchant and sponge-diving families who wanted their fortunes to show. The colour is inherited rather than a modern tourist-board choice.
Above the harbour, on the ridge, sits Chorio, the older settlement, reached by the Kali Strata, a broad stone stairway. That climb is the best thing to do on Symi and it is punishing in the middle of the day, which is exactly when the day boats are in.
The case for staying
Here is the honest version. A day trip gives you the harbour at its hottest and busiest, a swim, and a partial climb. It is a good day and it is not the island.
Stay a night and the excursion boats leave, the harbour belongs again to the people who live there, and the Kali Strata is walkable at first light. The Symi itinerary is built around exactly that.
If you cannot stay, take an afternoon boat over and an early one back the next day rather than a single-day return, which costs almost nothing extra in time and changes what you see.
Practicalities on the day
Symi is a rock bowl and the harbour holds heat. Take shade and water, and do the climb early or late rather than at noon.
Swimming is close: Nimborio is walkable from the harbour and is the easy option. The better bays are reached by small boat from Gialos, and those run in season.
Where this leaves you
An easy, frequent crossing from Rhodes Town, landing at a harbour that is one of the best first impressions in Greece, with a stone stair climbing to the older town above it. Check whether your boat calls at Panormitis, take the climb outside the middle of the day, and if the trip allows it at all, come back the next morning rather than the same afternoon.
Quick answers
How do you get from Rhodes to Symi?
By boat from Rhodes Town, either a fast catamaran or one of the slower excursion boats, both running frequently in season. Some excursion boats call at the Panormitis monastery on the way, which changes the shape of the day.
Is Symi worth a day trip from Rhodes?
Yes, and it is better as an overnight. A day trip gives you the harbour at its hottest and busiest. Staying a night gives you the town after the excursion boats have gone, which is a genuinely different place.
What is the Kali Strata?
The broad stone stairway climbing from the harbour at Gialos to the older settlement of Chorio on the ridge above. It is the best walk on Symi and it should be done early or late rather than in the middle of the day.
Can you swim on a day trip to Symi?
Yes. Nimborio is walkable from the harbour and is the easy option. The better bays are reached by small boat from Gialos, which run in season and are worth taking if your boat back is late enough.