Landmarks

• Museums of Rhodes
• Butterfly Watching
• Kalithea Thermi
• Sound & Light Show
• Colossus of Rhodes
• Ancient Kameiros
• Rhodini


Butterfly Watching

The Valley of Butterflies or simply Petaloudes

Petaloudes is for sure one of the “must sees” of Rhodes.
The butterflies are lured to this gorge of rustic footbridges streams and pools by the scent of resin exuded by the styrax trees. Regardless of what you may see other tourists doing do not make any noises to disturb the butterflies; their numbers are declining rapidly, largely due to the noise disturbance.


Butterfly watching

The butterflies come in the valley every summer in search of coolness and humidity. They appear in June and mate until the end of August. During September they move 30 km away to lay their eggs

The species panaxia quadripunctaris (the Latin name means beautiful with square markings) is found in many place in Europe and Asia. In Greece you can find them on Paros island and at Osios Loukas in Biotia, but considering their population the Valley of Butterflies in the island of Rhodes is the principal habitat.

The butterflies never move away from the valley. The German scientist Peter Elgen has once caught 100 butterflies, put a sign on them and then moved them to another area of the island. In a few days they have all returned back to the valley.

Do not forget to visit he Museum of Natural History of which has opened in May 2001.
From 1 May to 30 September the Valley of Petaloudes is open to the public.
You can use a public bus which drives from Rhodes town directly to Petaloudes.