Language & Currency
LANGUAGEThe official language on Rhodes is Greek. As a result of years of occupation by various different peoples, a good deal of Turkish, German and Italian is also spoken on the island. Since the advent of mass tourism, English is widely spoken in most areas.
For conventions sake a few words of Greek will always help to gain the respect of the locals!
CURRENCY
The Euro was adopted as the formal currency of Greece in January 2002 replacing the drachma.
Banks are open Monday to Thursday 08.30-14.30hours and Fridays until 13.30hours (closed public holidays) all have foreign exchange facilities and a valid passport must be presented when changing travellers cheques or withdrawing money on credit cards.
There are numerous ATM machines, which are often the cheapest way of obtaining money, however these often run short of money and therefor it is inadvisable to leave this as your only method of obtaining cash!
Local tourist offices all offer exchange facilities but will charge commission for exchange of any form of monies.
Most hotels, shops and restaurants now accept major credit cards and it is a rarety for them to now charge a commission.