Rhodes Marathon 2026: The Full 42.195 km Route

Saint Nicolas Fort Rhodes Harbour night | CC0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Jebulon / Wikimedia Commons, CC0Saint Nicolas Fort Rhodes Harbour night — Jebulon — CC0 — Wikimedia Commons

Windmills Rhodes harbour | CC0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Jebulon / Wikimedia Commons, CC0Windmills Rhodes harbour — Jebulon — CC0 — Wikimedia Commons

This is the symbolic heartbeat of the Rhodes Marathon: Eleftherias Square, the start line, the finish line, and the point where the entire 42.195 km course folds back into celebration. On race morning the square changes character. It is no longer just a central meeting place near Mandraki and the Old Town; it becomes a…

Shopping Street just inside the Sea Gates, Rhodes, Greece 2008 (4572123204) | CC BY-SA 2.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0Shopping Street just inside the Sea Gates, Rhodes, Greece 2008 (4572123204) — Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan — CC BY-SA 2.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Windmills Rhodes harbour | CC0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Jebulon / Wikimedia Commons, CC0Windmills Rhodes harbour — Jebulon — CC0 — Wikimedia Commons

From the start, the course slips toward Akti Sachtouri, a harbor-side road that quickly changes the mood from crowded start-line ceremony to forward movement. The medieval city rises nearby, but the marathon does not pause for sightseeing. It uses Rhodes as runners experience it: through rhythm, breath, surface, and ho…

Shopping Street just inside the Sea Gates, Rhodes, Greece 2008 (4572123204) | CC BY-SA 2.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0Shopping Street just inside the Sea Gates, Rhodes, Greece 2008 (4572123204) — Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan — CC BY-SA 2.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Australias Street is one of the route's transition zones: less postcard, more purpose. After the harbor-side start, the marathon needs room to reach its official distance, and this corridor helps pull the course away from the tight historic center toward the broader road system of Rhodes. For runners, these stretches m…

Rhodos, Kallithea Springs 01 | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Georg Karl Ell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Rhodos, Kallithea Springs 01 — Georg Karl Ell — CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Shopping Street just inside the Sea Gates, Rhodes, Greece 2008 (4572123204) | CC BY-SA 2.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0Shopping Street just inside the Sea Gates, Rhodes, Greece 2008 (4572123204) — Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan — CC BY-SA 2.0 — Wikimedia Commons

This is the first major turnaround of the marathon, described officially as the traffic lights at the intersection of the New Ring Road of Rhodes with Kallithea Avenue. The exact race cone line may shift with event operations, so this first version treats the coordinate as an approximate route anchor rather than a surv…

Shopping Street just inside the Sea Gates, Rhodes, Greece 2008 (4572123204) | CC BY-SA 2.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0Shopping Street just inside the Sea Gates, Rhodes, Greece 2008 (4572123204) — Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan — CC BY-SA 2.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Eleftherias Gate gives the marathon one of its clearest historical images. After the eastern reach and return, the route brushes the edge of the medieval city, where stone walls and harbor roads compress centuries of Rhodes into a few steps. The gate's name, meaning Freedom Gate, adds a useful resonance to a race route…

Windmills Rhodes harbour | CC0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Jebulon / Wikimedia Commons, CC0Windmills Rhodes harbour — Jebulon — CC0 — Wikimedia Commons

The Mili and Elafaki section gives the route a compact harbor loop before it re-enters the more familiar Mandraki waterfront. The official description names Mili and a second turnaround at Elafaki, tying this part of the course to the small-scale geography of the old harbor: mills, quays, sea walls, and the edges where…

M moored at Quay in Mandraki Marina Mandraki Harbour Rhodes 26 August 2024 | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Pjotr Mahhonin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0M moored at Quay in Mandraki Marina Mandraki Harbour Rhodes 26 August 2024 — Pjotr Mahhonin — CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Saint Nicolas Fort Rhodes Harbour night | CC0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Jebulon / Wikimedia Commons, CC0Saint Nicolas Fort Rhodes Harbour night — Jebulon — CC0 — Wikimedia Commons

Mandraki Marina is where the marathon becomes unmistakably Rhodes. Boats line the water, the harbor opens northward, and the city's civic and maritime identities overlap. This is not the ancient Colossus made visible, but it is the landscape that keeps that myth alive: entrances, statues, masts, fortifications, and the…

M moored at Quay in Mandraki Marina Mandraki Harbour Rhodes 26 August 2024 | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Pjotr Mahhonin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0M moored at Quay in Mandraki Marina Mandraki Harbour Rhodes 26 August 2024 — Pjotr Mahhonin — CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Kountouriotis Square marks a change in the marathon's direction and mood. After Mandraki and the return through the center, the official course names the square before threading through Savvas Nikolaou Street, Georgiou Papanikolaou Street, and the island-name streets of Kos, Leros, and Kalymnos. These names create a sm…

Junction of Akti Miaouli 28 Oktovriou Alexandrou Diakou and Akti Kanari Rhodes 18 September 2017 | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Pjotr Mahhonin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Junction of Akti Miaouli 28 Oktovriou Alexandrou Diakou and Akti Kanari Rhodes 18 September 2017 — Pjotr Mahhonin — CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Bus stop Grand Hotel Akti Miaouli Rhodes 2 September 2023 | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Pjotr Mahhonin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Bus stop Grand Hotel Akti Miaouli Rhodes 2 September 2023 — Pjotr Mahhonin — CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Akti Miaouli shifts the course into a different Rhodes. The east-facing harbor sections feel protected and civic; here the city turns toward open water and wind. The official route follows this west-facing seafront before continuing toward Kato Petres and the Kritika/Ialyssou stretch. For runners, this can be one of th…

Ixia beach Rhodes Greece 1 | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Norbert Nagel, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0Ixia beach Rhodes Greece 1 — Norbert Nagel, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany — CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Akti Imperial Hotel and Rodos Palace Hotel Ixia Beach Strait of Rhodes 26 August 2017 | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Pjotr Mahhonin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Akti Imperial Hotel and Rodos Palace Hotel Ixia Beach Strait of Rhodes 26 August 2017 — Pjotr Mahhonin — CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Kato Petres gives the westward section its rougher coastal character. The name points to the lower rocks, and even as an approximate route anchor it helps explain why this side of the marathon feels different from Mandraki. The scenery is less enclosed, the horizon wider, and the rhythm more sustained. This is the kind…

Panoramic view from Ialyssos Rhodes Greece | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Norbert Nagel, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0Panoramic view from Ialyssos Rhodes Greece — Norbert Nagel, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany — CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons

Ixia beach Rhodes Greece 1 | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Norbert Nagel, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0Ixia beach Rhodes Greece 1 — Norbert Nagel, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany — CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons

The official description places the third turnaround at the traffic lights where Ialyssou/Kritika Street meets Iliades Street, noted with Faneromeni. This first version uses an approximate coordinate for that western limit. It should be refined later with race-day materials or a reliable GPX export, but its purpose in …

Windmills Rhodes harbour | CC0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Jebulon / Wikimedia Commons, CC0Windmills Rhodes harbour — Jebulon — CC0 — Wikimedia Commons

Saint Nicolas Fort Rhodes Harbour night | CC0 | Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Jebulon / Wikimedia Commons, CC0Saint Nicolas Fort Rhodes Harbour night — Jebulon — CC0 — Wikimedia Commons

The final return to Eleftherias Square completes the marathon's geometry and its story. The official course comes back through the west-coast sequence — Ialyssou/Kritika, Kato Petres, Akti Miaouli, Kalymnos, Leros, Kos, Georgiou Papanikolaou — before arriving once more at the center of Rhodes. The square you left as a …