Tsambika beach

Rhodes island report and map

Tsambika beach Rhodes

TSAMBIKA or TSAMPIKA is a one kilometre long beach of deep, golden sand and one of the most beautiful to be found on Rhodes island.
Tsambika sits beneath and below two big outcrops of rock about 26km from Rhodes Town and is approached down a long and precipitous, winding road.
There is a huge dirt car park behind Tsambika beach which is covered in sun beds for most of its length with several beach cantinas popping up now and then, mostly serving the basics.
Tsambika beach is good, soft sand and the water is shallow and calm for about 50 metres out to sea, so this is a very popular spot with families.
There is no village here, just Tsambika beach, the cantinas and a mini market. It takes its name after the tiny Monastery of the Virgin of Tsambika which tops a 1,000 metre high rock that towers above the north end of the beach.
You can reach the monastery up a paved road that ends at a small car park. From here there are 297 stone steps to the summit where the view over Tsambika Bay is reputed to be one of the best on Rhodes.
On September 8th, many local women, wishing to get pregnant, will climb to the summit to pray at an 11th-century icon that is said to have caused sparks in the sky (tsampika) when it first miraculously appeared on the island.
Women who chew on a candle from one of the lamps in the church are subsequently said to be able to bear a child. Many of the locals are named Tsambika (female) or Tsambikos (male) as a result of prayers being answered.