Anthony Quinn Bay

On the eastern coast of Rhodes, roughly 4 kilometers south of Faliraki, a narrow cove cuts into the pine-covered cliffs and opens onto some of the clearest water on the island. Known locally as Vagies before it took its current name, Anthony Quinn Bay owes its fame to the 1961 war film The Guns of Navarone, much of which was filmed along this stretch of coastline. The Mexican-American actor who played the Greek resistance fighter Andrea Stavrou spent that summer here, grew attached to the cove, and spent decades afterward trying to hold onto a piece of land around it — a dispute Greek courts eventually settled in favor of public ownership.

The bay itself is compact, no more than a few hundred meters of pebble shoreline enclosed by rocky cliffs, but the water is deep enough close to shore for comfortable anchoring. Sharp rocks and sea urchins make sturdy sandals worth packing, and the same rugged seabed that challenges swimmers rewards snorkelers with small caves and plenty of fish. A steep staircase climbs to a clifftop taverna with views back over the cove and toward Faliraki, one of the island's busiest resort strips just a short sail north.

Because the cove has limited space, it can feel crowded at midday in July and August, so mornings and shoulder-season visits tend to be calmer. For anyone chartering along this coast, the cove is one of the anchorages you'll visit on a private gulet charter from Rhodes, a natural pause between the Medieval Old Town and the island's quieter southern bays.