Contained within the Fortifications of Rhodes is the largest active medieval town in Europe, with over 6,000 inhabitants. The medieval town, as well as being part of the UNESCO world heritage site, is also a major tourism attraction. The medieval town (Παλαιά Πόλη) contains a number of sites, including the clock-tower, Socrates Square, the Jewish Square, the old Haman, Suleiman Mosque Socrates Street, the Street of the Knights, and the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes.

The medieval town contains a number of different architectural styles, due to its history. The town mostly developed under the Knights of St John, which accounts for its predominantly Gothic architecture. However, after the second Siege of Rhodes the medieval town was also developed in the Ottoman era. New buildings were constructed including: mosques, public baths and mansions for the new patrons. The architectural significance of Rhodes, is summarised by UNESCO when it states: "with its Frankish and Ottoman buildings the old town of Rhodes is an important ensemble of traditional human settlement, characterized by successive and complex phenomena of acculturation. Contact with the traditions of the Dodecanese changed the forms of Gothic architecture, and building after 1523 combined vernacular forms resulting from the meeting of two worlds with decorative elements of Ottoman origin. All the built-up elements dating before 1912 have become vulnerable because of the evolution in living conditions and they must be protected as much as the great religious, civil and military monuments, the churches, monasteries, mosques, baths, palaces, forts, gates and ramparts

The medieval town of Rhodes, has been the set of a number of movies, including The Guns of Navarone.