Britain's Foreign Office has warned its citizens heading to Greece that "indecent behavior ... is not tolerated."
A commentary in Monday's edition of the Britain's Daily Mirror tabloid laid scorn on British thrill-seekers in Faliraki for "turning a quiet fishing village into a sordid dump."
"The bitter irony is that some of the ugliest citizens in our nation are now despoiling some of the most beautiful parts of Europe," said another column in the Daily Mail.
At her souvenir shop, Tasia Kosta, wipes the dust off ceramic plates and postcards showing the medieval walls of Rhodes Town and the 2,500-year-old Temple of Athena at Lindos, both examples of the island's rich heritage.
"They don't buy anything from Rhodes any more ... just calendars with nude women and silly games," she said. "I don't think these people know where they are. They just sleep and drink."
Across the street, the KGB Bar offered four cocktails for the price of one.
"We love the English. They are our livelihood," said bar owner Maria, who did not give her last name. "But what kind of a mind can someone have with 30 drinks in his stomach?"
The most common complaint is leveled against highly competitive British tour operators offering week-long holidays to Faliraki for as little as US$150 in the hope of making money by selling tickets for so-called "pub crawl" drinking binges, parties and other outings billed as opportunities to have sex.
On the home page of its Web site, the youth-oriented Club 18-30 shows a young woman with her arms around two naked men with their backs to the camera on the beach.
A spokesman for the company, David Smithson, said the accusations are unfair.
"The behavior of British holidaymakers is a problem for the industry as a whole not just youth tour operators," he said.
Faliraki Mayor Yiannis Iatridis, who rents his beachfront property to a McDonald's restaurant, says the resort's violent reputation is highly exaggerated.
"At any one time, there are 35,000 tourists here, and this population is changing every week. ... So of course there are some people among them who will cause trouble."
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