Tourism in Mediterranean regions is an important developmental lever. Nevertheless, it also constitutes a main source of degradation of the natural/cultural capital, while it exposes tourist destinations to severe pressures (energy/water stress, traffic congestion, urbanization, pollution, etc.) that are mainly due to the prevailing mass tourism model across the Mediterranean coastline. This holds especially true in insular regions, i.e. highly attractive areas due to their natural/cultural wealth and uniqueness, but also extremely vulnerable due to the insularity condition as well as other global-wide challenges, such as Climate Change (CC), coastal urban sprawl, biodiversity degradation, etc. Currently, many islands demonstrate signs of extreme tourism overcrowding, rendering them ‘tourism hotspots’, a state that threatens sustainability and resilience objectives. Having Rhodes Island, Greece, as a case study – namely a highly reputed tourist destination in the global scenery – this work aims at establishing a methodological framework for ‘bridging’ tourism hotspot areas with climate change risks. This is accomplished by the use of spatial, quantitative and qualitative, data that forms the ground for: identifying the spatial pattern and dynamics of tourism hotspot areas in Rhodes Island; and linking them with past and potential CC incidents in order for risks to be identified and relevant, more informed policy decisions, serving sustainability and resilience objectives to be articulated. Results designate critical concerns as to the risks inherent in Rhodes tourism hotspots, calling for the deployment of relevant resilience plans, coupled with the discharging of tourism load in relevant areas.