How to Get Around Lesvos By Bus | The Mediterranean Traveller

Lesvos is a big island and most people will tell you to rent a car to explore it. Of course that’s not possible for everyone, and Lesvos does have a bus service – it may not be extensive or particularly regular but it is possible to use it to reach the most popular destinations on the island.

Here’s everything you need to know about getting around Lesvos by bus.

KTEL Island Buses

The cross-island bus routes are run by KTEL Lesvos which has a main terminal in Mytilini.

You can find times and routes online on the KTEL Lesvos website – it’s easy to look up times in English but there is no route map and the website does make it challenging to string together a more complex itinerary.

KTEL Lesvos Bus Station in Mytilini

The KTEL bus terminal in Mytilini. — KTEL Lesvos bus station in Mytilini at a quiet hour.

The main bus terminal (pictured above) is in the capital Mytilini, towards the south side of the harbour – here’s the location on Google Maps:

It’s a small but busy terminal with one kiosk in the office. You can pay by card when buying your ticket at the office. There are a few seats inside the building but don’t expect any of them to be free! The bus station is well-used by locals and it can feel a bit chaotic, especially in the heat.

Don’t expect everyone to speak English – office/kiosk staff usually have a good level of spoken English but not drivers or conductors. This can make it a challenge figuring out which bus to get on as they don’t always have a helpful sign in the front with the name of the final destination – perhaps because half of the routes will change buses at Kalloni (more organised chaos). I recommend arriving at least 15 minutes beforehand if you need to buy a ticket and figure it all out.

If you need shade whilst you wait for your bus here’s a small cafe around the corner from the office which does coffee and snacks, but it’s best to cross the road towards the Agias Irinis park where you’ll find a bakery/cafe with pleasant outdoor seating or walk a few minutes to O Kiros by the harbour.

If you’re arriving into Mytilini on the bus you can also usually get off at the ferry terminal (‘limeni’) or Sappho Square.

You can pick up a printed timetable (example pictured above) from the bus station. You’ll also find them taped up in bus shelters around the island.

You can buy tickets on the bus and often from nearby kiosks and stores too.

Routes

The main bus routes in Lesvos are:

Mytilini – Petra – Molyvos
Molyvos – Petra – Anaxos
Mytilini – Kalloni
Mytilini – Skala Eressos
Mytilini – Plomari
Mytilini – Gera
Mytilini – Vatera
Mytilini – Agiassos
Mytilini – Mantamados
Mytilini – Agia Paraskevi
Mytilini – Skala Kallonis
Mytilini – Mesotopos
Mytilini – Sigri
Mytilini – Skala Sykamias
Mytilini – Pelopi

Lesvos is a big island. From Mytilini in the east to Skala Eressos in the west, it’s a 2.5-hour ride. Mytilini to Molyvos is over an hour.

Bus routes on the island aren’t really geared towards travellers. There’s usually only one or two services per day in each direction, and all to/from Mytilini. Additionally, most lines head into Mytilini early but the first one out often isn’t until 11am. This makes day trips very tricky unless you’re staying in Mytilini itself, and it’s hard to pack more than one destination into a day.

You also won’t find routes between coastal towns (with the exception of Molyvos-Petra-Anaxos which are very close to each other), although sometimes you can change at Kalloni which is in the middle of the island rather than go all the way to Mytilini and out again.

Sometimes there are additions in high season (July/August), for example the Molyvos-Petra-Anaxos bus might go on to Eftalou. The tourist train might up its frequency. And a new bus to link Sigri and Skala Eressos to coincide with the arrival of the Athens ferry to Sigri has been announced for the summer peak. But these change year-to-year.

Example of a KTEL coach. — A KTEL coach.

All KTEL routes use coaches. It’s pot luck whether the AC is turned on/working. Tickets have seat numbers assigned but nobody heeds them.

Most smaller towns and villages don’t have a shelter let alone a kiosk, you’ll often find timetables taped up to a pole or noticeboard.

Bus shelter in Molyvos. — Molyvos bus shelter.

City buses in Mytilini

The city buses in and around Mytilini aren’t run by KTEL, they’re run by Astika and there is no online timetable (at least not when I visited).

As a tourist, the only city bus you’re likely to use is the airport bus, although the city buses also cover the whole peninsula to the south of Mytilini.

Buses to/from the airport

The airport bus stop is on the road directly outside – walk out of Arrivals and turn left, the airport bus stop is to your left marked by a big lime green bus sign and there should be a laminated timetable taped to one of the posts. If your flight arrives early or late you’ll probably need a taxi. The taxis are found directly outside Arrivals and cost roughly €15 into Mytilini.

Mytilini airport bus at the airport bus stop. — Airport bus outside the airport.

In Mytilini, the buses don’t leave from the KTEL bus station. Instead, there are numerous city bus stops around the harbour. You can spot them by their digital RTI displays.

There’s a main stop on Sappho Square, and you’ll (hopefully) find a printed timetable taped up in the shelter. It also has a small kiosk for ticket sales and info.

If you’re going to be using the city buses a lot it’s worth brushing up on your Greek alphabet to read the signs and timetables. ‘Airport’ is Αεροδρόμιο (aerodromio) and it’s line 1. Timetables change throughout the year but just to give you an idea I visited in late June/early July and buses to the airport were at the following times:

6:30 | 7:15 | 7:40 | 8:30 | then half hourly until 4:00 | 5:00 | 6:30 | 7:00 | 7:45 | 8:30 | 9:20

Bus, RTI display and shelter at Sappho Square bus stop. — Sappho Square bus stop.

Bus Excursions

It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re staying in the Molyvos area then there are bus excursions which give you a few more options for exploring the island. There is a package tourism presence on the island dominated by Jet2 and their Dutch and British clients who mostly stay in Molyvos/Petra/Anaxos area – you can find their activities and excursions on Musement which is a Jet2 marketplace for experiences.

They tend to run once a week. I took the Agiassos/Mytilini tour and my guide spoke good English however you won’t get everything translated.

Or you can get in touch with Follow Your Heart Travel who organise private tours around the island.

Molyvos Tourist Train

The main tourist area on Lesvos is the Molyvos-Petra-Anaxos triangle and this is served by its own little tourist train which gives you a few options in addition to the local KTEL bus.

Tickets are €6 one-way or €9 for an unlimited day ticket which you can use to hop on hop off. Times are fairly limited (see photo below – 4 trains per day in each direction). You can buy tickets on the train but only at the stations marked ‘ticket point’. Sometimes it’s very busy.

For more info see the Village Train website.

I used a combination of local buses, taxis, the tourist train, and bus excursions when I visited Lesvos for a fortnight. To give you a quick idea of what this looked like in practice: