Lemnos International Airport to Kontias
About 15 km from LXS, roughly halfway to Myrina; a taxi is €20–28 on the posted board.
A stone village of restored houses and old windmills on the ridge between the island's two great bays, with a small art gallery in a converted school and views across the salt flats.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Kontias, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €28). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €2.5) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €2.5 | €28 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €5 | €28 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €10 | €28 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €2.5, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Taxi
Listed on the fare board. The village lanes are stone and narrow in the old part, so the car may stop at the square rather than the door.
Where to catch it: Twenty minutes west on the main cross-island road; Kontias sits just off it.
Best for small groups in a hurryCar rental
Kontias is a base rather than a destination — no beach, no shops beyond the basics — so a car is the point. It sits centrally enough that Myrina, Moudros and the southern beaches are all fifteen to twenty minutes away.
Where to catch it: Twenty minutes; park at the village edge.
Best for travellers who want to explorePrivate transfer
Coordinate arrival time with the key handover; in a village of this size there is no reception desk waiting up for a late flight.
Where to catch it: Much of what is let here is restored stone houses booked directly with owners who will meet you at the square.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsBus / shuttle
Cheap when it runs. With about three services a day, treat it as a way of getting to Myrina during your stay rather than as an arrival plan.
Where to catch it: The cross-island route passes nearby, but stops and timings are built around islanders rather than arrivals.
Best for solo & budget travellersKontias & Lemnos in photos
Buying tickets in Lemnos
Lemnos does something unusual and helpful: taxis at the airport work to a posted fare board with set prices to the main settlements — Myrina around €30, Moudros €12–18, Plati €32–38, Thanos €34–42. Glance at the whole list on your way out, because it tells you what journeys will cost later in the week. KTEL Limnou also runs buses to Myrina roughly three times a day, Monday to Saturday, taking about 31 minutes for a few euros, terminating at Eleftherios Venizelos square where all island routes begin. There are no Sunday services. Beyond the capital the network thins to village runs timed for residents, and the beaches are essentially unserved, which is why nearly everyone staying outside Myrina hires a car.
Taxi scams & safety in Lemnos
With fares posted rather than negotiated, Lemnos is about as low-friction as Greek island arrivals get. The risks here are logistical. The rank is small — this island takes few flights — so a full arrival can clear it. More importantly, large parts of Lemnos have no taxi rank and no passing traffic at all: Keros, Thanos, Agios Ioannis and the archaeological site at Poliochni are all places a car drops you and then leaves. If you take a taxi to a site rather than a settlement, agree a return time with the same driver before they go. And if you are flying out early from anywhere outside Myrina, arrange the departure transfer when you book the arrival — with three buses a day and no passing trade at dawn, there is no fallback.
Getting from LXS to Kontias
Kontias sits fifteen kilometres from the airport on the ridge between the island's two great bays, roughly halfway to Myrina — a village of stone houses and old windmills with views across the salt flats in both directions. Twenty minutes by road, and €20 to €28 on the posted fare board.
A stone village that got restored rather than rebuilt
Kontias has more surviving traditional architecture than anywhere else on Lemnos: two-storey houses in dark volcanic stone, a scattering of windmills on the ridge above, and an old school converted into a gallery showing Balkan artists. It was largely abandoned in the twentieth century and has been carefully brought back, which is why it looks coherent in a way that villages with continuous occupation often do not.
Twenty minutes and a fare you can look up
The taxi run west on the main cross-island road takes twenty minutes; Kontias sits just off it. The village lanes are stone and narrow in the old part, so the car may stop at the square rather than at your door — which in a village this size means a walk of a couple of hundred metres at most.
The bus passes nearby rather than serving it
The cross-island route between the airport area and Myrina goes past, but stops and timings are built around islanders rather than arrivals, and there are about three services a day. Two and a half to four euros when one runs. Treat it as a way of getting into Myrina during your stay rather than as an arrival plan.
Renting a village house
Most of what is let here is restored stone houses booked directly with owners, and there is no reception desk waiting up for a late flight. Coordinating the key handover with your arrival time is the actual task — more so than the transfer itself. Owners will usually meet you at the square if you tell them when you are landing, and a pre-booked car at €28 to €38 makes that time something you can state with confidence.
Central, which is the reason to choose it
Kontias has no beach and no shops beyond the basics, so it is a base rather than a destination. What it offers is position: Myrina is fifteen minutes west, Moudros fifteen east, the southern beaches at Thanos and Plati fifteen to twenty minutes south, and the airport twenty minutes back. On an island where three buses a day is the norm, being in the middle with a car is a genuine advantage.
Windmills, and the walk along the ridge
Several of the old windmills above the village have been restored, one as accommodation, and the track along the ridge past them gives the view that makes Kontias worth staying in — the bay of Moudros on one side, the western coast on the other, and the flat interior between. It is twenty minutes on foot and best in the early evening.
A car, and what it costs not to have one
€25 to €45 a day, parking free at the village edge. Without one you are dependent on a service that runs three times daily and does not go to the beaches at all. Given that Kontias itself has one taverna and a small shop, the practical minimum for a week here is a vehicle — and the local firms at the terminal are the ones to book with, in advance.
The gallery in the old school
Kontias has a permanent collection of Balkan art housed in a restored school building — paintings and prints from Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian artists, assembled by a private foundation and open through the summer. It is small, free or nearly so, and startlingly good for a village of this size. Opening hours follow the season rather than a fixed timetable, so ask in the square.
Practically: €20–28 on the fare board, and a hire car for the stay. The village is a good base and a poor destination for anyone without transport.
