Lemnos International Airport to Poliochni
About 12 km east of LXS; a taxi is €18–25 and there is no bus service worth the name.
The excavated remains of a settlement on the east coast that was inhabited from around 4000 BC — older than Troy across the water, and often described as the oldest town in Europe.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Poliochni, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €26). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €3) 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 | €3 | €26 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €6 | €26 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €12 | €26 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €3, 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
Most people come for a couple of hours rather than to stay, so agree a return with the driver or you will be waiting — there is no rank and no passing traffic at the site.
Where to catch it: Eighteen minutes east; the site sits above the shore with a small car park and a visitor building.
Best for small groups in a hurryCar rental
The practical way to do it, and it combines naturally with Moudros and the eastern beaches in a half-day loop. Opening hours are limited and seasonal, so check before driving out.
Where to catch it: Eighteen minutes on flat roads; free parking at the site.
Best for travellers who want to explorePrivate transfer
A reasonable use of a dead hour if you are heading east anyway. Confirm the site is open that day first.
Where to catch it: Occasionally booked as a first stop straight from the airport by people whose flight lands mid-morning and whose accommodation is not ready.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsBus / shuttle
Village services run to Kaminia a couple of kilometres away on a limited weekday timetable, leaving a walk. In practice this is a car or taxi destination.
Where to catch it: There is no bus to the archaeological site.
Best for solo & budget travellersPoliochni & 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 Poliochni
Poliochni is twelve kilometres east of the airport on the coast — not a village but an excavated settlement, inhabited from around 4000 BC and often described as the oldest town in Europe. It predates Troy, which sits across the water and was in contact with it. Eighteen minutes by road, €18 to €25 on the posted fare board.
Agree a return before the driver leaves
The important practical point. Most people come here for a couple of hours rather than to stay, and there is no rank at the site, no village and no passing traffic. If you take a taxi out, arrange for the same driver to come back at a set time — otherwise you are relying on a phone signal and a small island fleet to rescue you from an archaeological site.
What survives, and what it takes to see it
The site is a low mound above the shore with stone foundations laid out in phases across two millennia: a defensive wall, a communal granary, a paved assembly hall that is among the earliest known anywhere, and streets with drainage. It is not spectacular in the way a temple is — this is domestic archaeology, and you are looking at wall stubs. What it has is age and a setting on an empty shoreline with Turkey on the horizon.
Check that it is open before driving out
Opening hours are limited and seasonal, and this is a small site staffed accordingly. Turning up on a Monday in October to find a locked gate after paying for a taxi is a specific and avoidable annoyance. The site has a small visitor building and a car park.
There is no bus
None serves the site. Village routes run to Kaminia a couple of kilometres away on a limited weekday timetable, leaving a walk along the coast. On an island with about three buses a day, this is a car or taxi destination and nothing else.
Combining it into a half-day
The efficient way to do Poliochni is as part of an eastern loop by car — Moudros and the war cemetery, the site, and the eastern beaches or the dunes at Gomati, all within twenty minutes of each other. Individually each is a taxi fare; together they are a morning. That arithmetic is most of the argument for hiring a vehicle on Lemnos at €25 to €45 a day.
A first stop straight from the airport
Some people book a transfer here directly on arrival, at €26 to €36, when their flight lands mid-morning and the accommodation is not ready until afternoon. It is a reasonable use of a dead couple of hours if you are heading east anyway — just confirm the opening hours first, because the alternative is standing in a car park with your luggage.
Why it matters that this is Lemnos
Poliochni was on the sea route through the Dardanelles and traded with Troy across the strait. Lemnos sits in the middle of the northern Aegean, and every power that wanted to control access to the Black Sea has wanted this island — which is the same geography that put the Allied fleet in Moudros Bay four thousand years later. The two sites are fifteen minutes apart and make more sense seen together.
Kaminia, and lunch after the site
Two kilometres from the excavation, the fishing village of Kaminia has a small harbour and a taverna or two serving whatever came in that morning. It is where people who have driven out to Poliochni end up afterwards, and it makes the trip a half-day rather than an hour. There is also a beach, unremarkable but empty, which on this side of Lemnos is the normal condition.
Bring water and a hat. The site is completely unshaded, sits above an exposed shoreline and has no facilities beyond the small visitor building, which is not always staffed. In July the middle of the day here is genuinely punishing, and the early morning is both cooler and better for seeing the low foundations picked out by the light.
To summarise: €18–25 on the board with a return time agreed, or a hire car and an eastern half-day. Check the opening hours before you commit to either.
