Mytilene International Airport to Mytilene Town
Only 7 km from MJT; the bus costs about €2.10 and takes 25 minutes, a taxi around €15 in a quarter of an hour.
The island capital wrapped around a double harbour, with a Genoese castle on the headland, grand neoclassical mansions along the waterfront and a ouzo culture that takes itself seriously.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Mytilene Town, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €20). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €2.1) 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 | €2.1 | €20 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €4.2 | €20 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €8.4 | €20 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €2.1, 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
Bus / shuttle
About €2.10 and twenty-five minutes — slower than the taxi because it stops along the way. The 21:30 finish is the detail to check: evening arrivals from Athens frequently land after it.
Where to catch it: The bus stops outside the terminal and runs up the coast road into Mytilene, ending near the harbour.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Around €15, which for seven kilometres is fair and makes this one of the easier arrival decisions in the Aegean. Fares rise after midnight as everywhere in Greece.
Where to catch it: The rank sits outside the small arrivals hall; twelve minutes up the coast to the harbour.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
MJT is a small airport with few flights, so the taxi supply is thin late at night — which is the one real argument for booking on such a short run.
Where to catch it: For twelve minutes the value is a car waiting when the last bus has gone and the rank has been emptied by the only flight of the evening.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
Mytilene itself is walkable and parking near the harbour is tight, but if you intend to see any of Lesvos a car is close to mandatory — book it before you fly, because the fleet here is small and sells out in August.
Where to catch it: A handful of counters in arrivals; on a small island most are local operators rather than international chains.
Best for travellers who want to exploreMytilene Town & Mytilene in photos
Buying tickets in Mytilene
Lesvos is Greece's third-largest island and its bus network is built for residents rather than arrivals. KTEL Lesvou runs the airport service into Mytilene for about €2.10, taking around 25 minutes, with the last departure near 21:30 — evening flights from Athens routinely land after it. Everywhere else means changing at the KTEL station in Mytilene onto a village coach that may run only once or twice a day: Molyvos and Petra in the north, Plomari over the mountain to the south, Skala Eresou two hours west. Tickets are bought at the station or from the driver in cash. Because of this, most visitors beyond the capital either pre-book a transfer or hire a car — and the island's rental fleet is small enough that August sells out, so reserve before you fly.
Taxi scams & safety in Mytilene
Mytilene is a small airport with a correspondingly small taxi fleet, and the practical risk here is not overcharging but simply finding no car — on the last arrival of the day the rank can empty once a full flight disembarks. Booking ahead for a late landing is sensible rather than cautious. Verified transfer prices are around €65 to Molyvos or Petra and about €99 to Plomari; note that some booking sites quote figures several times higher for these routes, so if you see a number in the hundreds for Molyvos, check elsewhere before accepting. The short run into Mytilene should be about €15. One geography note that saves money: if you are travelling from the Turkish coast rather than Athens, the Ayvalık–Mytilene ferry takes about 90 minutes and lands in the harbour, removing the airport transfer entirely.
Getting from MJT to Mytilene Town
Seven kilometres up the coast road and you are in Mytilene, which makes this the one straightforward journey on Lesvos. Everything else on this island is an hour or more away over mountain roads with a bus service designed for villagers; the capital is twelve minutes in a taxi for about €15, or twenty-five minutes on a bus for €2.10.
The bus stops at half past nine
That is the detail worth checking against your ticket. KTEL runs the airport service through the day for around €2.10, and the last departure is usually near 21:30. Flights from Athens frequently land after it — the evening rotation is a staple of this route — and when they do, the bus is simply not an option. It is also slower than the drive because it calls along the coast road, so twenty-five minutes rather than twelve.
Fifteen euros is fair, and the fleet is small
Taxis wait outside the modest arrivals hall and charge around €13 to €20 for the run into town. For seven kilometres that is reasonable by Greek island standards. The thing to understand about MJT is scale: this is a small airport with a handful of flights a day and a correspondingly small taxi fleet. On the last arrival of the evening the rank can empty completely once a full flight disembarks, which is a real risk rather than a theoretical one and the main argument for booking a car if you are landing late.
A double harbour and a castle between them
Mytilene is built across a neck of land with a harbour on either side and a Genoese fortress on the headland above — one of the largest in the Mediterranean, walkable in an hour with pine woods inside the walls. The southern harbour is the working one, lined with ouzeries and the ferry berths. The waterfront behind it has grand neoclassical mansions from the island's soap and olive-oil wealth, and the archaeological museum holds Roman mosaics from a villa found under the town.
Ouzo is a local industry, not a cliché
Lesvos produces most of Greece's ouzo, and in Mytilene it is treated seriously: you order it with a plate of small dishes and sit for two hours. The ouzeries along the southern harbour do this properly and cheaply, and it is the thing to do on a first evening rather than looking for a restaurant. Plomari, an hour south, is where the distilleries are.
The ferry harbour matters if you came from Turkey
Worth knowing that a large share of arrivals on Lesvos never see the airport. The crossing from Ayvalık on the Turkish coast takes about ninety minutes and lands directly in Mytilene harbour, five minutes from the town centre — so anyone travelling from western Turkey usually arrives by sea rather than flying via Athens. If that is your route, the airport transfer question does not arise at all; you walk off the boat into town.
Book the car if you intend to see the island
Hire runs €25 to €45 a day from a handful of mostly local firms in arrivals. Mytilene itself is walkable and parking near the harbour is tight, so you do not need one for the town. You do need one for Lesvos: this is Greece's third-largest island, the KTEL network runs village coaches once or twice a day, and Molyvos, Plomari and Eresos are all an hour or more apart. Reserve before you fly, because the fleet here is small and sells out in August in a way it does not on Rhodes or Corfu.
What a small airport means in practice
Few flights, short queues, one baggage belt, and a terminal that is quiet between arrivals. It also means limited car hire, limited taxis and a bus timetable built around a handful of departures. None of that is a problem if you have planned for it, and all of it is a problem if you land at ten at night expecting the infrastructure of a major island.
In short: €2.10 on the bus in daylight, €13–20 in a taxi otherwise, and book both the car and any late-night transfer in advance because supply here is genuinely thin.
