Mytilene International Airport to Petra
About 55 km north; transfers run around โฌ65, and the bus route means a change in Mytilene onto an infrequent northern coach.
A north-coast village built around a rock pinnacle with a chapel on top, reached by 114 steps โ a long sandy beach, a quieter feel than Molyvos five kilometres up the road, and a women's cooperative that put the place on the map.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Petra, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from โฌ60). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from โฌ8) 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 โ so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo ยท 1 traveller | โฌ8 | โฌ60 | Bus |
| Couple ยท 2 travellers | โฌ16 | โฌ60 | Bus |
| Family of 4 ยท 4 travellers | โฌ32 | โฌ60 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority isโฆ | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From โฌ8, 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 3โ4 | 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
Private transfer
Petra is flat and compact, unlike its hillside neighbour, so the drop-off is genuinely at the door. Book the return leg at the same time โ the north coast is seventy minutes from the airport and early flights leave before any coach runs.
Where to catch it: Priced the same as Molyvos at about โฌ65 since the two are five kilometres apart on the same road.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsBus / shuttle
Around nine euros and two and a half hours. Feasible for light travellers arriving in the morning; not a plan for an evening flight, when the last northern departure has already gone.
Where to catch it: Airport bus to Mytilene, then the Molyvos-bound coach which calls at Petra on the way.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Comparable to a booked car. On a small island with a limited taxi fleet, arriving on the last flight of the day without a booking is a genuine risk rather than a theoretical one.
Where to catch it: Agree the price at the rank before setting off on a seventy-minute journey.
Best for small groups in a hurryCar rental
Petra makes a better driving base than Molyvos because it is flat and you can park at your accommodation. From here the whole north and the road west to Kalloni open up.
Where to catch it: Seventy minutes north; Petra has proper parking behind the beach.
Best for travellers who want to explorePetra & 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 โฌ2.10, taking around 25 minutes, with the last departure near 21:30 โ 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 โ 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 โ 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 โฌ65 to Molyvos or Petra and about โฌ99 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 โฌ15. One geography note that saves money: if you are travelling from the Turkish coast rather than Athens, the AyvalฤฑkโMytilene ferry takes about 90 minutes and lands in the harbour, removing the airport transfer entirely.
Getting from MJT to Petra
Petra sits five kilometres south of Molyvos on the same northern coast, The drive is fifty-five kilometres, and about seventy minutes by road. Transfers cost the same โฌ65 as its neighbour, because the two are on the same route โ but arriving here is easier in one important respect: Petra is flat, and the car can reach your door.
Flat, which sounds trivial and is not
Molyvos climbs a hill and ends in pedestrian lanes; Petra spreads along a beach on level ground. That single difference decides where the luggage journey ends. A booked car at around โฌ65 pulls up outside the hotel; at Molyvos it stops at a car park and you walk. For anyone travelling with children, heavy cases or mobility limits, that makes Petra the more practical of the two northern bases even though they are five kilometres apart and share a coastline.
The rock with 114 steps
Petra means rock, and the village is named for the volcanic plug that rises abruptly out of the middle of it with the church of Panagia Glykofilousa on top. A stone staircase of 114 steps climbs to it โ the count is exact and locals will tell you so โ and the view from the terrace takes in the whole bay and the mountains behind. It is the obvious first evening walk, and unlike most such climbs it is short.
The women's cooperative that changed the village
In 1983 a group of local women set up an agrotourism cooperative here, letting rooms in their own homes and cooking for guests โ one of the first in Greece and a model that has been copied widely since. It still operates, still serves food upstairs above the square, and it is largely why Petra developed as a village with visitors rather than a resort built for them. The distinction shows in the way the place feels in October, when it is still inhabited.
The coach comes through on its way to Molyvos
Public transport is the same two-stage journey as its neighbour: airport bus into Mytilene for โฌ2.10, then the northern KTEL coach, which calls at Petra before terminating at Molyvos. Around nine euros and two and a half hours with the wait. The northern service runs a couple of times a day, so this is a morning-arrival plan. Evening flights leave you with no onward connection and a taxi at โฌ65 to โฌ85 as the only alternative.
The beach is long and the swimming is good
Petra's beach runs for a kilometre or so of dark sand and shingle with shallow water and a line of tavernas behind it, and it is considerably better for actual swimming than Molyvos's stony strip. That is the practical reason many people staying in the north choose Petra as a base and drive up to Molyvos for dinner rather than the other way round.
A car, and the reservation you should make now
Hire on Lesvos runs โฌ25 to โฌ45 a day and the island's fleet is small โ genuinely small, smaller than visitors from Rhodes or Crete expect โ so August books out. From Petra a car puts Molyvos five minutes away, Eftalou's hot springs fifteen, Kalloni's gulf and the bird reserve forty, and the west coast within reach for a day. Without one you are on a coach that runs twice daily and stops early.
Where the north coast fits in a Lesvos trip
Most people who come to this island for a week split it, and Petra or Molyvos is usually half of that split โ the north for the villages, the hot springs and the coastline; the south or west for Plomari's ouzo, Vatera's beach or Eresos. Doing that without a car means long coach journeys via Mytilene each time, which is the reason the hire question keeps coming up on every page of this island's guide.
Practically: โฌ65 for a car that reaches the door, or nine euros and two and a half hours by coach on a morning flight. Petra is the easier of the two northern villages to arrive at, and worth choosing on that basis if you are carrying much.
