Boat trips
Day trips
The island
Kos International Airport "Hippocrates" sits at Antimachia in the middle of the island, roughly 24 km from Kos Town — 30 to 40 minutes by road. Four options cover that gap, and the right one depends on your landing time, your group size and whether anybody needs a child seat.
Bookable now
What you're seeing: real departures and transfer slots for the coming weeks, pulled from GetYourGuide. Sort by duration or price, then open the listing for the operator's own pickup terms and vehicle sizes.
Quick summary
Everything a new arrival wants to know in the ten minutes between the seatbelt sign and the baggage belt. Price bands are the entry point of a range, not a quote.
| Airport | Kos International Airport "Hippocrates", at Antimachia, mid-island. One terminal, one small arrivals hall. |
|---|---|
| Distance to Kos Town | About 24 km, which is 30–40 minutes by road depending on traffic through Zipari. |
| Cheapest option | The KTEL public bus, a few euros per person — but only on the days and hours it runs. |
| Fastest, least hassle | Pre-booked private transfer: a driver holding your name, a fixed price and a car seat if you asked for one. |
| Taxi from the rank | Available, metered or on a fixed airport tariff. The rank empties within minutes when a charter wave lands. |
| Advance booking needed? | Yes for transfers and hire cars in July and August, and for any arrival after about 22:00. Taxis cannot be pre-booked at the rank. |
| Time to allow | 30–45 minutes from wheels-down to leaving the airport, plus the drive. Budget 90 minutes plane-to-hotel for Kos Town. |
| Child seats | Must be requested in advance. Taxis at the rank rarely carry them. |
| Night arrivals | Public buses do not run late. Pre-book, or expect to queue for a taxi with everyone else off your flight. |
Distances are road distances rounded to the nearest kilometre. Fares and bus times are set by operators and the local KTEL company and change between seasons — confirm the current figure before you travel. How we source numbers
The one thing worth pre-booking
If you land between 21:00 and 01:00, book a transfer before you fly. Late charters arrive in clusters, the taxi rank clears in minutes, and there is no bus to fall back on. A €10 premium buys you the difference between a car and a 40-minute wait outside a closed terminal.
Option comparison
These are the three ways to get off the airport site without renting anything. Hire car is the fourth option and has its own section below, because it is a decision about your whole holiday rather than one journey.
Option 1
€35–60 / vehicle to Kos Town
Pick this if you are a family, a group of four or more, arriving at night, or staying somewhere the bus does not usefully serve.
Option 2
€35–50 / car to Kos Town
Pick this if you are two adults with cabin bags landing mid-morning or mid-afternoon, and you would rather not commit in advance.
Option 3
€3–6 / person, one way
Pick this if you are travelling light, alone or as a couple, on a daytime flight, and your accommodation is central.
Why arrivals bunch up
Kos is a charter airport. Flights do not trickle in — they land in waves, three or four wide-bodied aircraft inside an hour, then nothing for two hours. When a wave lands, six hundred people reach the same small forecourt at once and the taxi rank is empty within about ten minutes. Nothing is wrong; there are simply not enough cars on a mid-island rank to clear a wave. That is the whole argument for pre-booking.
Distances
The airport is mid-island, which is good news for the south and north-coast villages and bad news for Kos Town. Two resorts are close enough to walk out of the terminal and be there before your suitcase stops spinning.
| Resort | Distance | Drive | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kardamena | ~7 km | 10–15 min | Closest resort. South coast, party base. |
| Mastichari | ~7 km | 10–15 min | North coast, Kalymnos ferry quay, water park. |
| Marmari | ~13 km | 15–20 min | North coast, wide sand, windy afternoons. |
| Kefalos & Kamari | ~20 km | 25–30 min | South-west corner, Paradise Beach side. |
| Tigaki | ~17 km | 20–25 min | North coast, shallow water, near the salt lake. |
| Kos Town | ~24 km | 30–40 min | Traffic through Zipari is the variable. |
| Lambi | ~26 km | 35–45 min | Just past Kos Town on the north shore. |
| Psalidi | ~28 km | 35–45 min | East of town, furthest of the big resorts. |
Times assume a direct private car. A shared shuttle stopping at several hotels can easily add 30–45 minutes, and the last hotel on the run pays for it in time. Check whether your transfer is private or shared before you book.
A quirk worth knowing
If you are staying in Kardamena or Mastichari, the transfer is so short that a taxi and a private transfer cost almost the same. The pre-booked car still wins at night, but in daylight this is the one case where walking to the rank is genuinely fine.
The fourth option
Renting at the airport turns your transfer into a formality: desks are in the arrivals hall, the cars are in the car park outside, and you drive away. For a fortnight spent exploring Kefalos, Zia and the inland villages, that is the right call.
For a beach holiday in Kos Town, Lambi or Psalidi, it usually is not. Kos Town is flat and has an unusually good network of separated cycle lanes — a bike costs a fraction of a car per day and parks anywhere. Add hotel parking, a summer town centre with almost no free spaces, and the fact that you will not want to drive after a long lunch, and the car spends most of the week sitting still.
The middle path: no car for most of the trip, one rental day for the south-west, and a pre-booked transfer for the airport legs. Many organised trips collect you from your hotel anyway — see the excursions guide for how pickup rounds work.
Child seats: the rule to remember
You must request a child seat in advance — on the transfer booking, in the car-hire reservation, or both. Airport taxis on Kos are not equipped with them as standard, and turning up with a toddler and no seat leaves you with a bad choice. State the child's age and weight, not just "car seat".
Buggies and hold luggage
Buggies come off with the oversized baggage, a few minutes behind the belt — do not panic when it is not there. A folded buggy plus four suitcases will not fit in a standard saloon taxi: book a minivan and state how many cases you have. In Kos Town the promenade and cycle lanes are smooth, but the old-town lanes are cobbled and a three-wheeler handles them far better than a four-wheel travel buggy. More in Kos with kids.
Timing
Charter traffic peaks from late June to early September, and Saturdays and Sundays carry the week's changeover flights. If your dates are flexible, a midweek arrival in May, June or late September means a near-empty arrivals hall, cars still on the rank and a queue-free hire desk.
The worst window is a summer weekend afternoon, when arrivals and departures overlap on one forecourt. The second-worst is the late-evening wave. Neither is a reason to change your flight — only a reason to know which option you are using before you land.
One thing the wind does not do: the meltemi, the northerly summer wind that peaks in July and August, cancels boat trips but not road transfers. It matters for your cruise day, not your drive — so book boat days early in the holiday and keep arrival day on land.
How to save
Transfers are priced per vehicle, not per head. Two couples travelling together on the same flight pay half each, which lands close to bus money with none of the waiting.
Departures are predictable in a way arrivals are not. Pre-book the transfer in, then use the KTEL bus back to the airport on the way home, when you know exactly how long you have.
Shared shuttles undercut private cars per person. The cost is time: several hotel drops, and no say in whether you are first or last. Fine for two adults, punishing with a tired toddler.
Package holidays to Kos frequently bundle a coach transfer. Read the paperwork before buying a second one — the commonest waste of money on this page.
There is no island-wide travel pass on Kos, so the saving comes from not needing a vehicle at all. Based in or near town, a bike plus the occasional bus covers a week cheaply — the things to do hub lists what is reachable without driving.
Context
Kos International Airport is named after Hippocrates, the physician born on the island in the 5th century BC, and it sits beside the inland village of Antimachia rather than beside the capital. That looks inconvenient until you see the island on a map: Kos is a long, narrow strip in the Dodecanese, and a runway in the middle keeps every resort within about forty minutes.
The practical consequence is that transfer time is not proportional to how far you are from the sea — it is proportional to how far you are from the middle. Kardamena and Mastichari, the two villages nearest the runway, sit on opposite coasts a quarter of an hour apart. Kos Town, the obvious base for a first visit, is the furthest of the mainstream choices.
Two things near the terminal are worth knowing on your last morning. Plaka Forest, minutes from the airport road, is a free patch of shade with free-roaming peacocks — a good way to burn a spare hour before a late flight. And Mastichari's quay reaches Kalymnos, which is why some people arrive on Kos and leave from a different island. The nature and hiking guide covers the forest; the ferry page covers the crossings. Once the transfer is solved, start from the kos.boats home page to plan the rest of the week.
FAQ
About 24 km by road, which takes 30 to 40 minutes in a car. The airport is at Antimachia in the middle of the island, so Kos Town is one of the longer transfers rather than one of the shortest. Traffic through the village of Zipari on the approach to town is the main thing that stretches the journey in summer.
Expect roughly €35–50 for the car, not per person, with night and luggage supplements possible. Fares are set locally and change between seasons, so agree the price to your resort with the driver before you load the boot. A pre-booked private transfer usually lands in a similar band with the price fixed in advance.
Yes. The KTEL island bus network serves the airport and costs only a few euros per person into Kos Town, which makes it the cheapest option by a wide margin. Departures are limited rather than frequent, they thin out sharply outside the summer season, and there is no late-night service. Check the current KTEL timetable against your landing time before you rely on it.
In July and August, and for any arrival after about 22:00, yes. Charter flights land in waves and the taxi rank can be cleared within ten minutes of a wide-bodied aircraft arriving. In May, June or late September, on a midday flight, walking out to the rank is usually fine.
Only if you request it when you book. Private transfer operators and car-hire desks can supply seats, but stock is limited and they are not fitted as standard. Taxis waiting at the rank almost never carry them. Give the child's age and weight in the booking notes rather than simply asking for a car seat.
Not if you are staying in or near Kos Town. The town is flat with extensive separated cycle lanes, buses link the resorts, and parking in the centre is difficult in summer. A car earns its keep if you want the south-west corner around Kefalos, the inland villages and the mountain road to Zia. Many people rent for one or two days rather than the whole stay.
A pre-booked private transfer driver tracks the flight number and adjusts, which is the main practical advantage over a taxi. Car-hire desks can close for the night, so compare the desk's stated hours with your scheduled landing and leave a couple of hours of margin. If you have no booking at all, a badly delayed arrival is the worst case: no bus, and a queue for whatever cars turn up.
Allow 30 to 45 minutes from wheels-down to leaving the airport once passport formalities and baggage are done, then add the drive. For Kos Town that means about 90 minutes plane to hotel; for Kardamena or Mastichari, closer to an hour. Buggies and other oversized items arrive a few minutes after the main belt, so build that in.
Check live prices, vehicle sizes and cancellation terms for Kos airport transfers on GetYourGuide — the authorised reseller we link to throughout this guide. Add child seats in the booking, not on arrival.
