How to Get Around Kefalonia by Bus (2026 Guide): Routes, Stops, Times & Fares

Kefalonia is the largest of the Ionian islands, and it is mountainous enough that the bus network has to work hard to cover it. KTEL Kefalonia (ΚΤΕΛ Κεφαλονιάς Α.Ε., trading in English as Kefalonian Buses) runs all of it: ten local routes, 17 stops and just over 130 scheduled departures in the current timetable, almost all of them radiating from the station on the Argostoli waterfront. The bus is a genuinely good way to reach Sami, Fiskardo, Skala, Poros, Lassi and the airport. It is not, however, a turn-up-and-go network — and on Kefalonia the last bus back matters more than anything else in this guide: nothing leaves Fiskardo, Assos or Myrtos after 17:15.

The Kefalonia bus network at a glance

Argostoli is the hub and nearly everything starts there. The KTEL station sits on the waterfront at Antoni Tritsi 5; it is where you buy tickets, ask what is actually running today, and catch the long runs north and east. There is only one operator here — no separate urban company, no second terminal to hunt for — which makes Kefalonia simpler to read than Corfu or Rhodes. The station number is +30 26710 22281.

The catch is the shape of the network: a wheel with Argostoli at the centre. Getting from Skala to Fiskardo, or from Poros to Lassi, normally means coming back through the capital. The one useful exception is the north coast, where the Sami–Fiskardo line runs along the shore without touching Argostoli at all.

Sami is the island's second node: the main ferry port, the crossing point for Ithaca, and the starting point of that north-coast line. Lixouri, across the bay on the Paliki peninsula, has its own KTEL station and its own local services. No bus runs round the bay between the two — and none needs to, because the passenger ferry crosses all day and half the night. See the Lixouri section below.

Main Kefalonia bus routes

• Argostoli ↔ Lassi: the short hop to the hotel-and-beach strip west of the capital, and comfortably the most frequent service on the island — it shares departures with the airport loop — route details.

• Argostoli ↔ Airport ↔ Svoronata: the loop through Lassi to Kefalonia Airport (EFL), then on to Ammes, Ai Helis and Svoronata on the south coast — route details.

• Argostoli ↔ Sami: the cross-island link to the ferry port and the Ithaca boats — allow roughly an hour, and note that a few departures are timed to the ships and move when they do — route details.

• Argostoli ↔ Fiskardo: the long northern run to the harbour village at the tip of the island, over mountain road most of the way — slow, lovely, and the one trip you must plan a return leg for — route details.

• Sami ↔ Agia Efimia ↔ Fiskardo: the north-coast alternative, and the only corridor where KTEL publishes intermediate times — the 11:00 out of Sami reaches Karavomylos, for the Melissani Cave, at 11:05, Agia Efimia at 11:15 and Divarata, the village on the road above Myrtos, at 11:30 — route details.

• Argostoli ↔ Skala: the south-east resort with the long beach and the Roman villa — route details.

• Argostoli ↔ Poros: the east-coast town under the gorge, and the practical way to that side of the island without a car — route details.

• Argostoli ↔ Myrtos Beach: a direct run to the famous white-pebble bay, but a single round trip a day in the current timetable — out at 10:40, last back at 17:15 — route details.

• Argostoli ↔ Assos: the painted harbour below the Venetian fort, likewise one round trip a day — out at 10:00, last back at 16:45 — route details.

• Lixouri ↔ Xi Beach: the Paliki peninsula's own service, from Lixouri station out to the red-sand beach — route details.

KTEL Kefalonia's own sheet carries more than the trunk routes above — village runs to Kateleios, Karavados and Lourdas, the Agios Gerasimos monastery, the Kounopetra branch out of Lixouri, and mainland coaches to Athens and Patras. Start with the full Kefalonia bus timetable, then ask at the Argostoli counter about the village services.

Getting from the airport and the ferry ports

Kefalonia Airport (EFL) is in the south near Svoronata, and there is no separate airport express: the airport is simply a stop on the Argostoli–Lassi–Airport–Svoronata loop, which the operator advertises as connecting with arrivals and departures. One quirk: the early 07:30 from Argostoli runs only as far as the airport and turns straight round at 07:50. If you land late in the evening or before the first bus of the day, budget for a taxi.

Arriving by sea, Sami is the main gateway and the Argostoli–Sami route is your link to the capital. KTEL marks two of its departures — 07:15 out of Argostoli and 16:30 back from Sami — as tied to ship times and liable to move if the ferry schedule does, so confirm those two before you travel. In the south-east, Skala and Poros each have their own direct service from Argostoli — and Poros matters beyond its beaches, since it is usually the island's port for the Kyllini crossing to the Peloponnese, typically put at around an hour and a half. We could not confirm that against the ferry operator's own timetable, so check days and times locally. Sami is likewise usually described as the port for Patras and Astakos as well as Ithaca — hence those ferry-linked bus times.

Crossing to Lixouri and the Paliki peninsula

The bus does not go round the bay; the ferry crosses it constantly. Ionian Sea Ferries publishes an Argostoli–Lixouri timetable of 43 sailings a day in each direction, valid 23 July to 3 September 2026: from Lixouri every 20 to 35 minutes between 06:30 and 00:30, from Argostoli between 07:00 and 01:00, a near-identical table on Sundays, and a Thursday-only early pair at 05:50 and 06:20. Its published fares are €3.50 for a foot passenger, €1.80 half fare, €7.00 for a car including the driver and €2.00 for a motorcycle. That is a shuttle, not an excursion: Paliki is an ordinary afternoon out from Argostoli.

What you cannot do is book it as one journey: KTEL's Paliki services — Lixouri–Xi Beach and the Kounopetra branch — start from Lixouri's own station on the far side, and neither operator's timetable mentions the other. Cross first, then read the board at Lixouri station. Note too that the ferry's published window closes on 3 September, three days before the KTEL local timetable does.

Tickets and fares

You pay at the station kiosk in Argostoli or Lixouri, or to the driver if you board at a roadside stop, so carry cash and small notes. Fares are distance-based and the operator publishes no price list at all — a contrast with the Lixouri ferry and its printed €3.50 — so ask at the counter rather than trusting a euro amount quoted on a blog. KTEL Kefalonia does sell seats through its own online booking system. Kefalonia is not yet sold through Greek Island Buses — where an island is, the price is identical and you board with a QR code on your phone. What we do hold is the current departure list for every route: see the full Kefalonia bus timetable.

The summer 2026 timetable, and why the dates matter

KTEL Kefalonia states the validity of its local timetable on the page itself: 6 July to 6 September 2026. That window is real, not decorative: everything here belongs to it, and on 8 August 2026 the operator had still published nothing to follow it — its announcements page carried nothing newer than September 2025. Outside high summer service thins, the beach-oriented runs drop away or stop altogether, and the village services run to a school-and-market rhythm rather than a tourist one. One quirk lives inside the summer sheet too: the Wednesday and Friday Fiskardo runs take the long way round, via Ano Thinia and Ano Erisos on Wednesdays, via Ano Thinia and the Assos villages on Fridays.

Day trips that work — and the last-bus rule

Based in Argostoli, several days out are straightforward. Sami pairs well with the north-coast line: roughly an hour over, then the Sami–Fiskardo bus five minutes on to Karavomylos for the Melissani Cave, or a quarter of an hour to Agia Efimia for lunch on the harbour. Skala and Poros both work as beach days on the eastern side. Lassi is barely a trip at all, and the one place you can treat casually, because the buses keep coming.

Everywhere else, the last bus back is the whole game. With this few departures, a missed return is not a twenty-minute wait; it is a taxi across a large mountainous island. Before you leave Argostoli, write down the last departure from your destination, not just the first one out. That matters most on Fiskardo, Assos and Myrtos: the last bus leaves Fiskardo at 17:00, Assos at 16:45 and Myrtos at 17:15, and the last two have only that one round trip in the day. Go early, let the bus decide the shape of the day, and keep a taxi number in your phone.

Plan your trip

Browse the complete Kefalonia bus timetable for every route, stop and departure in the current window, and see what else is worth your time on Kefalonia.