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

Patmos is small, steep and out of all proportion to its size in importance: this is where Saint John is held to have received the Book of Revelation, and the Cave of the Apocalypse together with the fortified Monastery of Saint John above Chora form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Almost everyone lands at Skala, the port, and almost everyone then needs to get up to Chora. That climb, plus the two beach villages, is what the island's bus does: Patmos Bus (Λεωφορεία Πάτμου) has run the service since 1967, and our timetables hold its 4 routes and 5 stops. There is no KTEL on Patmos — this one operator is the whole network.

The Patmos bus network at a glance

Skala is the hub, and the stop could hardly be more convenient: it is in the centre of the port, directly opposite the police station, a short walk from where ferries and cruise tenders put passengers ashore. The other three stops are just as easy to describe — Chora at the small roundabout before the town's car park, Grikos just outside the Patmos Aktis hotel, and Kampos at the end of the beach. The fifth, the Cave of the Apocalypse, sits on the road between Skala and Chora.

The operator prints four origin-and-destination tables rather than numbered lines, and the same physical bus often appears in more than one of them. Do not add the departures up as though they were separate buses, and do not assume every run takes the shortest way round — more on that below.

Main Patmos bus routes

• Skala ↔ Chora: the journey almost every visitor makes, and the busiest line in our data. It climbs from the port to the hill town for the Monastery of Saint John, passing the Cave of the Apocalypse on the way — route details.

• Skala ↔ Grikos: the sheltered bay on the south-east coast, with its beach and tavernas — the standard swim-and-lunch run from the port — route details.

• Skala ↔ Kampos: north to Kampos and its beach; the stop is at the end of the sand, and Vagia is a five to ten minute walk from it — route details.

• Chora ↔ Grikos: the useful cross-link that saves staying in Chora a trip back down to the port before heading to the bay — route details.

That is the entire scheduled network. Anywhere else on Patmos — the far north beyond Kampos, the southern coves, Psili Ammos — means a taxi, a boat or your own two feet. See the full Patmos bus timetable for current departures on all four routes.

From the ferry: Skala port to Chora

Step off the boat, walk to the middle of the waterfront, and the bus is there. The ride up to Chora is short — roughly ten minutes on the switchbacking road, judging by the operator's own interlocking departures — and it is the single most useful thing the network does, because the walk up is long, exposed and steep in summer heat.

The Cave of the Apocalypse lies about halfway up. It is not printed in the published timetable, but there is a marked bus stop on the road there and drivers will set you down between the two towns on request — say where you want to get off when you board. A tidy plan for a half day: bus up to Chora, visit the monastery and the old town, then walk back down to the Cave and rejoin the bus, or continue on foot to Skala.

Direct, or 'via'? The one thing to check before you board

Patmos has one quirk that catches people out, and it is in the timetable's footnotes rather than its columns. Some Skala–Chora departures run via Grikos, which makes the trip considerably longer. Several Skala–Grikos departures run via Chora rather than taking the direct road, and only a couple of the day's runs are the direct ones. One Chora–Grikos departure goes round via Skala. None of this is a problem if you know about it and a real nuisance if you do not, so check the footnote attached to your departure before you get on — especially if you are heading for a boat or a booked table.

Tickets and fares

You buy your ticket on board, from the driver or conductor. Patmos Bus does not publish prices on its website and does not sell tickets online, so carry cash in small notes and coins rather than counting on a card. Patmos tickets are not yet available through Greek Island Buses either — where we do sell them for an island, the price is identical to the counter and you board with a QR code on your phone. What we hold for Patmos is the current departure list: the Patmos bus timetable.

Beaches you can reach by bus

Grikos and Kampos carry a similar number of departures, so neither is an afterthought. Check the last run back before you settle in for the afternoon, though: the timetable is built around the port and the monastery rather than around sunset.

Season, cruise days and winter

The current timetable has been in force since 22 June 2026. It prints no day-of-week restrictions, so in high season expect the buses to run daily, and the operator says the service has run year-round since 1967. On top of the printed departures, Patmos Bus adds extra unscheduled runs when demand justifies it and when cruise ships or day boats arrive — good news on a busy morning, but not something to build a plan on.

No end date is published for the summer sheet, and when we last checked in August 2026 the winter 2026/27 timetable had not appeared; the operator's own 'upcoming timetable' page was still showing a sheet from 2022, so ignore that one and work from the current timetable.

Plan your trip

Browse the complete Patmos bus timetable for every departure on the four routes, and see things to do on Patmos. On an island this compact the bus is genuinely enough — just check the footnote and the last run back.