Travel from the UK

Direct Flights & Package Holidays:

Mergers, bankruptcies, and the general economic situation
have brought a radical shake-up of the charter and package holiday market.
Kosmar and its parent XL Airlines collapsed in September 2008,
while Sunvil withdrew from Lesvos in 2009 and shows no signs of returning.

This leaves the Thomas Cook Group www.thomascook.com,
which includes Manos www.manos.co.uk,
Direct Greece www.directgreece.co.uk,
and Neilson Active Holidays www.neilson.co.uk

and First Choice www.firstchoice.co.uk (now part of TUI) as the main providers.

In addition, Responsible Travel responsibletravel.com
acts as an agent for a small number of private
environmentally-friendly holiday and accommodation providers on the island
 
For 2010 there are direct charter flights from Gatwick & Manchester to Mitilene
 on Thursdays (First Choice) and Saturdays (Thomas Cook) during the summer season only.
  the first flights out are currently scheduled
for Thursday 15 April and Saturday 1 May.

 The last return flights are on Saturday 9 October and Thursday 14 October .

These companies usually have flight-only bookings and one-way charters available.

Independent Travel
There are frequent direct flights to Athens by
British Airways  www.ba.com
Olympic  www.olympicair.com
 and Aegean Airways www.aegeanair.com
all from London Heathrow
easyJet www.easyjet.com from London Gatwick & Luton

with up to 8 onward flights a day to Mitilene by
 Aegean Airways, Olympic Airlines,
and Athens Airways (www.athensairways.com), a new privately owned airline
using smaller 49-seat planes,
which  claims to be slightly faster than the others.
(NB. when searching for flights, note that the airline spelling is Mytilene.
To avoid confusion, use the international codes, ATH & MJT)
Through bookings are available with Olympic and Aegean.

It is also possible to fly via Thessaloniki (SKG) at, usually, higher cost and
much lower frequency, though easyJet introduced several flights a week
between Gatwick and Thessaloniki in 2008.
 

Ferries
NEL Lines www.nel.gr
is the 'native' Lesvos ferry company, and until recently had
a near monopoly of ferry services to the island.
It currently operates a thrice-weekly overnight ferry from Piraeus to Mitilene via Chios,
normally leaving Piraeus at 19.00, Mitilene at 18.00,
 and taking approximately 12-14 hours.
There are also occasional non-stop services,
 NEL has now updated its website with an English-language option and on-line booking.

(On 28 June 2008 Theofilos, the larger of the two ships operating this service,
suffered serious damage when it hit a reef on the approach to Chios.
It was withdrawn from service, but in summer 2009 re-appeared running a Thessaloniki - Samos service via Limnos, Lesvos (Mitilene), and Chios)

In late 2008 the Cretan company ANEK Lines www.anek.gr who are part-owners of NEL,
 introduced one of their older and smaller ships, the Lissos, to the route,
replacing Theofilos's Mitilene - Piraeus schedule.
As of December 2009 this arrangement continues,
with Lissos also making a weekly trip to Thessaloniki.

Hellenic Seaways www.hellenicseaways.gr
introduced a daily 8½ hour service in September 2005 with a brand-new ship,
'Nisos Mykonos' and claimed, by November 2005,
to have captured the major share of traffic.
The service is now being run by her even newer sister ship 'Nisos Chios'.
Her schedule currently includes calls at Siros and Mykonos,
taking 10¼ hours in total.
The website offers online booking and eticketing.

For more on other routes to and from Lesvos see the 'Island Hopping' page.

A booking agency at www.ferries.gr offers current timetables
 and online booking for all major ferry lines serving Greek ports.

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