After checking few things with @petakas, my wife and I decided to visit Limnos LGLM because we haven’t visited Greece for some time and we have never been to Limnos. Checking airport fees with handler Swissport, confirmed what’s written at aopa.gr web. Due to time constrains, we opted for handler solving PPR on our behalf and we agreed about refueling on arrival.
The flight itself was uneventful heading practically direct from our base LDVA to LIMG, some 560 NM at FL170, and it took us 2:55 with average 190 kts ground speed with 15 to 20 kts of tailwind. The fuel was a bit delayed because some emails were lost in the channel but everything was sorted out pretty quickly. Rental car company representative (Limnos Car Rental – €24 per day) was waiting for us at terminal handing us the keys and we headed to Myrina. Total time spent at the airport after landing, including securing the aircraft, refueling and picking up rental car was less than 45 minutes.
Since it is a low season, accommodation is easy to find but some restaurants are still closed. The ones that are open, usually work all day and food is, for European standards, quite cheap. Locals usually say that you can’t miss with any Greek restaurant but we found out that it’s not universal rule. The food can be good and bad as anywhere else and we had rubber octopus and burned sardines in highly rated restaurant in Moudros. However, local cats were happy to help us in finishing our dinner. The best food we had was in village Nea Koutali in fish restaurant called Spitikes Lixoudies (Homemade Delicacies). In Myrina I can recommend Metaxi Mas, in my opinion better than more popular Mpereketi. Our hotel Arxontico was really nice and it was €64 per night, breakfast included.
First day we spent wandering around Myrina and climbing to the old castle located on the top of the hill that kind of divides the city in two halves and visiting nearby church on the other hill close to the city.
On the second day we visited Gomati sand dunes, Iphaestia and Kontopouli archeological sites as well as several villages on our way there and back. Wherever you look, you can see windmills, literally dozens of them.
The third day was our hiking day. We climbed Kakavos mountain to see famous church without roof Panagia Kakaviotissa, located in the cave, visited famous windmills in village Kontias, Cossack pyramid (Cenotaph) on a peninsula across Moudros and Poliochni archeological site. As usual on a way there and back visiting nearby villages for coffee, lunch and sightseeing.
On the last day we went to a beach close to village Propouli to see Falakra – lava rock formations. It’s still a bit cold for swimming but you can enjoy gentle sun and sea breeze on numerous beaches. However, nice beaches on Limnos are mainly remote and connected by dirt roads but reachable even with the smallest car.
Our return flight was similar to outbound but with a bit of stronger headwind, ranging from 15 to 30 kts and it took us 3:50 and, regardless trying different levels from FL130 down to 6000 feet, ground speed was always around 145 kts.
The conclusion is that Greece is always worth of visiting, there’s a bit of everything for everybody, from history to beautiful beaches and crystal-clear sea to great food. We’ll continue visiting Greece from time to time, hoping for full Schengen implementation because with Romania and Bulgaria recently joined, ground borders will cease to exist and Greece won’t have the excuse to enforce mandatory landing to ports of entry airports.
Beautiful trip and super photos.
Limnos is one of the few Greek islands I have never visited (Chios is another) and it is doable from and back to Dubrovnik, without a refuel.
How easy or hard was the handling organisation?
Very nice and informative, thanks!
Would you feel comfortable sharing what you paid in total for landing, handling, customs clearance, parking etc?
Nice photos. It looks too green to be Greece; out of season is probably better without tourists.
Imagining the rubber 🐙 and hungry 🐈⬛ made me laugh
Any idea why the abandoned tank is there?
It looks like we missed a really nice island! When we wanted to fly there (as airport of exit for a Greek Islands trip) in September 2021, we got the below reply from Swissport. We decided to drop Limnos and fly to Chios instead, where fees were acceptable.
@Emir, how much did you pay at LGLM?
So it’s worth checking from time to time 
Cheers,
Tina (aka Mrs. terbang)
Email answer from Swissport LGLM on 23SEP2021:
Dear Mrs Haug
Greetings from LXS
Your schedule is confirmed and between airport operating hours.
We will apply for landing and parking permission to relevant authorities and it will take about 2 working days for the reply.
According charges please see in detail below. A quick estimate cost is aprox. 600 €
Below all relevant information and charges according flights to LXS airport for aircraft up to 3000kgs.
Basic Handling
€ 200
Administrative Duties
€ 85
Managing Airport Permissions without Slots (OS)
€ 50
G.P.U.
€52/15min
Landing+Parking Fees for light aircraft aprox 5eur per day. Final charge will be given by local authorities on day of departure.
SERVICES INCLUDED IN THE BASIC GENERAL AVIATION HANDLING CHARGE
·Marshaling
·Positioning and removing wheel chocks and safety cones
·Passenger and Crew transportation within apron (Max 2+2 mvts)
·Liaise with Catering/Fuel suppliers
·Clearance (including escort) through Immigration and Customs formalities
·Arrival/Departure MVT messages & other communication *if available
SURCHARGES & DISCOUNTS
There is no special discount price for AOPA members – handling price for aircraft up to 3000kgs is 200€ plus 24% vat. (per turnaround)
The cost for the PPR(parking-landing permission) is 50€ plus 24% vat. (Charged once for the period of operation)
Regarding PPR because LXS is a military airport it takes at least 2 working days for the approval.
This restriction applies only if no AOC is available.
If aircraft is under valid AOC then no PPR needed just strictly flight scheduling inside airport operating hours.
An additional 25% of the Basic Handling charge will be charged for handling services
provided to aircraft during night hours i.e. between 22:00 and 06:00 hrs local time. Plus 24%vat (per turnaround)
An additional 40% of the Basic Handling charge will be charged for handling services
provided to aircraft operating flight(s) on Saturdays, on Sundays and/or Legal/Bank Holidays. Plus 24%vat (per turnaround)
Any disbursements made by the Handling Company(Customs fee 45€ (if arrival is outside Greece) and airport charges for landing parking and passengers (12.30€ per passenger)) on behalf of the Client will be reimbursed by the Client at cost price plus an administrative / accounting surcharge of 12%. Plus 24%vat (per turnaround)
Handling in case of Technical landing for other than Commercial purposes will be charged at
70% (seventy per cent) of the above-mentioned rates.
A handling will be charged as TECHNICAL LANDING when the aircraft makes a stop for other than
commercial reasons where no physical change of loads (Maximum 2 hours) occurs.
Handling Charges are either prepaid (against a pro-forma invoice) or paid in cash or settled through a credit card. Bank cheques are not acceptable
Would you feel comfortable sharing what you paid in total for landing, handling, customs clearance, parking etc?
@Emir, how much did you pay at LGLM?
Total bill was €221.67 (landing, handling and 3 days of parking), specification is shown below. The prices are aligned with agreement between Swissport and AOPA Greece and are applicable to members of any AOPA.
Capitaine wrote:
Any idea why the abandoned tank is there?
Its a WW2 remnant, but there wasn’t really a battle there.
Limnos is and always was, a strategic location due to neighboring Turkey to the east.
Most of the action on this island was from WW1 era.
In our era it is a very active AirForce fighter wing base on constant (few minutes) readiness but there are no tensions lately.
That is also the reason why SWISSPORT handling over there take some time to respond to GA pilot requests. They first liaise with the AirForce.
The Civil part of the airport is a medium size terminal for airline commuting but the heart of the location is its MIL installations.
The Civil part of the airport is a medium size terminal for airline commuting but the heart of the location is its MIL installations.
ATR42 landed few minutes after me, I guess there are commuter flights few times a day (depending on season) but locals told me they expected direct flights from Switzerland because of newly established connections with some Swiss tour operators. However, military activity is much more frequent, training/policing flights can be seen quite often.
Emir wrote:
The prices are aligned with agreement between Swissport and AOPA Greece and are applicable to members of any AOPA.
Interesting however what Tina got in her mail:
dkbe wrote:
There is no special discount price for AOPA members – handling price for aircraft up to 3000kgs is 200€ plus 24% vat. (per turnaround)
