A printing apparatus includes a thermal head has a heat generating element that thermally transfer ink of a ink ribbon onto a recording medium, a conveying unit conveys the recording medium towards the thermal head along a conveyance path, a platen member is positioned opposite to the thermal head in the conveyance path, a moving mechanism moves the thermal head between a first position where the ink is thermally transferred to the recording medium by pressurizing the platen member and a second position departing from the platen member and an adjusting unit, in a condition that the time of moving the thermal head from the second position to the first position is different from a specified time, adjusts a movement timing of the thermal head or a movement time of the thermal head by the moving mechanism according to the difference between the time and the specified time.