Provided is a printing apparatus including a support portion configured to support a medium, a printing unit configured to carry out printing onto the medium supported by the support portion, a support portion moving unit configured to move at least a part of the support portion in a facing direction in which the support portion and the printing unit face each other to change a support position of the medium in the facing direction, a detected unit having position information in the facing direction, the detected unit being configured to move in the facing direction together with the support portion, a detector configured to detect the position information, and a control unit configured to detect a position of the support portion in the facing direction, based on the position information detected by the detector.