A printing apparatus includes at least one transfer section, a print unit forming an ink image on the transfer section, a transfer unit performing a transfer operation of transferring, to a print medium, and a liquid absorbing unit absorbing a liquid component from the ink image. The liquid absorbing unit includes a liquid absorbing sheet moved cyclically, and a displacing unit displacing the sheet between a contact state and a retracted state. The printing apparatus further includes an acceleration control unit controlling, if the sheet is displaced from the retracted state to the contact state, an acceleration operation of the transfer section and the sheet, and a determination unit determining an acceleration operation start portion which is located at a liquid absorbing position where the sheet contacts the transfer section when the acceleration control unit starts the acceleration operation.