Gramvousa Island & Balos Bay Boat Trip

One of our favorite things that we did while visiting Crete was taking a boat trip to Balos Bay & Gramvousa island. The crystal clear waters, castle ruins, and shipwrecks make an amazing day trip. Here is some info about the tour we took and what to expect.

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Gramvousa Island and Balos Bay Full-Day Tour from Chania
I booked our tour on Viator Travel and paid about $60 total for the three of us. What we paid for was basically a bus ride to and from the port of Kissamos from our hotel in Platanias. The bus was very nice, air conditioned, and it was convenient (also cheaper) than getting a taxi or renting a vehicle to the port. Tickets for the boat ride itself are extra, which your tour guide will collect when you get on the bus. Those tickets are €30 per adult and €14.50 children 5 – 12 years. The tour guide will buy your tickets so you don’t have to wait in line, and then you can board the boat. We did the first tour listed below (click to view more info).

The boat has restrooms, rentals, and food facilities onboard. You can also bring your own food, we saw lots of people with coolers.

I highly suggest finding seats as soon as you get onboard. They will up quickly and you do not want to be stuck in a seat outside in the sun during the ride.

If you can have someone save your seats and leave your stuff there, take turns walking around the boat! The view is gorgeous as you leave from the port and start sailing along the coast.

After about 45 minutes of gorgeous views along the coast, you will arrive at Balos Bay. Balos Bay is absolutely beautiful with crystal clear water. The boat will drive right up to the beach to dock so you can walk off. I highly suggest wearing water shoes, as Balos Bay is very rocky and uneven. I’ve attached some examples of my personal favorite hiking/water/outdoor shoes below. These are the brand TEVA, and are our favorite for exploring the outdoors. Click on the photo to shop!

As I mentioned, the ground is really rocky on the island. There are also tidal pools full of sea salt everywhere. We saw somebody dumping salt into a bag to take home (not really sure that is sanitary). It is the most salt I’ve ever seen.

The shore of balls bay is really nice. Crystal clear water (past the line of seaweed) and very small waves. On the opposite side is very shallow water with no waves, perfect for little kids.

Gramvousa Island does not have any facilities. No restrooms, garage cans, or food options. If you need any of these you will have to go back to the boat. There are a small amount of beach umbrellas and chairs available to rent on the beach. Alternatively you can rent an umbrella for all day use for both stops from the boat for €6.

Upon returning back to the boat we saw some people snorkeling right next to it and wished we had checked out that area. It may be worth checking out prior to walking to the other side of the island.

A short 15 minute boat ride will take you to Gramvousa Island. This was my personal favorite stop of the day. Your time here is shorter than Balos Bay (I wish it had been the other way around).

I highly suggest hiking up to the castle first if you want to see it, before swimming. It is a moderate hike and you will be here in the afternoon so it will be hot. Make sure you bring plenty of water and sunscreen.

These ruins are what’s left of a Venetian Castle that was destroyed by a bomb in WWII. The ruins are cool to see but the view of the entire island and part of Crete is what makes the hike worth it.

Once we got back down we only had a mere twenty minutes to swim/snorkel. It did take a good 45 minutes/hour to hike up to the castle and back down. The snorkeling here was better than Balos Bay, and there is a shipwreck to snorkel in.