Life’s a beach

Elafonisi and Balos beaches consistently rate amongst the best beaches in Europe. We went with Greeka.com’s number 1 rating of Balos, and it didn’t disappoint.

Stunning

It’s a narrow stretch of sand that connects Tigani to the mainland across shallow turquoise waters, set with small islands scattered across the bay and a backdrop of steep rocky hills.

The stunning azure waters

It’s stunning in the afternoon sun, with Wineglass Bay scenery.

The Balos backdrop

It’s just that there are also Bondi Beach crowds (it seemed that the word had got out as there were thousands there) and its Memory Cove remote (but the road in is worse).

We chose Balos over Elafonisi because it's a bit closer, but was still 180km from Heraklion that took a 5 hour drive (although we did stop off occasionally). Crete is a big island and very rugged and mountainous, so the drive is scenic and windy. Travelling west from Heraklion there are lot's of small bays and towns like Agia Pelagia and Bali! Stopped for morning tea at Rethimno, which is a nice town with apartment and restaurants lining a long sandy beach, at bit like West Beach in Adelaide. The beach was as good as any we saw, with obligatory Venetian fort in the background, so if we came again to Crete Rethimno would be a good place to stay, a bit more inviting than Heraklion.

Rethimno beach

We lunched at Chania, which added about 2 hours because of the traffic - Crete is full of small towns with even smaller roads, so every day is a traffic jam.

The old Venetian Harbour

The Venetian harbour is charming, complete with narrow laneways just like it's namesake.

Shady laneway

But Balos was still another two peninsulas west, beyond Kissamos. After that we just kept following the signs, while the road went from highway, to local road, to one lane, before finally arriving about 3PM at the Balos beach hotel and a guy on the gate collecting one Euro entry.

Kissamos beach

But that was only just the beginning of the adventure, as the last 10kms beyond the gate is on possibly the worst gravel road I've driven, made all the more complicated because it was barely wide enough for two cars, with a 100 foot drop to the ocean on the right (the passenger side much to Helen's consternation). I've been to remote beaches in Australia, but at least when you get there you are alone - not Balos, where the secret is out such that the car park is full and cars are parked on the left back up the hill for the last 2 kms (which just made things worse for Helen and that 100 foot drop).

Finally we parked (how do I turn around to get back on such a narrow road?) and walked to the carpark. But wait, then we had to walk for 2 kms, down the cliff to the beach, which at least gave some chance for the holiday snaps.

But Balos beach is magnificent - white sand, clear blue water and only a thousand or so others with the same idea.

We were all alone (except for a thousand others)

We only stayed a couple of hours (didn't want to drive THAT road in the dark), so trudged back up the hill - the donkeys seemed to be purely for show as no-one offered a lift for a fee.

Did a twenty point turn, then crawled out at 20km/h in the long line of cars along THAT road, then the 180km/h back to Heraklion. Didn't think it would be quite that hard to see one of Europe's best beaches (next time we will do Elafisi, I hear it's right next to the road with a town and tavernas!)

The stunning Balos beach

Donkey at Balos - not sure what they are used for

Tourist tips: Crete is quite big, with lot's of hills, so hire a car and allow time to get past those hills (and the woeful traffic in each town because of the narrow roads).
Yamas: We stopped for dinner at Rethimno as well - great value including a free local drink that included Campari and Sprite!
Quote of the day: "I'm never coming here again" - Helen did NOT like the drive into Balos
Walk a mile…: 20,317 steps, including 63 floors up and down the hill into Balos Beach

Halfway up for photos