Gramvousa and Balos Tour from Chania(Boat ticket is included!)

The scenery is lovely, but the crowd is a real turn off. Make sure you wear water shoes. It's very rocky.

A long day for approx 3 hours on a beach! 1.5 hour wait for the ferry after getting picked up at 07.45. Public huge ferry not the idilic boat trip I imagined. Balos lovely water not a great beach! No tour guide (well there was one but didn't do anything but read a statment from a sheet) and sent us on our way.

Overall it was a nice tour, but I do need to mention a few things in case other people might need this info in the future. The tour bus drops you off at Kissamos where you take a ferry to Balos (2 hours there), then Gramvousa (2 hours there). As other people have mentioned, there is absolutely no shade anywhere AT ALL once you're off the boat. The guide tells you that you can purchase a beach umbrella from the ferry terminal OR you can rent one from the ferry itself (it was 7€ in June 2026). The problem is that at Balos, the sand is wet and compacted and it's super windy, so it's super uncomfortable to sit on the ground basically and the umbrellas went flying constantly due to the wind. It's just a major nuisance logistically. Also, at Gramvousa, the info on this tour says "hike", but it's actually over 300 steps uphill to visit the fortress. It made a huge difference to me as I can hike easily, but my knees can't do the steps, so half of this tour was wasted for me. You can also just hang out at the beach at Gramvousa, but it would have been nice to see the fortress. If you're picking this package because of the fortress, keep in mind the STEPS in full sun with NO shade! One option was that, if you want, you can just stay on the ferry the whole time or only get off the ferry for a bit, then come back on etc. They serve food, beverages etc. (At an additional cost, of course).

Should have driven ourselves to the port, paid for and taken the ferry instead of spending hours on the bus, the huge ferry the tour used with the accompanying huge crowd, time wasted waiting to get off the ferry. We didn't get the time advertised to spend on the beaches. We spent more time on the ferries and the bus than anything else. It took an hour alone to get out of Chania with all the various pickups. Also, I had mentioned in a message to the tour agent that we were staying at a friend's house and the village name. They had us meet the bus in Chania, a half hour away. Guess what I was thinking when one of the many pickup locations was 5 minutes from the home we were staying in! In total, we were gone around 13 hours for about 3+ hours of actual beach time at a cost of around $170. Rookie mistake. Should have known better.

Beautiful day spent at the lagoon of Balos. Simply a spectacle of Nature recommend getting there by Sea it takes 60 minutes from Kissamos.

We had an amazing experience thanks to a thoughtful guide and a very skilled driver. The water at both beaches is crystal clear and absolutely stunning. There is very little natural shade, but you can rent an umbrella directly on the boat for €7 per day. The boat itself is large and comfortable, equipped with everything you need: after-beach showers, a canteen, and plenty of space. Overall, a wonderful trip — I highly recommend it if you can avoid the high season!

Well organized, mostly comfortable, They pick you up and take you back to the hotel, they buy tickets x You, They give you instructions x boarding then the rest of the day is autonomous, without a guide but would not serve.aboard all the instructions on schedules, stops and various blah are in all languages, including Italian. Food available at cheap prices, an espresso €1.5🤷🏻‍♂️... right stops really nice places both Balos and Gramosa, in short if you are not equipped with your own vehicles as a rental car, it is better to do it but only to “be comfortable” here, it costs but at least zero stress!

Departure and pick-up from Chania by air-conditioned Bus, then towards the Port of Kissamos for departure by boat , about 1 h 15 to arrive at Balos, meals then music on the boat. Great with beautiful water the swimming was perfect in Balos then Gramvoussa Great day 😊

I had to scramble to book this experience with less than 24 hours notice, when another provider on a different website (not Viator) cancelled at the last minute a trip that I had booked and paid for months in advance. That trip went to these same destinations on a small boat with a provided lunch -- and charged 4x as much. This experience is essentially the Chania-Kissamos RT transfer and includes the purchase of your RT ticket on a big ship (no guide or escort aside from port drop off/pick-up). They delivered what was promised; it was well organized and ran smoothly. I am grateful Viator and this provider came through...

After researching many boat trips we booked with Balos Star Cruises via Check Yeti- prompt booking response and questions answered. It's an early start from Kassimos port but you avoid the bigger ferrys and arrive at Balos while the beach is virtually empty. We had a smaller boat that could take upto 14 people but here was only 6 on our day trip so plenty of room to stretch out - everything was just perfect - Captain and crew were great fun - lunch was lovely and provided in a cool bag and you could bring your own food and drink on board if you wanted. We even stopped off at an extra island so we could jump off the boat and go snorkeling - def recommend this trip