Balos has often been voted as one of most beautiful beaches in Europe. Well-deserved reputation, but that results in the overcrowding of tourists, who eventually ruin with their presence this stunning natural scenery. Moreover, it is not easy to get there…
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Balos is located on the north-western tip of Crete and is accessible only by sea or by a dirt road, in pretty bad conditions and not very suitable for campervans, about 7 kilometers long, followed by a hike of about twenty minutes for the descent and twice as much to climb up … Is it worth it?
The answer is not easy and very subjective. The place is undeniably gorgeous, but it is only livable in the early morning or late afternoon, which excludes going there by sea with the scheduled boats that, apart from costing the unreasonable amount of 25 € per head, arrive late, when the beach has already been conquered by the tourists who chose the hard way. As a result the thousands of people, I am not exaggerating, that they discharge have no hope of finding a decent place to settle down!
The alternative is to take the dirt road, but it must be done in the morning, especially with a motorhome, because from 15.00 onwards it would feel like driving the wrong way, meeting all the cars that return. To give an idea, in the afternoon it took me over an hour to do the 7 kilometers dirt road.
Don’t be surprised when you will meet along the road a toll booth where you have to pay one Euro per person, as a fee for cleaning the beach.
Having a special permit as a journalist, I was allowed to sleep in the parking lot, which normally is not allowed because the whole area a protected natural park. Truth is that we did not sleep much because the wind got so strong that we felt like being on the Titanic. At least I avoided having to drive twice the road to photograph both in the evening than in the morning! 😉
For the path you will absolutely need decent shoes, a hat and a bottle of water for the ascent. If you are out of practice take it easy. I’ve seen people in tears halfway through. For the return you could use the taxi-donkeys, but it seemed to me that they did not have much success, I forgot to ask how much they cost…
Below is the video of our experience:
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