Road to Balos Beach
Crete 2021
Day 10: August 29
Platanias - Balos Beach
Crete 2021
Itinerary
Today is our last full day of vacation; tomorrow we fly home. In the morning we go to the hotel café for breakfast. Breakfast is included here, with three types of breakfast to choose from. Yesterday we ordered the breakfast with scrambled eggs — I absolutely didn’t like it. Today it’s a little better — tasty toast with cheese and meat, and yogurt with honey and nuts.
After breakfast we go to get a Covid test — the test is mandatory for entry into Germany. We were lucky that there is something like a clinic near our hotel where they do tests. Of course, these tests are only a formality — they printed out the results 2 minutes after taking the swab (even though the rules say you should wait 15–20 minutes :). But now we have a paper with the result.
We spend half the day at the hotel again, today not because of apathy, but just because. We realized that we like coming to the beaches in the evening, when there are fewer people, it’s not so hot, and the soft setting sun is shining.
In the evening we head to Balos Beach. We drive to the westernmost village, and from there an 8 km very scenic dirt road begins.
Sheep graze on the mountain slopes
The popularity of a beach can be judged by the number of reviews on Google Maps (Balos Beach has 10,000 reviews, while any other bay has around 100–200 reviews). And also by the number of cars in the parking lot :). A long line of cars was coming toward us. And about a mile and a half from the parking lot, parked cars began! A mile and a half of parked cars!
It’s not very clear in the photo, but this is what a kilometer and a half of parked cars looks like :)
At first, when I saw the number of comments about this bay, I completely lost the desire to go there. But after reading the enthusiastic comments (“The best beach of my life!”, “Paradise on earth,” etc.), I became curious, and here we are :)
It really is very beautiful here. High mountains surround the bay with its white sand. The descent to the bay is fairly steep, and along the way there is an observation deck with a magnificent view.
Path to Balos Beach
View from the observation deck. The sun had just slipped behind a cloud. The photo doesn’t really capture the beauty of the place.
Continuing the descent
We made it!
In the parking lot, we realized that we had forgotten our bag with swimsuits and masks at the hotel. So we walk all the way to the end of the bay, where there are no people at all anymore. On one side there is a narrow sandy isthmus, and on the other, stone boulders separate the left part of the bay, forming a sea “puddle.”
As expected, it is very shallow here, the water level is just below my knees. We splash around a little, but at such a depth it is not very comfortable to swim.
Getting ready to swim in the “puddle”
We get dressed and go for a walk among the rocks, around the “puddles.” I really like jumping from stone to stone. In the rocky hollows, we find salt deposits.
In difficult places, there are even little bridges between the rocks
Salt deposits in the hollows of the rocks
Let’s walk on the rocks!
We reach the isthmus by stepping over the stones. There’s even pink sand here :) On one side, there’s the same shallow puddle; on the other side, the waves. We choose the waves :) It’s a bit shallow here too, but still better. We rock gently on the waves. There are almost no people left now.
Pink Sand
We climb up the sandy dune, and there is still a bit of sun here. We sit down to snack on peaches, but they are completely tasteless.
In the sand grow little bushes with very fragrant purple flowers. We decided (judging by the smell and appearance) that this is thyme. We pick a little for tea :)
Dunes
Picking flowers for tea
And then, on the way home. The end…