Mass tourism in Gramvoussa and Balos

During our one-week stay in Crete, we also wanted to see a bit of the island, so we booked a trip to the island of Gramvoussa and Balos Bay, also known as the 'Blue Lagoon', through the tour operator. The pictures looked very promising!

A long journey

On the day of the excursion, we were picked up at the hotel bus stop. Finding the right bus was a bit tricky. New tour buses kept arriving, but none of them seemed to be ours. After a while, our huge tour bus arrived. The size of the bus should have prepared me for what was to come. Of course, we kept stopping every 10 minutes or so to pick up more tourists. So the journey to the port of Kissamos alone took about 3 hours. However, I could admire the landscape along the way and it became clear to me that Crete is too beautiful to spend all the time in the hotel and on guided tours. At that moment, I made a firm decision to come back here another time to explore the island more.

Mass tourism at its finest

After an eternity, we finally reached the port in Kissamos, from where a ferry should take us to the island. There I was greeted by the next shock: crowds of people as far as the eye could see! The parking lot was already filled with heaps of tour buses spewing out tourists in droves. We were supposed to get on the large ferry with all these people, which was supposed to take us to our destinations for today. It was chaos and overcrowding. Of course, nobody wanted to be the last one on the ship, because we wanted to get a decent seat. Fortunately, we managed to do so and the journey began. Along the way, we could admire the mountainous landscape.

The island of Gramvoussa

Our first stop was the island of Gramvoussa. The water already looked incredibly beautiful from a distance! The ferry docked and hundreds of excursionists stormed onto the beautiful little island, leaving no trace of the idyll that the island had exuded just a moment ago. Of course, you had to be quick again. Because the beach quickly filled up and the available spots became fewer and fewer. Half of the passengers boarded the island's fortress, located on a mountain. With the other half, we headed for the beach. Due to my knee injury, I was unable to climb the fortress. But that wasn't very tragic, because we wouldn't have had enough time to enjoy the view from the fortress AND sunbathe on the beach. Our stay here was short, so we found a spot amidst the crowd and settled there. Not long after, we had to return to the ship. We left the island and headed towards Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon/Balos Bay

Here, too, a similar spectacle awaited us. The masses rushed down from the ship to the beach. The lagoon is truly stunning, and the sight almost made up for the mass tourism. But only almost. Fortunately, the lagoon was spacious enough for the many people to spread out better than on the small island. Unfortunately, it was incredibly windy, making it very difficult to keep your towel in place. Later, I was almost hit by a flying sunshade. I tried to ignore the crowds around me somehow, but my mood gradually deteriorated. The mass tourism that prevailed here was really terrible. The rushing around was anything but relaxing. Nevertheless, we tried to enjoy the beautiful scenery in front of us a little bit.

Return journey

About 2 hours later, we went back on the ship, which took us to the port, where the same game started all over again as on the outbound journey.

Conclusion

After this experience, I would really recommend everyone to undertake such excursions on their own if possible. Firstly, they are way too expensive for what you get. Basically, you are just transported there and back. There is no food or other services. Secondly, you experience pure mass tourism here. The destinations we visited were really beautiful, I cannot deny that. However, these wonderful places are quickly overshadowed by the crowds of people. Moreover, you hardly have any time on site to truly absorb everything. For me, the day was nothing but rushing, very stressful, and anything but nice and relaxing. It was the worst excursion I have ever done. Just pure mass tourism. I have done much nicer excursions, which were pleasant despite booking through the tour operator. All in all, it's not worth the money.