Outdoor pool, pool umbrellas

Reviews of Balos Beach Hotel

3 out of 5
Balos Beach Hotel
Main Street Kaliviani, Chania, Kissamos, Crete Island

Reviews

8.8

Excellent

Rating 10 - Excellent. 161 out of 313 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 120 out of 313 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 26 out of 313 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 5 out of 313 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 1 out of 313 reviews" "

9.0/10

Cleanliness

9.0/10

Staff & service

8.6/10

Amenities

8.8/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.8/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Dean

Liked: Property conditions & facilities
Perfect
Every aspect of this hotel leaves nothing to comment about except outstanding …. From staff to facilities to amenities
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Timothy

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

MARK

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Terrific place! Quiet, immaculate clean, staff are highly committed to enabling the good experience. Good menu too!
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Zekiye

Stayed 10 nights in Jun 2023

8/10 Good

Sterling

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service
Not bad, definitely could use some updating but you get what you pay for. Friendly service. Convenient if you plan on driving to Balos.
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2023

8/10 Good

Leelane

Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2022

6/10 Okay

Richard

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
The property is located in a convenient area if visiting balos beach. The staff was super friendly and outgoing. The food options at hotel are terrible, however, it is located about 800 meters from Grambousa (best meal in crete). I would highly recommend going there for a dinner (might have to wait but have a beautiful outside garden bar). The air conditioner in our room was broken. For the price per night, think it is overrated and should be less.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2022

8/10 Good

Kieran

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Views!
Good overall hotel with some amazing views! Slight issue was bathroom drain smelt a bit. Fantastic breakfast!! Overlooking the sea. Gramboussa restaurant nearby is a must place to have food!
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2022

8/10 Good

Liliana

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Very convenient location if visiting Balos Lagoon. The restaurants near by the hotel are really good. The hotel facilities are very nice, but the service wasn’t great. It can be better and so is the food served for breakfast. Other than that great location.
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2022

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Buffet style breakfast and evening meal nice plenty of selection. Some items could have been warmer.
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2021

10/10 Excellent

SCHILDKNECHT

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great place to enjoy Balos lagoon
Very warm welcome ! The staff is very nice and helpful. Spacy rooms. Perfect location to go Balos lagoon (30 minutes by car and then 30 minutes’ walking)
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2021

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
not worth the price, everything inside the room is cheap and old (kitchen), far away from everything, the „private“ beach is a disaster... Stay downtown in Kissamos!
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 6 nights in Jul 2020

4/10 Poor

Jennifer

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
It could be better
We arrived to this hotel around 5pm after a long drive. The young lady in the reception either has little experience or little willingness to help..eg. unable to answer some questions regarding dinner menu ....lift her finger to help with our carry-on... Upon check-in our room, the room filled with urine smell, the bathroom area was wet, smelly and had some strand of ugly hairs... The hotel offered to move us to another room next day, not that night. We declined .. too trouble to move since we wanted to enjoy the Balos beach. Do not recommend.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2019

10/10 Excellent

Diana

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Excellent stay
Excellent stay. Very pleased with everything. The place exceeded our expectations. The staff was amazing. Very good massage master. Outstanding restaurants just 3 minutes away from the hotel.
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Zal bylo wyjezdzac..Czysty ladny hotel..mila pomocna obsluga,wspaniale sniadania,mila niespodzianka w pokoju z okazji naszej podrozy poslubnej,wapaniala roslinnosc wokol hotelu,przepiekny widok na morze,basen bez ,usytuowanie hotelu na uboczu,wszystko to sprawia ze mozna w tym hotelu naprawde odpoczac...dziekujemy bardzo!
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2019

10/10 Excellent

Sydnee, Oregon

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful location and wonderful helpful staff for anything you might need. The rooms were clean and large and the village which was only a 10 minute walk had some great tavernas.
Stayed 4 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Cindy

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great spot to explore Cretes best beaches
We had an excellent stay at Balos. It made an excellent base to visit Chania, local wineries, Balos Beach as well as Elafonissi. We did not spend all that much time at the hotel as we were exploring, but the rooms do have lovely sea views and the pool is great for a dip after a long hot day. The staff are exceptionally helpful and polite. The rooms themselves are quite big, but a little impractical with large desks and so forth which I think could be done away with since this area does not strike me much a business traveler hotspot. But still very comfortable stay. Lovely shower head which was a rare luxury during our 3 week trip, little compact kitchen with a fridge, a great view with outside table and chairs. Can not comment on breakfast as we opted to self cater. We did have dinner one evening, and did not really enjoy the food. We loved experiencing the authentic greek home cooked food, so we were a little disappointed with the average every day hotel food served at Balos. Other than the food, we would definitely recommend this hotel.
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Ross

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Very welcoming on arrival, very friendly, very accommodating
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019

8/10 Good

Ann

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Balos Beach
Hotel was very nice,clean. Beautiful view off our balcony. It is the last hotel before the dirt road to Balos Beach. Not much else around. They have a nice restaurant on site with buffet meals. Also a bar. Everyone was very accommodating 😊
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Claudia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Friendly staff, best location to explore the area
Well kept property with the most amazing staff. Everybody was helpful, recommending us great local places to eat and visit. Great buffet breakfast with plenty of different choices each day, plus made to order eggs, omelettes an crepes. Very convenient to drive to the wonderful beaches around; Elafonisi, Kedrodassos and the best one, Balos lagoon. The hotel has a large nice pool and it's own beach with lounges and umbrellas. Beach is rocky so nobody really stays, but makes a wonderful view from the room balcony
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Constance

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice service
The hotel is really nice, my room is just outside the swimming pool and the view of the beach is really great too! Everything is clean and the room is big. The service was excellent, we had a pleasant stay and they gave us really good recommandations about our itinerary! highly recommand!
Stayed 1 night in May 2019

10/10 Excellent

Chi Ming, hong kong

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
good value and good experience
Stayed 1 night in May 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Fantastic service! We enjoid everything! Everyone is kind!
Stayed 1 night in May 2019

8/10 Good

anon, UK

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Pluses for good value for money, friendly staff, great chef and evening food, good facilities, attractive room, good location for Balos lagoon. One negative is I was charged in £ not € so the stay cost me extra - I should have been given the option as in other places. Another minus is that the room smelled powerfully of chemical disinfectant, likely to cover cooking smells from previous occupant. Was unpleasant and took some hours to go away
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2018

10/10 Excellent

Linda, Toronto

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Really lovely location. Excellent chef in buffet dining room .
Stayed 5 nights in Oct 2018

10/10 Excellent

Neto, London

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Gorgeous view and great staff
This was our second time staying at the Balos Beach Hotel. We love the location and the views are just breathtaking as every room has sea view and the sun rises just right in front of your balcony. The hotel is in a very quiet location and you would need a car unless you like walking, but it’s a very long walk to the nearest town if Kissamos. But this is one of the reasons we went back to stay because we like quiet places. The hotel is just about 2km from one of the most beautiful beaches in the island - Balos Beach. The staff really are amazing, they will make sure you will have a very pleasant stay, another reason why we went back. A huge thank you to the girls at the reception, they are just great! The food is also very nice and authentic Greek, the chef really is lovely. So needless to say that we are most likely going back again next year.
Stayed 9 nights in Oct 2018

8/10 Good

Es, Brooklyn, NY USA

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Wonderful Place to stay when visiting Balos Beach!
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2018

10/10 Excellent

Natasha, Toronto Ontario

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The hotel is in the far West part of Crete. You MUST have a car to get there and around, it is so worth it! Hotel stuff is amazing, room was newly renovated with kitchenette and amazing view of the bay. There is a restaurant on site and multiple tavernas within 5 min drive. Local people is super welcoming no matter were you go. We did not make it to Balos beach due to the weather, but Falasarna Beach was very very nice-about 15 minutes drive from the hotel. Hotel has a private beach( not very appealing), but there is a pool. We stayed for 3 nights and enjoyed our stay.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Property was beautiful. Room was spacious (#309) and clean. Location was secluded and generally quiet (which was what we wanted). Only negative was that all staff, other than the front desk, were not friendly at all. Not once in 4 days did a staff member even say hello or acknowledge us as we walked past them. Other than this, the hotel was excellent and we would highly recommend it.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2018

10/10 Excellent

Jeffrey

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Gem of a hotel with great staff
What a great find! The pool was awesome and our kids met and played with kids from Serbia, Italy, England, and Norway. The views were incredible. And it's only a 10 minute walk from several terrific restaurants up on a cliff. The staff was very helpful with directions and advice. And the location is a bit more remote, which we loved. You do need a car, and with our car we had an easy time exploring the surrounding area from this location - close to the harbor for boat excursions. I dove with a nearby dive shop. We drove to great hikes and monasteries and beaches. The room was very comfortable for a family of five and very clean. I would note that the beach here is rocky. We swam one day off the beach, but drove 15 minutes to get to Fallasarna, which was more of a sandy beach.
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2018

10/10 Excellent

Michelle, Hertfordshire, UK

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful chilled out hotel
We loved this hotel. Big place but didn’t feel packed to the rafters (even though it was full). Check in was perfect with a welcome drink then we were actually shown to our rooms (with a mini tour of hotel) rather than pointed and sent off. Rooms are modern, neat, spacious- just fantastic. Only thing I would change is adding a few cooking utencils - but as the buffet restaurant was great and the restaurants down the road are fantastic you probably won’t want to cook. Great location for exploring the beautiful beaches and little local villages. If you want to chill at pool it’s massive and the sea breeze poolside is just lovely. Staff are friendly and very helpful and I don’t have a bad word to say about it. We will most definitely be back!
Stayed 7 nights in Jul 2018

10/10 Excellent

Tuyen, Falls Church, VA

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
This secluded place is a gem. It is an adventure to get to. You literally drive to the end of the road and go in between two houses until the payment runs out. We had a pleasant 5 day stay. All the staff were super helpful. The views are amazing. The pictures were accurate. Closest hotel to Balos Beach. We did excursion to Samaria which was also wonderful.
Stayed 6 nights in Jun 2018

10/10 Excellent

j, london

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great views and good food
Lovely time, great views with a fantastic beach not far away. Buffet dinners were excellent and the staff were lovely to interact with.
Stayed 6 nights in Jun 2018

8/10 Good

karen h.

Lovely location!
Wonderful, welcoming & comfortable stay! Lovely room with outdoor seating area & view of the sea. Breakfast & dinners were delicious in the hotel restaurant. Close enough to many locations & activites, but felt quiet & peaceful at the hotel. Only a mile or so from Balos Beach. We rented a car & would recommend a car to get to all of the amazing visitor sites & beaches.
Stayed 4 nights in May 2018

10/10 Excellent

Ghislaine and Amos

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2018

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in May 2018

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in May 2018

8/10 Good

GD, UK

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Fantastic room with stunning view
Quick and informative check in, great room, large comfortable bed, nice balcony with stunning view, we got the large boat from the port to Granvousa island and Balos Beach, the boat stays there so you can go back on the boat at anytime for meals, snacks or shade, the hotel is in an isolated position so a car is definitely needed, we had half board option and we were disappointed with the evening meals which ranged from luke warm to cold, there is a lady who cooks a special while you wait, she is very friendly and cooks a great hamburger, overall a good hotel if used as a base to explore.
Stayed 3 nights in May 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

10/10 Excellent

Vikas

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great
Was good . Great experience nice location friendly staff and clean recommended to stay
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2017

10/10 Excellent

Barbara, NC

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful Balos Beach
Great hotel at the base of the road to Balos Beach. Gorgeous room, spectacular ocean view (and huge balcony), delicious breakfast, wonderful staff. One of my best memories of Crete!
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2016

10/10 Excellent

MARY JEAN FRY

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
We loved Balos Beach Hotel!
We were greeted like family when we arrived at Balos Beach Hotel. And when we checked out the night before our 5AM departure, we were told to stop by the desk in the morning to pick up breakfast baskets for our drive. We did; they were wonderful. And everything in between was delightful. The hotel was beautiful. The views were spectacular. And we thoroughly enjoyed the pool, beach and nearby restaurants.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

Matthew

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Delightful stay at Balos Beach Hotel
We stayed at Balos beach hotel for 7 days and were delightd with both our room and the level of service during our stay. I would recommend those staying to rent a car as it's about 7km to Kissamoss. There are a couple of villages nearby for some supplis and excellent restaurantsfor those who don't drive though. The room and pool were spotless each day and we made plenty of use of the beach right infront of the hotel as well. We made use of the breakfast and diner buffets on several days and the food was always of a high quality (particularly breakfast). We would definitely book again.
Stayed 7 nights in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

Matt

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Perfect relaxing break
Amazing place, very secluded and couldn't beleive it was only 3 stars! closest hotel to Balos Bay and really helpful staff. Would definatley recommend
Stayed 7 nights in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

Ariaa, Colorado USA

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful and affordable, highly recommend
Balos Beach Hotel is a lovely place to stay and quite a value for such spacious digs. The views are spectacular, the staff is amazing and this is a quiet environment for those looking to hear the sea and see the stars. The only issue I had was minor, the hot water takes time to warm if you are a early riser and the food was average yet affordable and there is fine dining within walking distance. The beach is full of rocks at the water making swimming treacherous but again there are other beaches close by so not really an issue. Yanna at the front desk is amazingly kind and lovely and went to great lengths to ensure the hot water issue was resolved swiftly. The staff does an great job at keeping the place beautiful clean and I truly enjoyed my stay and highly recommend Balos Beach Hotel.
private beach
Master bedroom
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2017

8/10 Good

stephan, maplewood

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful sea views from the rooms
Located close to the entrance to the car entrance to Balos lagoon. Views are amazing. Our room had a double and two twins but I don't know where.you would put things away. There's a small closet but it won't accommodate four people. There's a hot plate but no hot water/coffee maker, pots but no pans. The restaurant dinner buffet is acceptable but nothing special. You would probably enjoy the taverna up the road more. We did. As for Balos lagoon, you need to see it. The landscape is spectacular and best viewed from above. However if you want to spend a day at a beach, my suggestion would be to head to Falassarna.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2017

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service
Decent hotel, close to beach and had a lovely pool
Nice hotel, close to beach and had a lovely pool. Staff were excellent - very friendly. Location was nice - quiet, comfortable. Fantastic view and easy walk to beach. The beach was fairly rocky - you would need water shoes and lots of waves. Not good for small children but there is a pool. Room was nice and big, the patio was lovely. Only complaint is that the rooms need to be updated - the door didn't shut to the bathroom because the wood is warped and paint is all chipped away, bathroom around tub/shower needed updating. Mattresses on beds were thin and not super comfortable. However, the room was clean and that's all that really mattered - not much time was actually spent in room.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

laura , the Uk

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice hotel close to the balos beach and other Remarquable beaches (falassarna & Elafonissis) and to some very good restaurants. Quiet and relaxing environment. Easy to reach form Chania Lovely end efficient staff. Spacious and quiet room with stunning sea view The hotel beach and the pool could be improved We would like to come back! Went there in early September .
Stayed 8 nights in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

jordan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Stayed 6 nights in Jul 2017