Balos Beach Grambousa Restaurant traditional Crete food
Greece

Balos Beach Restaurant|Grambousa Restaurant: The Best Traditional Cretan restaurant near Balos Beach with Ocean Views and Live Music

If you are looking for a restaurant near Balos Beach, I highly recommend Grambousa Restaurant. Providing mouthwatering, authentic Cretan cuisine, a stunning garden and ocean views, live music, and a cozy atmosphere, this restaurant is a must-visit Balos Beach restaurant for foodies and travelers alike. Read on for recommended dishes, photos of the environment, and the full review. 

During our trip to Balos Beach, we discovered the delightful Grambousa Restaurant, a traditional Cretan restaurant located near Balos Beach. 

Balos Beach Grambousa Restaurant traditional Crete food
Balos Beach Grambousa Restaurant traditional Crete food
Grambousa Restaurant Balos Beach Crete restaurant

This restaurant is a true gem, offering not only high-quality cuisine but also stunning garden and sea views, live music, and an aesthetic interior design. One of my favourite elements is the multi-language menu creatively designed to resemble a newspaper, which adds a unique touch to my dining experiences. 

Balos Grambousa Restaurant menu
Balos Beach Grambousa Restaurant menu

As for food, Grambousa Restaurant offers a variety of options for appetizers, seafood, meats, and wine, as well as daily specials. We tried two of their daily specials and one meat dish. The grilled lobster and local fish were divine, and even the grilled vegetables tasted superb. The highlight was the lamb chops, which were grilled perfectly and were so tender and crispy on the outside, with no weird taste at all. Surprisingly, even though I don’t normally like lamb, I loved it! 

Balos beach cretan food Grambousa Restaurant
Balos beach cretan food Grambousa Restaurant
Balos beach cretan food Grambousa Restaurant
Balos Beach Crete restaurant Grambousa Restaurant
Balos Beach Crete restaurant Grambousa Restaurant

They also offer guests Greece’s traditional drink, Ouzo – an anise-flavoured liquor that’s similar in taste to sambuca or pastis. Although it may taste very strong (like our Taiwanese Kaoliang), it is believed to aid digestion. The restaurant also features a cute fruit bar where you can select your favorite fruits to enjoy after your meal.

Ouzo Greek liquor Grambousa Restaurant Balos Beach Crete restaurant
Grambousa Restaurant Balos Beach Crete restaurant

The only imperfect thing for us is that, the portion of each dish we ordered is not enough to feed one person when were hungry, so we had to ordered more. But it also means we get try more dishes, so I guess it’s ok!

Balos Beach Crete restaurant Grambousa Restaurant
Grambousa Restaurant Balos Beach Crete restaurant
Grambousa Restaurant Balos Beach Crete restaurant

Overall, Grambousa Restaurant exceeded my expectations, and I loved every element of it. If you are looking for a restaurant near Balos Beach, I highly recommend stopping by Grambousa. Whether you’re in the mood for a great meal or a place to relax and enjoy the scenery, this restaurant has it all. It’s the perfect starting point for your exploration of Crete Island!

Balos Beach Crete restaurant Grambousa Restaurant

Grambousa Restaurant Location: click HERE

Menu: click HERE

Website: https://gramvousarestaurant.com/en/home-eng/

Open Hour: 1pm – 11pm

Crete Island has two international airports – Chania International Airport and Heraklion International Airport. You can easily find cheap flights to both cities from Skyscanner.

Alternatively, you can fly to Athens first and spend a few days exploring the city (ideally 2-3 days) before taking a flight or ferry to Crete from Athens.

How to get to Crete Island from Athens?

Athens is an excellent starting point for your Greek Island hopping trips, as there are many ferries and flights operating daily to take you to various Greek Islands. Surprisingly, Athens has many interesting things to see, including some aesthetic and artistic places that will make you fall in love with the city. I would recommend spending 2-3 days in Athens while exploring the Greek Islands.

If you’re going to Crete Island from Athens, here are two ways:

Athens to Crete Island by flight ​

There are three airports in Crete Island that you can fly to domestically from Athens International Airport: Crete Chania Airport, Crete Heraklion Airport, and Crete Sitia Airport. 

The flight time is approximately 50 minutes to 1 hour, and flights operate regularly. To find affordable flights to Crete, you can check Skyscanner.

Athens to Crete Island by ferry

Another option to travel to island Crete is by ferry (boat).

There are ferries that operate daily from the port of Athens (Piraeus) to two ports in Crete – Chania and Heraklion. Some days, routes to Sitia and Kissamos are also available.

The travel time by ferry varies from 7.5 to 11 hours depending on the port of arrival.

One advantage of taking the ferry to Crete from Athens is that some ferry companies offer night ferries, allowing you to board at around 10 pm and arrive around 6 am. This means you can sleep on the ferry and arrive in Crete without losing a day to transportation. Most ferries have cabins and more comfortable seating options that you can book, such as the air VIP seats on Minoan Lines.

You can check the rates and availability of ferry tickets to Crete and other islands here.

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