Kissamos
Port Guide

Kissamos is the port most visitors to Chania use without ever learning its name — it's where the Balos boats leave from. It's also the one they most often confuse with Souda, occasionally at the cost of a ferry ticket.

Kissamos Is Not Souda

Worth stating plainly, because people book the wrong one every season:

They are about 46km and an hour apart, in opposite directions. If a booking says "Chania port" it almost certainly means Souda — see our Chania ferry port guide. If it mentions Balos, it means Kissamos.

The Balos & Gramvousa Boats

This is why most people come. Excursion boats to Balos lagoon and the Venetian fortress island of Gramvousa depart from Kissamos port, typically April to October, with a crossing of about 45 minutes each way.

The boat is the better way to reach Balos. The alternative — driving the rough unsealed track onto the Gramvousa peninsula and walking 20–25 minutes down — is hard on a hire car, often explicitly prohibited by rental contracts, and misses Gramvousa island entirely. The approach by sea is also the view everyone photographs.

Full detail on the lagoon itself, including timings and what to bring, is in our Balos lagoon guide.

Ferries to Kythira & the Peloponnese

Kissamos is also the sea route between Crete and the southern Greek mainland — a genuinely useful connection that almost no visitor knows exists.

Operated by SeaJets and LANE Sea Lines. Frequencies are seasonal and change year to year — verify against a live schedule before planning around any of them.

Kythira is the one worth considering as a destination in its own right: a large, green, barely-visited island between Crete and the Peloponnese, with good beaches and almost no crowds even in August. If you want somewhere in Greece that still feels undiscovered and you're already in western Crete, it's three hours away.

What Kissamos does not do is the Cyclades. There is no Kissamos–Santorini ferry, and no Kissamos–Mykonos ferry. For those you travel east to Heraklion — see island hopping from Chania.

Getting to Kissamos

• By car: about 45 minutes west of Chania on the E75. Straightforward road, parking at the port.
• By bus: KTEL runs from Chania bus station to Kissamos town regularly. In season some services connect onward to the port for the boats — check timings, as the town and port are not the same place.
• By tour: Balos trips sold in Chania include coach transfer to the port, which removes the parking and timing problem entirely.

For the boats, arrive early. Departures are usually mid-morning, the car park fills, and the boats leave on time.

The Town Itself

Kissamos is a working Cretan town rather than a resort, and pleasantly unbothered by the fact that thousands of people pass through its port every summer day. There's a decent archaeological museum, a long stretch of quiet beach, and tavernas that are noticeably cheaper than Chania's.

Most visitors see the car park and the boat. If you have a morning, the town is worth twenty minutes more than that — and it's a sensible base if you're heading to Falassarna or Elafonissi the next day.

Frequently Asked Questions