The beach strip is mostly indifferent international food at tourist prices — pizza, pasta, English breakfasts, generic "Mediterranean" buffets. Skip it. The good eating in Hersonissos is in two places: the fish tavernas along the working harbour, where you can pick from the day's catch on ice and pay for it by weight, and the hill villages of Piskopiano, Koutouloufari and Old Hersonissos, where shaded courtyards under bougainvillea serve grilled lamb chops, slow-cooked goat, fresh salads, and good house wine for half the price of the same meal on the beach. Order Cretan specialities — dakos, gamopilafo, antikristo lamb, raki to finish — and you will eat well.