In Hersonissos itself the catalogue is honest: a small but real archaeological site on the harbour, a couple of water-based attractions for families, the working old fishing port, and the hill villages of Piskopiano and Koutouloufari just inland where you can still hear Greek being spoken. Almost everything else worth seeing on Crete — Knossos, Lasithi, Spinalonga, the eastern beaches — is within a day's drive on the new northern coast highway, and most travellers based in Hersonissos use it as a launchpad for exactly those trips.