The Minoan Palace of Malia is the third great palace site of Crete, after Knossos and Phaistos, and it deserves more than a token stop from the beach. The ruins are less reconstructed than Knossos, which makes them harder to read at first but also less theatrical. You get courts, magazines, workshops, stairways and the outline of a sophisticated Bronze Age administrative centre without too much modern imagination painted over it.
Go early or late, bring water, and check the current visiting status before setting out, as archaeological sites can close for conservation work. If Knossos tells the Minoan story in colour, Malia tells it in space and stone.