Ierapetra is the southernmost city in Europe (excluding Cyprus) and the fourth-largest city in Crete.

In ancient times, the city was called Hierapytna. The earliest remains of the city date back to the fifth century BC. It was an important Dorian city in eastern Crete. The city of Gortyn surpassed Hierapytna's importance as an independent state when Hierapytna was conquered by the Romans in 67 BC. The city was severely damaged during the Arab conquest in 824 but was subsequently rebuilt. It experienced a new period of prosperity during the Venetian period from the 13th to the 17th centuries.

The silhouette of the castle of Kales, built in the early years of Venetian rule and fortified in 1626 to protect the small harbor. Local myth, however, states the Genoese admiral/pirate Enrico Pescatore built the fortress in 1212, before the Venetians took over.