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.

In June 1798 , Napoleon Bonaparte, after his failed campaign in Egypt , abandoned his defeated army and, according to tradition, spent the night in Ierapetra. The house that hosted him belonged to Andreas Perulios. Perulios did not realize that the stranger was Napoleon, until his wife found a note stating that the person who had stayed overnight in their house was Napoleon Bonaparte. Today this bar is named after him.