Tylissos lies west of Heraklion, where three large Bronze Age buildings known as Houses or Villas A, B and C preserve storerooms, courts, staircases and residential spaces. Their scale and rich finds suggest an important local centre connected with Knossos, but they are not royal palaces in the same sense as Knossos or Phaistos. The compact site rewards visitors interested in how elite households managed agriculture, craft and exchange.
Archaeologist Joseph Hatzidakis excavated the principal buildings between 1909 and 1913 after local discoveries drew attention to the area. Construction and occupation span the Middle and Late Minoan periods, with rebuilding after destruction. The modern village overlaps the ancient settlement, so the open archaeological zone represents only part of Tylissos.