Hmmm - depends. The eastern part of Crete is much more tourist developed - i.e. hideous Med 'resorts'.. Big apartment complexes and hotels. Great if you want to go clubbing, go out get drunk of an evening, and eat food developed for the tourists. I am sure there are "greek themed nights" available too. And i would imagine the hotels there are more used to catering for tourists than for meetings etc, but in fairness, I could be wrong.
My distaste is probably showing. There are more flights into Heraklion than Hania - when we went there, we flew into Heraklion, and then drove west to where we were staying, west of Hania. Its a drive that takes 2-3 hours - the roads are not dual carriageway/interstate, but they aren't too bad. Western Crete is a lot less developed - small apartment blocks and villas are the norm, rather than big tourist hotels. Hania itself is a nice old town, although believe the guidebooks and don't eat on the harbour front itself... find somewhere away from there.
Having said that - Knossos is a bit of a must see I'm afraid. Its a pretty amazing site. Usual tourist tat outside it. And yes, its close to Heraklion - we took a day trip to go and see it.
My other must see is the
Samaria Gorge, and the plateau that sits on it.. it's basically an alpine plateau, set in beautiful mountains. The spring flowers will be in full bloom - wild growing anenomones and things like that. You can walk down the Samaria Gorge, but it may or may not be open that early... The drive up through the mountains is extremely scenic as well. This one is much easier to get to from Hania than from Heraklion.
One word - Easter is mid-April this year as well. Easter is a BIG THING in Greece.. we found a lot of the restaurants were closed around then - and virtually everything on easter day itself. Fortunately our holiday company had laid on a fabulous dinner up in a Cretan vineyard, which turned out to be well worth attending.
It should be warm in mid April, but probably not quite warm enough to go swimming -we made it into our villa pool, but it was damn cold! The mountains of western Crete will probably still have snow on them too (they are that high!).
I loved Crete - the people were fantastic, the food was great, and the island was very beautiful. I hope you enjoy your trip!