Kalos Limen was founded by Ionian Greeks in the 4th century BC. The city, covering an area of about 4 hectares, was surrounded by a fortress wall with quadrangular towers. The lands around were divided into plots.

The economy of the Beautiful Harbor was based on agriculture. The agricultural lands of the city, its chora, were located around the Ak-Mechet Bay within a radius of about 2 km.

Due to its strategic location, fertile lands, and convenient harbor, the city attracted the attention of stronger neighbors. By the end of the 4th century BC, it was captured by the Chersonesites. In the 3rd century BC, new contenders appeared, the Scythians and Sarmatians. Their raids forced the Greeks to strengthen the existing fortifications and build a new line of defense, a multi-towered citadel by the bay. A 16-meter lighthouse is known to have stored food supplies in its cellars in case of a siege, while the upper floors housed a command post and stone-throwing devices that controlled the entrance to the bay.

These measures only delayed the fall of Kalos Limen, and by the 2nd century BC, the city came under the control of the Scythians. Soon it became an important maritime port of the Late Scythian state alongside Kerkinitida.

At the end of the 2nd century BC, northwestern Crimea again became a theater of military operations. An expeditionary force commanded by Diophantus defeated the Scythians and their Sarmatian allies, restoring control over Kerkinitida and Kalos Limen, as confirmed by honorary decrees in honor of Diophantus and the Chersonesites who captured Kalos Limen.

In the middle of the 1st century BC, Kalos Limen again fell under Scythian rule.

The city ceased to exist in the 1st century AD when the Sarmatians, invading from the north, finally destroyed it.

The name of the polis, distorted to Kalo-Limen, is mentioned on Italian maps of the 13th and 16th centuries, after which it disappears from historical sources.

Today, on the site of the ancient city, there is a national park and historical-archaeological museum-reserve 'Kalos Limen', established in 1997 to study and promote this archaeological site. In the village of Chornomorske, closest to the excavations, there is a historical-local history museum 'Kalos Limen', opened in 1987.

Archaeological excavations in Kalos Limen continue successfully. Remains of an ancient Greek fortress and houses have been discovered. The central city gates and the main street, paved with slabs showing traces of carts, have been fully excavated.