Alanya or Ankara?

This is the biggest gap between the two cities. Alanya is built around its beaches: Cleopatra Beach's pale sand runs west of the castle, Keykubat stretches east for kilometres, the water shelves gently, and boat trips stop at coves around the headland.

Ankara sits on a high plateau, several hours from any coast. Its lakes are for rowing and walking, swimming means a pool, and a day at the sea would be a separate trip.

Neither city is a food destination, but Ankara eats better day to day. It has esnaf lokantası canteens, long breakfasts and its own dish, Ankara tava, plus cafés and meyhanes in Tunalı Hilmi and Çankaya. That gives a visitor ordinary Turkish cooking done reliably well.

In Alanya the default is picture menus on the harbourfront and hotel buffets. Eating well means seeking out pide houses in the back streets, village gözleme stalls and the weekly market. It does have grilled fish, which Ankara largely lacks.

Ankara has the stronger sights. The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations follows the peninsula from Çatalhöyük through the Hittites to the Phrygians, and Anıtkabir shows the Republic at its most monumental. The citadel, the Temple of Augustus and the Roman baths fill out two or three days.

Alanya's history is concentrated on its peninsula: the Seljuk castle walls, the Red Tower and the Tersane shipyard cut into the rock. With the small museum and the Damlataş cave, that makes a day or two, and the rest of the town is modern resort.

Alanya is the place for a late night, at least in summer. The harbour bar street, open-air clubs, karaoke and party boats keep a young international crowd out into the small hours, though most of it closes from late autumn.

Ankara's evenings are slower and more local. They are built around rakı over dinner and the student beer and rock bars off Kızılay, with Tunalı Hilmi drawing an older crowd. The city is liveliest during term and has very few clubs.

Alanya has much more close at hand. The Taurus Mountains rise straight up behind the coast, with the Dim River valley and its cave, the waterfalls of Sapadere Canyon and high pastures you can reach by jeep. Paragliding and diving add to that.

Ankara sits on bare steppe. Atatürk Forest Farm and Lake Eymir give space to walk or cycle, and Soğuksu National Park has pine forest about an hour north. Flamingos come to the salt flats of Tuz Gölü in spring, but the landscape is austere rather than inviting.

Both cities are good bases, in different ways. From Alanya the trips run west along the coast road, usually on an organised tour, to classical sites: Side's temple by the shore, the great theatre at Aspendos, Perge's colonnaded streets, and Antalya's old town and museum.

Ankara uses high-speed trains to reach Konya's Mevlana Museum and Eskişehir's painted Odunpazarı quarter. By road you can reach Gordion's Phrygian burial mound, the timber houses of Beypazarı and, on a long day, the Hittite capital at Hattusa. Its excursions cover more periods of history than Alanya's mostly Roman ones.

Alanya is the easier choice with children. It has gently shelving beaches and warm, calm water, family hotels with kids' clubs and slides, and water parks, while the cable car and pirate-style boats make easy outings. Just choose a hotel away from the harbour's late-night noise.

Ankara welcomes children but has less made for them. There are dinosaur skeletons at the MTA museum, vehicles to climb into at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum, and parks and malls for bad weather. Against that, the central streets are hilly and busy with traffic.

Getting around is about equally easy in both, but it works differently. In Alanya the centre, the harbour and the two main beaches are linked by a walkable seafront promenade, and a cable car goes up to the castle. Dolmuş minibuses cover the long resort strip, so a central hotel helps, and the mountains need a tour or a hire car.

Ankara is a metro city. Its lines and the Ankaray light rail run along the Ulus to Çankaya spine on one card, but between districts the city is built for cars, and taxis fill the gaps.

Ankara has the wider range of shops. There are large malls, mid-range boutiques and bookshops in Tunalı Hilmi and Kızılay, and below the citadel around Samanpazarı you find coppersmiths, carpets, honey and angora goods.

Alanya offers resort bazaar streets of leather jackets, towels, imitation brands and gold, where bargaining is expected. Its weekly market is the best place to shop.

Both are inexpensive by Mediterranean standards, and Ankara is a little cheaper, because it sets its prices for residents and civil servants rather than visitors. Canteen meals, metro rides and comfortable hotels all stay cheap there. Alcohol is the main exception.

In Alanya the savings come from package and all-inclusive stays and from eating away from the seafront. Harbourside restaurants, boat trips and peak summer hotel rates are where the costs rise, and they fall again out of season.

Here the capital is far ahead. Ankara has the State Opera and Ballet near Ulus, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra and the State Theatres, whose plays are in Turkish. The bars of Kızılay add Turkish rock and folk.

Alanya offers hotel shows and Turkish nights. Its one real draw is the jazz festival in early autumn, with concerts in settings such as the old shipyard.

Alanya is the better place to switch off, because a resort stay is built for it. Nearly every large hotel has a hammam and spa, bathhouses in town offer the full steam, scrub and massage, and spring and autumn are calm. The humid air of the Damlataş cave has long drawn people with breathing complaints.

Ankara's bathing is more everyday and more local, with old neighbourhood hammams in Ulus and Hamamönü. Thermal spas at Kızılcahamam and Haymana are about an hour away, but the city itself moves at the pace of a working capital.