Alanya or Bodrum?

Both towns are built around swimming, but the beaches are different. Alanya has two long stretches of fine sand, Cleopatra and Keykubat, on either side of the castle headland and within walking distance of town, and its water is the warmer of the two.

Bodrum spreads its swimming across many smaller bays around the peninsula. Bitez and Ortakent have shallow shores, the north coast is all wooden jetties and decks, and the western bays are breezier. Sand is coarser and often taken up by beach clubs. On the other hand there is more variety, and boat days to Kara Ada reach coves the roads never get to.

In Alanya, good Turkish food is there, but you have to get past the resort layer to find it. The harbourfront and the hotel buffets are aimed at visitors, so the better meals are a street or two back in plain pide and kebab houses, or up in the hill villages, where gözleme is made at the stalls. They are honest, inexpensive meals, but few will be the highlight of the trip.

In Bodrum, eating out is one of the reasons to go. Its Aegean cooking of olive oil, wild greens and seafood has a character of its own, and a long, shared dinner is how most evenings are spent rather than something to get out of the way. Yalıkavak and Türkbükü also have an upmarket end of polished seafood and modern Turkish cooking, which Alanya doesn't have at all. The weak spots are the tourist menus in Gümbet and the harbour lanes, and the way the choice thins across the whole peninsula once summer is over.

The two are about level, and each is built around a castle on a headland that you can see in a day or two. Alanya's Seljuk walls climb a whole hillside to old Ottoman houses and wide views over both bays, with the Red Tower and the rock-cut Tersane shipyard down at the water.

Bodrum's Castle of St Peter holds the Museum of Underwater Archaeology, whose raised shipwrecks give it more international weight than anything in Alanya. Around it are the scant remains of the Mausoleum and the ancient theatre, which you need some imagination to bring to life.

Bodrum has the bigger reputation and the wider range of nights out. There is the crowded bar street behind the harbour, cheap and loud Gümbet, and the dressed-up beach-club parties of Türkbükü and Yalıkavak, which often run until sunrise.

Alanya's evenings are simpler package-resort fun: karaoke, drinks deals, open-air clubs by the harbour and party boats around the peninsula. In both towns the scene belongs to summer and largely shuts down from late autumn.

Alanya has more varied scenery because the Taurus Mountains rise straight behind it. Within a short drive you can reach pine forest, the waterfalls of Sapadere Canyon, the Dim River and its cave, and cool high pastures, and paragliders take off above the town.

Bodrum's landscape is mostly dry hills and inlets, and it shows best from the water. Gulet trips, clear water for snorkelling and the meltem wind for windsurfing are its strengths. On land there are village paths and sections of the Carian Trail.

Bodrum is the better base for ancient sites. Didyma, Miletus and Priene make one rich day out, while Euromos, Iasos and Herakleia on Lake Bafa are closer. The ferry to Kos adds a Greek island in under an hour.

From Alanya the great sites mean longer drives west. Side is a little over an hour away, and Aspendos, Perge and Antalya's Kaleiçi are around two hours. They are excellent, but most visitors see them on organised tours.

Both are easy for a beach vacation with children, with family hotels, kids' clubs and water parks, and staff who are openly fond of children. Alanya has the edge in convenience: the gently shelving beaches are in town, and the cable car, the pirate boats and a dolphin park are simple outings.

In Bodrum, families do best in the calm bays of Bitez and Ortakent, away from loud Gümbet. The shipwrecks in the castle are an outing children tend to enjoy, although the town's lanes are steep in the heat.

Alanya is easier to get around. The centre, harbour and both main beaches are linked by a flat seafront promenade, and buses and dolmuş run frequently along the single coast road.

Bodrum's compact centre is walkable but hilly. The peninsula's bays are spread out, and dolmuş routes mostly fan out from the central bus station, so getting from one bay to the next often means going back through town. Summer traffic and expensive taxis lead many visitors to hire a car or scooter.

Bodrum offers a little more. Made-to-measure leather sandals from workshops in the lanes are a real local craft, the village markets are lively, and Yalıkavak marina has luxury boutiques for the yachting crowd.

Alanya's shopping is mostly bazaar stalls of leather jackets, towels, gold and copied brands, and you are expected to bargain. Its weekly market is the most rewarding stop in either town for olives, spices and dried fruit.

A careful budget goes a long way in Alanya, and you give up little for it. The cheap version of the stay uses the same sandy town beaches and central streets as everyone else. The costs that climb are mostly optional extras, such as excursions and dinners by the harbour, and they are easy to skip. Coming in spring or autumn brings the bill down further.

In Bodrum the same money buys noticeably less, and the cheap version comes with real compromises. Staying in a Gümbet or Turgutreis package hotel keeps costs in check, but it puts you far from the north-coast bays, the polished restaurants and the beach clubs that Bodrum is famous for. Sunbed fees and taxis then eat into what is left. The simplest way to see Bodrum's better side without paying high-summer prices is to go in May, June or late September.

Bodrum has a real summer programme, with concerts in the ancient theatre and the castle courtyards, a ballet festival using the castle as its stage, and chamber music in Gümüşlük's old stone quarry. Meyhane taverns add live Turkish music on summer evenings.

Alanya has little beyond hotel shows and Turkish nights, apart from its early-autumn jazz festival in historic settings such as the Tersane.

Neither town has a historic bathhouse tradition, and in both the hammam ritual of steam, scrub and foam massage is mostly a hotel affair. Alanya also has standalone baths in town and the humid Damlataş cave, long visited by people with breathing complaints.

Bodrum's luxury spas around Türkbükü and Yalıkavak are more lavish. Gümüşlük and the western villages also offer real quiet away from the party bays.