Alanya or Izmir?

Alanya has the beaches on its doorstep. Fine sand curves away on both sides of the castle headland, the water shelves gently and warms to bath temperature by late summer, and boat trips stop at swimming coves under the cliffs. You can walk from your room to the sea.

Izmir's own waterfront is not for swimming. A beach day means about an hour's drive to Ilica's shallow sand or the wilder coves of the Cesme peninsula, or to the long sandy strips south at Gumuldur that local families use. The sea there is cooler and the summer wind is stronger, which suits windsurfers better than people who want to float in the water.

Izmir is the far better place to eat. Its Aegean cooking is built on olive oil, wild greens and grilled fish. There are long meze evenings with raki, street breakfasts of boyoz and gevrek, and the food lanes of Kemeraltı, with Urla wine to go with them. Most meals are a chance to try something new.

In Alanya, good Turkish food exists but you have to look past the picture menus and hotel buffets to find it. Try pide and kebab in the back streets, gözleme in the hill villages, and the weekly market for olives and cheese.

Neither is a great museum town, but Izmir gives a curious visitor more. The Roman Agora of ancient Smyrna, Kadifekale above the gulf, the Ottoman hans of Kemeraltı and two decent museums fill a couple of days, even though the 1922 fire left the centre largely modern.

Alanya's history is concentrated on one headland: the Seljuk castle with its views, the Red Tower and the rock-cut Tersane shipyard, plus the Damlataş cave. They make a handsome morning or two, and after that the town is all resort.

Both cities go out late, but in very different ways. Alanya's harbour bar street is package-resort nightlife, with open-air clubs, karaoke, DJs and party boats for a young international crowd. Most of it closes outside the summer season.

Izmir's evenings start with drinks on the Kordon at sunset and move into the small pubs and rock bars in the lanes of Alsancak. It is a local scene with little clubbing. For big summer nights, people head an hour west to the beach clubs of Alaçatı and Çeşme.

The outdoors is just as good in both, but it faces different ways. Alanya's is mountainous. The Taurus rise straight behind the town, with the Dim valley and its cave, Sapadere Canyon, jeep tracks up to the high pastures, and paragliding above the bay.

Izmir looks to the coast and the wind. There are flamingos in the Gediz Delta, rugged peninsulas of olive groves and cliffs, and Alaçatı's windsurfing and kitesurfing. Further inland are forest walks at Spil and winter skiing on Bozdağ.

Izmir is the much stronger base. Ephesus is an hour away by train, and Pergamon, Sardis, Priene, Miletus and Didyma can each be done in a day. Şirince, the stone streets of Alaçatı and old Foça are within reach too.

From Alanya, the worthwhile outings mostly run west: Side's temple on the shore, the theatre at Aspendos, Perge and Antalya's Kaleiçi. They are a couple of hours away, and most visitors see them on an organised tour.

Alanya is the easier choice with children. Calm, shallow sand beaches are a short walk from the centre, and family resort hotels come with kids' clubs and slides. Water parks, the castle cable car and pirate boats fill the other days. Choose a hotel away from the noisy harbour.

Izmir is friendly to children but needs more planning. There is the Sasalı Wildlife Park, the fun fair in Kültürpark, scooters on the Kordon and ferry rides across the bay. For swimming, Ilica's shallow beaches are an hour's drive away.

Izmir has a proper city network. A metro, the İZBAN railway along the gulf, trams and buses all run on one card, ferries cross the bay, and it is a flat walk from Konak to Alsancak. The railway also reaches Ephesus and the airport.

Alanya's compact centre is walkable along the seafront, and buses and dolmuş minibuses run the coast road. But many hotels are far out along the strip, and the mountains and ruins need a tour or a hire car. The larger airport at Antalya is about two hours away by road.

Alanya has a resort bazaar and Izmir has a working one, and that makes the difference. The lanes near Alanya's harbour sell leather jackets, towels, imitation brands, gold and Turkish delight, and you are expected to bargain. The big weekly market is the one stop with real local character, and the malls offer little a visitor would cross town for.

Kemeraltı is where Izmir's own residents buy fabrics, copperware, spices and olive oil soap, and there are few souvenir sellers among them. Kızlarağası Han is the corner to linger in. Alsancak adds boutiques and Turkish fashion chains, and Aegean herbs, local wine and handmade soaps are better things to take home than anything on Alanya's harbour streets.

An all-inclusive package is where Alanya is cheapest, because one booking covers the room, meals and drinks. Buses, back-street eateries and the weekly market cost little. Harbourside dinners, boat trips and the peak summer weeks push the spending up, and out of season it drops sharply.

Izmir suits the independent traveller instead, because everyday city costs stay low: a street breakfast, a lokanta lunch, local transport and the ferries across the bay. The bill rises at meyhane evenings, where drink is heavily taxed, with summer nights on the Cesme peninsula and with the entry fees for Ephesus and the other ruins.

Izmir has a real stage life. The State Opera and Ballet performs in the historic Elhamra theatre, there is a state symphony orchestra, and each summer the International Izmir Festival puts on concerts in the ancient theatre at Ephesus. Most of the drama is in Turkish, but music and dance need no translation.

Alanya offers hotel shows, folk-dance evenings and Turkish-night dinners. Its autumn jazz festival in the old shipyard is the one event worth planning a trip around.

Alanya's hammams are built for visitors, while Izmir's thermal waters were known in antiquity. Nearly every large hotel in Alanya has a Turkish bath, and the bathhouses in town offer the full steam, scrub, foam wash and massage. The humid air of the Damlataş cave has long drawn people with breathing complaints. For real quiet, come in spring or autumn and stay away from the harbour.

At Balçova, on Izmir's western edge, the springs once called the Baths of Agamemnon feed thermal pools. Warm water also rises near the shore at Ilıca, and a few old neighbourhood hammams survive in Kemeraltı. The rest of the calm comes from tea on the Kordon and slow meze dinners rather than from any spa.