Alanya or Kas?

Both are fine swimming towns with warm, clear water from late spring to autumn, but the swimming is different. In Alanya the sand is right in town: Cleopatra Beach curves west of the castle and Keykubat runs east for several kilometres, both shallow at the edge and lined with sunbeds.

In Kas you mostly swim from wooden decks and platforms on the rocks, or from two small pebble beaches, straight into deep blue water. For sand you take a minibus to Kaputas, about twenty minutes away, or to the long dune-backed beach at Patara.

Neither town is a food destination, and both rely on Turkish coastal staples. In Alanya you have to get past the picture-menu harbourfront and the hotel buffets to find the back-street kebab and pide houses, gözleme in the hill villages and the small local bananas.

Kas has more atmosphere at the table, with meze and rakı evenings by the harbour, slow village breakfasts and some careful cooking with Lycian herbs. The choice is narrow, though, and it gets repetitive over a long stay.

Alanya has more to see in town. The 13th-century Seljuk castle climbs the headland past Ottoman houses and a Byzantine church, and down at the water stand the octagonal Red Tower and the rock-cut Tersane shipyard. Together with the museum and the Damlataş cave, that makes a full day or two.

In Kas, ancient Antiphellos is the backdrop rather than the main event. A small theatre faces the sea, tombs are cut into the cliff, and the Lion Tomb stands at the top of the shopping lane. You can see it all in a morning.

The gap here is wide. In summer, Alanya's harbour fills with cocktail bars, karaoke and open-air clubs playing loud music for a young international crowd, and party boats circle the peninsula.

Kas has no clubs. Dinner runs late, then people move on to bars in the lanes and on terraces over the water, among divers, yachting people and Turkish visitors. Both towns go quiet once the warm months end.

Kas has the better outdoors. The mountains drop straight into some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean, which makes it a diving centre with caves, amphorae and wrecks close to shore. The Lycian Way runs past town, and Saklikent gorge is an hour inland.

Alanya's wilder side lies behind it, in the Taurus Mountains. The Dim valley and its cave, the Sapadere Canyon walkway and the high pastures are mostly reached by car or on a jeep safari. Both towns launch paragliders from the slopes above.

Kas is the better base for day trips, because ancient Lycia lies all around it. A short ferry crosses to Greek Kastellorizo, and boats reach Simena and the sunken city at Kekova. Myra and the church of Saint Nicholas are at Demre, and Xanthos, Letoon and Patara all lie within about an hour.

Alanya's best trips head west to Side, Aspendos, Perge and Antalya's Kaleiçi and museum. These are excellent sites, but they are farther away, around two hours each way for most, and usually seen on an organised tour.

Alanya is clearly the easier choice with children. Sandy beaches slope gently in the centre of town, family hotels have slides and kids' clubs, and the water parks, the sea-life park, pirate-style boats and the castle cable car fill the days. Pick a hotel away from the noise around the harbour.

Kas is safe and friendly, with children welcome at every table, but there is little made for them. In town you swim down ladders into deep water and the lanes are steep. It works better for older children who can snorkel or try diving.

Both towns have centres you can walk, but they are laid out differently. Alanya's harbour and two main beaches are joined by a long, flat promenade, with a cable car up to the castle. The resort strip stretches for many kilometres along the coast, so a central hotel saves a lot of bus and dolmuş rides.

Kas is compact but steep, and minibuses along the twisting coast road reach Kalkan, Kaputas, Patara and Demre. In both places, inland sites mean a tour or a hire car.

Alanya has more to buy, though not anything stylish: harbour streets of leather, textiles, gold and spices where bargaining is expected, a large weekly market and a few malls. Kas fits into one or two bougainvillea-shaded lanes with silver, linen, ceramics, kilims and a few galleries. It is prettier for an evening browse, but there is less choice.

Alanya stretches a budget further, mostly because all-inclusive packages bundle room, meals and drinks, and the simple eateries away from the seafront are cheap. Kas is one of the more upmarket small resorts on this coast. Summer hotels, dives and boat trips cost much as they would in southern Europe, though back-street pensions and lokantas soften the bill. Both are cheaper outside high summer.

Live performance is thin in both, so neither is worth choosing for it. Alanya has hotel shows and Turkish-night dinners, and its long-running early-autumn jazz festival holds concerts in the old shipyard. In Kas you might hear a musician in a summer bar or catch an occasional concert in the small ancient theatre by the sea.

Alanya offers more spa time. Nearly every large hotel has a Turkish bath, and bathhouses in town take you through steam, scrub, foam and massage. The humid air of the Damlataş cave has long drawn people with breathing complaints.

Kas relaxes you through its pace instead: long breakfasts, sun decks above the sea, and none of the noise of a big resort, with yoga retreats in the hills in spring and autumn. There is no bathhouse tradition, so its spa offer is modest.