Alanya or Marmaris?

Both are true beach towns, but their beaches feel different. Alanya's Cleopatra and Keykubat beaches are long stretches of fine pale sand on open bays, they shelve gently, and the water there is a degree or two warmer.

The town strip at Marmaris is coarse sand and shingle in a calm, enclosed bay. The best swimming there is away from the centre: Icmeler and Turunc under the pines, coves you reach by boat, and the fine sand of Sedir Island. In Alanya the town beaches are enough, but in Marmaris it pays to head out on the water.

Neither town is a food destination. In both, the seafront is given over to resort menus, while honest Turkish cooking is found in the back streets and at the weekly market. The differences are local. Alanya has its small sweet bananas and gözleme made at stalls in the hill villages. Marmaris has pine honey from its forests, lokanta serving the day's stews, and meze and grilled fish around the harbour.

Alanya has far more to see. Its 13th-century Seljuk castle climbs the headland, with Ottoman houses, a Byzantine church and cisterns inside the walls. Down at the water stand the octagonal Red Tower and the Tersane shipyard, cut into the rock. Add the cave and the museum and there is enough for a day or two.

Marmaris has a small Ottoman castle with a modest museum, an hour's wander through the whitewashed old quarter, and a bazaar in an old caravanserai. Anyone there with an interest in history spends their time on excursions.

Alanya spreads its summer nights around the harbour. There are cocktail bars, karaoke and open-air clubs, plus party boats that circle the peninsula after dark, so you can drift from one kind of place to another.

Marmaris puts almost everything into Bar Street, one lane of clubs, laser shows and foam parties that runs until near dawn for a largely British crowd. The marina bars are the calmer choice, and Icmeler and Turunc suit anyone who wants none of it. Both towns go quiet from late autumn.

In Alanya the outdoors means heading inland into the Taurus Mountains. Within a short drive you reach the Dim River valley and its cave, the waterfalls of Sapadere Canyon and the high summer pastures, and paragliders launch from the slopes above town.\n\nMarmaris looks the other way, out to sea.

Forested hills run straight down to its bay, and the coast beyond has hardly any building on it, so sea kayaking, diving and sailing take you past shores that look much as they always have. Alanya's walking climbs into the mountains, while Marmaris has the Carian Trail, a long waymarked path through olive groves and fishing villages close to the shore. The loggerhead turtle beach near Dalyan is also within reach.

The excursions are equally good but of different kinds. From Alanya the pull is Roman: Side, the theatre at Aspendos, the colonnaded streets of Perge, and Antalya's Kaleiçi and its museum. Most of these are visited on organised tours along the coast road.

Marmaris has a day abroad: the ferry takes about an hour to Rhodes and its walled medieval town. Closer by are the river boats and Lycian rock tombs of Dalyan, and the boatbuilding villages and the ruins of Knidos out on the peninsula.

Alanya has the edge with children. Its main beaches are sandy and shelve gently into the warmer of the two seas. Alongside the family resort hotels it has water parks, a dolphin and sea-life park, the cable car up to the castle and pirate-style boat trips.

Marmaris handles the beach-and-pool basics well, with calm, shallow water at the edges of the bay and a big water park. It offers less beyond that, though, and families usually stay out in Icmeler or Armutalan to get away from the noise of Bar Street.

Neither town is hard to manage, and in both you need a tour or a hire car for the wider sights. Alanya's centre, harbour and two main beaches sit close together, with a cable car up to the castle. Its resort districts, though, stretch for many kilometres, so where you stay makes a real difference.

Within its bay, Marmaris is simpler. A flat promenade is good for walking or cycling, dolmus minibuses run constantly to Icmeler, and water taxis cross to Turunc. Alanya's small airport is about forty minutes away, while Dalaman is about an hour and a half from Marmaris.

Both offer resort-bazaar shopping: leather jackets, spices, towels and copy designer goods, with haggling expected. In both towns the weekly market is the best stop. Marmaris has a covered bazaar behind the harbour and better local things to take home, such as pine honey, natural sponges, olive oil soaps and peshtemal towels. Alanya instead has gold and jewellery near the harbour and a few modern malls.

Costs are much the same. Both are keenly priced package and all-inclusive resorts where local minibuses and back-street Turkish food are cheap, and where the seafront restaurants, imported drinks and organised trips cost more. In both, spring and autumn bring lower room rates.

The difference is in what tempts you to spend. In Marmaris, nights on Bar Street and boat cruises add up. In Alanya it is boat trips and tours out to the distant Roman sites.

Neither town is a place to plan your evenings around live performance, and in both the usual fare is hotel shows and Turkish nights. Alanya has one real draw: a long-running jazz festival in early autumn, with concerts in historic settings such as the old shipyard. Marmaris offers only the occasional summer concert in its open-air amphitheatre and cover bands in some bars.

Hammams run for visitors are everywhere in both towns, offering steam, scrub and foam massage in most big hotels. Alanya has a little more to it. The Turkish bath is a set part of a stay there, the humid, constant air of the Damlataş cave has long drawn people with breathing complaints, and you can find quiet in a hotel away from the harbour.

Marmaris offers places rather than treatments: the mud baths and hot springs near Dalyan, and slow peninsula villages such as Selimiye and Bozburun for doing very little.