Alanya or Nicosia?

This is the widest gap between the two. In Alanya the sand starts at the edge of town. Cleopatra Beach lies west of the castle and Keykubat stretches east, and boat trips reach the coves under the headland. The water is clear everywhere and shelves gently.

Nicosia has no beach of its own. Larnaca's sand and the Kyrenia coast are each about 45 minutes away by car, so the sea is a day out. On ordinary days a hotel pool is the only way to cool off.

Nicosia eats better. You can take a long meze in the old lanes around Faneromeni, with souvla from the charcoal grill, then walk across the Green Line for lahmacun and syrupy pastries near the Selimiye Mosque. That is two Cypriot kitchens in one afternoon, with a glass of Commandaria to finish.

Alanya's seafront is mostly picture menus and hotel buffets. Good Turkish food is there if you look for it: pide houses in the back streets, grilled fish and gözleme in the hill villages. The weekly market is the best place for olives, cheeses and spices.

Nicosia has more history to walk through. Inside its Venetian walls are the Cyprus Museum's antiquities and the Archbishop's Byzantine icons. Across the line stand a Gothic cathedral with minarets and the Büyük Han caravanserai. It is enough for two or three full days.

Alanya's sights are all on one headland: the Seljuk castle, the octagonal Red Tower and the Tersane shipyard cut into the rock. They are impressive and fit easily into a day or two. Beyond them, the town is modern resort building.

Alanya parties harder in summer. A bar street by the harbour, open-air clubs, karaoke and party boats keep a young international crowd out until the small hours. Most of it closes from late autumn, though.

Nicosia's nights are smaller and more local. People drink on the pavements around Faneromeni Square and Ledra Street, the bars fill only towards midnight, and a few clubs on the avenues keep going after that. It is a night for conversation over drinks rather than for dancing.

Alanya has the more dramatic setting. The Taurus Mountains climb straight up behind the beaches, with the Dim Cave, the waterfalls of Sapadere Canyon and jeep tracks to the high summer pastures. On the coast there are sea caves to explore by boat, diving, and paragliding from the slopes above town.

Nicosia sits on a flat plain that turns brown in summer, and there is little green beyond the moat gardens. Its landscape is further out: ridge trails in the Kyrenia range and the cool pine slopes of the Troodos, about an hour away.

From Nicosia most of a small island is within reach. Kyrenia's harbour, St Hilarion and Bellapais are to the north, Famagusta and Salamis to the east, and the painted churches of the Troodos to the south-west. Most of these are an hour or less by hire car.

Alanya's best outings all run west along one coast road, to Side, Aspendos, Perge and Antalya's Kaleiçi. They are first-rate Roman sites, but most are around two hours away, and visitors usually see them on an organised tour.

Alanya is far easier with children. Gently shelving beaches, family hotels with kids' clubs and slides, water parks, the castle cable car and pirate boat trips can fill a week without effort. Keep the middle of the day by the pool, and book a hotel away from the harbour noise.

Nicosia is safe, and Cypriots happily bring children to dinner late in the evening. But very little is built for children, the beaches need a car, and July and August are hard going for small ones.

Alanya is the simpler place to get about. The centre, the harbour and both main beaches are strung along one seafront promenade, a cable car saves the climb to the castle, and buses and dolmuş minibuses run the length of the coast road.

Nicosia is easy on foot only inside its walls, where the Ledra Street crossing takes you into the northern half in minutes. Beyond the walls the suburbs are built for cars and the local buses are rarely useful, so a hire car is close to essential.

Neither city is worth the trip for its shops, but Nicosia has more to offer. Alanya's shopping is mostly the resort bazaar near the harbour, which sells leather jackets, towels, gold and imitation brands, and bargaining is expected. Beyond that there are a few malls, but no designer streets or independent boutiques.

Nicosia has a proper high street on Ledra and Onasagorou streets, international and designer brands on Makarios Avenue, and Lefkara lace and pottery at the Cyprus Handicraft Centre. Across the Green Line, the covered Bandabulya market sells spices, Turkish delight and copperware.

Alanya is the cheaper vacation overall, especially as a package or all-inclusive stay. Buses and back-street eateries cost little, and only boat trips, tours and harbourside meals add up.

Nicosia's meze lunches and coffee are good value, and the northern half is cheaper still. But its hotels are mostly mid-range business hotels, and most visitors need a hire car, which is a real extra cost.

Nicosia has most of the island's formal culture. There is a season from the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, plays from the state theatre, rebetiko and jazz in the old-town bars, and open-air concerts in the moat in summer. Most drama is in Greek, so music suits visitors better.

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

Alanya makes relaxing easy. Nearly every large hotel has a hammam and spa, bathhouses in town offer the full steam, scrub and foam ritual, and a resort stay suits doing very little, especially in spring and autumn.

Nicosia's baths are older but there are fewer of them: the 16th-century Omeriye Hammam, and the Büyük Hamam in the north. Otherwise it offers long coffee breaks in shaded squares, and for deeper rest people go up to the cool villages of the Troodos.