Antalya or Hurghada?

Both are serious beach destinations, but their beaches work differently. Antalya's are public and varied. There is the long pebble shore of Konyaaltı under the mountains, sand at Lara, rocks to swim from below Kaleiçi and pine-fringed coves towards Phaselis, but the swimming season runs only from late spring to autumn.

In Hurghada, most of the sand belongs to the hotels, so your beach is whatever your resort has, and you often reach the water by a jetty over shallow reef. In return, the sea is warm enough to swim in almost all year, and the best sand is out on the Giftun islands.

Antalya gives you more reason to leave the hotel. Its local dishes include piyaz served beside grilled şiş köfte, slow-cooked tandır lamb and fish from the Gulf. Breakfasts are long, and the weekly markets are full of citrus and pomegranates from the surrounding plain.

In Hurghada, most meals are at the all-inclusive buffet. The worthwhile exceptions are koshary, ful and taameya in El Dahar and the harbour grills where you choose your fish from the ice. Alcohol is mostly limited to hotels and tourist venues, which makes eating out even less appealing.

Antalya has a real historic centre. Inside the walls of Kaleiçi are restored Ottoman houses, Hadrian's Gate and the fluted Yivli Minare, and the city museum's marbles from Perge make it one of Turkey's better archaeological collections.

Hurghada grew from a fishing village into a resort and has little old fabric. Its museum of pharaonic pieces, the El Mina mosque and the Coptic cathedral fill a morning, and El Dahar's market streets show everyday Egyptian life. For ancient Egypt itself, you have to make a long day trip inland.

Neither city is a nightlife destination, but Antalya's evenings have better settings. There are courtyard bars and terraces in Kaleiçi's old lanes and around the Roman harbour, with beach clubs along Konyaaltı and Lara, though in winter the scene shrinks to a few bars used by locals.

Hurghada's nights out centre on Sheraton Road and the marina. Shisha lounges, beach clubs and themed foam parties stay busy late, but they are made for visitors and have little local character. The Egyptian town behind the hotel strip is quiet after dark.

Antalya offers the outdoors on land as well as at sea. The Taurus mountains drop straight to the coast, the Lycian Way runs through pine forest past Olympos, and the Düden waterfalls pour into the sea. There is also rafting in Köprülü Canyon and skiing at Saklıkent in winter.

Hurghada's best nature is underwater. Turtles and dolphins live on reefs close offshore, and a steady wind draws kitesurfers to El Gouna and Soma Bay. On land there are bare desert mountains for jeep, quad-bike and stargazing trips, but almost no green and little hiking.

Here the two cities are furthest apart. From Antalya, Perge is a short drive and Aspendos has one of the best-preserved Roman theatres anywhere. Termessos, Side, Phaselis and Olympos are also within reach, and Myra and the sunken city at Kekova make a longer day.

Hurghada's easy outings are El Gouna's lagoons and the Roman granite quarries in the desert. Its great excursion, to Luxor's temples and the Valley of the Kings, takes about four hours each way by road, so it works better as an overnight trip than a day out.

Both cities rely on resorts with pools, slides and kids' clubs, and both have a large aquarium. Antalya offers more: a theme and water park at Belek, shallow sandy water at Lara and an old town to explore. The drawbacks are the heat in July and August and the steep lanes of Kaleiçi, which are hard going with a pushchair.

Hurghada has its own attractions in glass-bottom boats, semi-submarines and dolphin trips. Outside the hotel, though, there is traffic, broken pavements and pushy sellers, and summer middays are too hot for young children.

Antalya has a tram linking the airport, bus station, old town and Konyaaltı, buses on the same card and a walkable centre. Hurghada stretches along a single coast road with few pavements, so you depend on shared minibuses, taxis with the fare agreed in advance, and hotel shuttles. In both places, the sights further out are easiest to reach by car or on a tour.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and Kaleiçi's souvenir lanes are much like Hurghada's bazaars, with repetitive stock and haggling over every price. Where Antalya pulls ahead is in its everyday shopping. Its weekly neighbourhood markets serve residents rather than visitors and are good for spices and dried fruit to take home, and its large malls give you somewhere cool to browse on a hot afternoon.

In Hurghada, almost everything for sale is aimed at tourists, in El Dahar and along Sheraton Road, and the sellers push harder. Its few malls matter mainly to self-caterers who need a supermarket.

Hurghada is clearly the cheaper of the two. All-inclusive packages cover most of the trip, and diving courses and boat trips cost far less than on most reef coasts. The main costs to watch are excursions sold through hotels and imported drinks.

Antalya can also be good value, especially for families on all-inclusive deals and for travellers who eat in local köfte houses. Kaleiçi's restaurants, the beach clubs and summer rooms by the sea push costs up, but spring and autumn bring lower room rates.

Antalya has a state opera and ballet company and a state theatre that perform through the winter. In summer, its opera and ballet festival fills the Roman theatre at Aspendos for evenings under the stars. Hurghada has no stage of its own. Entertainment means hotel animation shows, belly dancing and tanoura dancers spinning at folklore dinners, which are fun for one evening but not a reason to go.

Antalya has a real bathing tradition. Kaleiçi's old hammams offer the full scrub and foam massage, and the resorts in Lara, Belek and Kemer have extensive spas. Hurghada's spas are hotel facilities that vary widely in quality, though treatments are cheap and some offer Red Sea salt rituals.

In both places, the calmest days are inside the resort. Antalya's centre is crowded in summer and quieter in spring and autumn, while Hurghada's town is noisy and the sellers are pushy all year.