Antalya or Kas?

Both are excellent for swimming, but in different ways. Antalya has long beaches right in town: pebbly Konyaaltı under the mountains and sandy Lara, backed by big hotels. Within an hour you also have Belek's sand and Kemer's pine-fringed coves, so space and easy sand are never far away.

In Kas you swim from wooden decks and rock platforms straight into deep, very clear water. Sand means a short trip to the cove at Kaputas or the long dune beach at Patara, and boats from the harbour reach coves no road can get to.

Antalya gives you more to eat. Its dishes include köfte with tahini piyaz, slow-cooked tandır lamb and Gulf fish, and the best meals are in the plain kebab houses of the modern city. Weekly markets there are piled with citrus and pomegranates.

Kas does a lovely harbourside evening of mezes, grilled fish and rakı, and its village breakfasts with local honey are good. But a few streets of restaurants all cover similar ground, so on a longer stay the meals start to repeat.

Antalya is far better for sightseeing in town. Kaleiçi's restored Ottoman lanes, Hadrian's Gate and the Yivli Minare make a good walk. The Antalya Museum, with its marble statues from Perge, is worth half a day on its own.

In Kas, the seaside Hellenistic theatre, the rock tombs in the cliff and the Lion Tomb take up a morning. In both places the great ancient cities lie outside town, but only Antalya has the museum that brings them to life.

Antalya has much more going on after dark. There are courtyard and terrace bars in Kaleiçi, beach clubs and big open-air venues along Konyaaltı and Lara, and discos on the resort strips, though you will need taxis between them.

Kas keeps to cocktail bars and sea-view terraces behind the harbour, a few of them busy past midnight in high summer, and it has no clubs. Out of season both go quiet, and Kas does so earlier.

Both sit where mountains drop into the sea, and the Lycian Way passes both, so the difference is in what you do. Antalya offers more on land: the Tahtalı cable car, rafting in Köprülü Canyon, the Düden and Kurşunlu waterfalls, and skiing at Saklıkent in winter.

Kas is more about the water. It is a proper diving base, with walls, caves and wrecks close to the harbour, and you can kayak over the drowned ruins at Kekova or paraglide down to the marina. Its Saklikent is a different place from Antalya's ski area: a cold gorge you wade through rather than a ski slope.

The ancient world you want decides this one. The easy outings from Antalya are the cities of the old Pamphylian plain: Perge's colonnaded street, the theatre at Aspendos, Side, and Termessos high on its peak. Demre and Kekova make a long day from there.

Kas sits in the middle of Lycia, so Demre, Kekova, Patara, Xanthos and Letoon are all close. A short ferry also takes you to the Greek island of Kastellorizo, a day out Antalya cannot easily match.

Antalya is the clear choice with children. The resorts at Lara, Belek and Kemer have pools, slides and kids' clubs, Belek has a theme and water park, and a big aquarium in the city fills a hot afternoon.

Kas is safe and welcoming, but it has little built for children, and swimming in town means ladders into deep water. It works best for older children who can snorkel or try diving, with days on the sand at Patara or Kaputas.

In both places the centre is easy and everything further out is not, so most visitors hire a car or book tours for the inland sites.

Antalya has a tram that links the airport, the bus station, the old town and Konyaaltı, but its resorts stretch for tens of kilometres along the coast. Kas is a small town you can walk, though the lanes are steep. Minibuses run along the coast road, and boats leave the harbour for Kekova and Kastellorizo.

Neither is a place to come for shopping, but Antalya has more of it. Kaleiçi has stalls selling carpets, ceramics and spices, and the modern city has big malls with chains. Its neighbourhood markets are good for dried fruit and spices to take home.

Kas has one or two lanes shaded by bougainvillea, with silver, linen, kilims and small galleries. They are prettier than anything in Kaleiçi, but you can browse them in one evening.

Antalya is the cheaper of the two. Köfte houses, bakeries, markets and city transport cost little, and an all-inclusive package can suit a family budget, even though Kaleiçi and the beach clubs charge more.

Kas is an upmarket small resort. In summer its hotels, harbour dinners, dives and boat trips cost about what they would in southern Europe. Lokantas, pide bakeries and pensions in the back streets keep costs down, and both places are cheaper in spring and autumn.

Antalya has real formal culture. A state opera and ballet company and a state theatre perform through the winter, and in summer an opera and ballet festival takes the Roman stage at Aspendos.

In Kas, performance means musicians in the bars and the odd concert in the small theatre by the sea. There is no hall and no regular programme, so anyone who wants a proper night of performance is better off in Antalya.

Antalya is better equipped for spa time. Kaleiçi has old hammams with the full scrub and foam massage, and nearly every large resort in Lara, Belek and Kemer has its own hammam, sauna and spa.

Kas relaxes you with quiet instead. You get sun decks over the sea and none of the big-resort noise, and the peninsula hotels have a few hammams. Yoga retreats come to the hills in spring and autumn. Choose Antalya for treatments and Kas for peace.