Antalya or Nicosia?

Antalya is a beach city in a way Nicosia simply is not. Konyaaltı's long pebble shore, with clear water that deepens quickly, starts at the edge of the centre. Lara's sand lies to the east, and you can even swim off the rocks below Kaleiçi in the old harbour. Belek and the coves around Kemer add more choice within an hour.

Nicosia is on the inland plain, so swimming means about 45 minutes in the car to Larnaca or over the hills to Kyrenia. The water there is as warm as Antalya's, but in town you are limited to a hotel or municipal pool.

The two eat about equally well, in quite different settings. In Antalya the best meals are away from the old town: grilled şiş köfte with tahini piyaz, tandır lamb, and fish from the Gulf in plain local grills and coast restaurants, plus long breakfasts and markets full of citrus and pomegranates.

Nicosia is about the slow meze table in the old-town lanes around Faneromeni. Crossing the Green Line on foot adds the Turkish Cypriot side, with kebab grills and syrupy pastries near Bandabulya. A coffee habit and Commandaria wine round it out.

Nicosia gives a sightseer more to do. Inside its ring of Venetian bastions you can see the Cyprus Museum's terracotta warriors, Byzantine icons at the Archbishop's Palace, and then cross the Green Line to the Selimiye Mosque, a Gothic cathedral with minarets added, and the Büyük Han caravanserai. All of it fits into one compact walk.

Antalya's Kaleiçi is a pleasant short loop of Ottoman houses, Hadrian's Gate and the Yivli Minare. The Antalya Museum's statues from Perge are the highlight. Beyond those, the city's history is mostly out in the countryside.

Antalya has more going on in summer. There are courtyard bars in Kaleiçi and around the harbour, plus beach clubs and big open-air venues along Konyaaltı and Lara. It is spread out, though, so you need taxis between areas, and it shrinks sharply in winter.

Nicosia's nights are smaller and more local. Students and young professionals drink on the pavements around Faneromeni Square and Ledra Street, bars only fill towards midnight, and everything is within walking distance inside the walls.

Antalya's setting is far more dramatic. The Taurus mountains rise straight from the sea, and the Düden falls pour off a cliff into it within the city. The Lycian Way, the Tahtalı cable car, rafting in Köprülü Canyon, diving and paragliding are all close by.

Nicosia sits on the flat Mesaoria, which turns brown in summer, and in town there is little green beyond the moat gardens. The good walking is at the edges: the ridge of the Kyrenia range, and the pine trails of the Troodos about an hour away.

Both are excellent bases, with a slight edge to Antalya for the quality of its ancient sites. Aspendos's theatre, Perge's colonnaded street, mountaintop Termessos and Side are all close, and Kekova's sunken city makes a long day out.

From Nicosia the whole small island is in range: Kyrenia harbour, Bellapais and St Hilarion to the north, Famagusta and Salamis to the east, and the painted churches of the Troodos to the south-west. You get two cultures in one day out, but you need a car for most of it, just as you do in Antalya.

Antalya is the far better family base because so much of its coast is designed for children. Kids' clubs and pools fill the resorts at Lara, Belek and Kemer, Belek has a theme and water park, and the city aquarium with its walk-through tunnel makes a good escape from the midday heat.

In Nicosia, children are made welcome at late family dinners, but there is no zoo, aquarium or theme park, and the beaches need a car. Most families do better visiting it for a day.

Antalya is easier to get around without a car. Trams link the airport, the bus station, Kaleiçi and the Konyaaltı side, and buses and plentiful taxis fill the gaps.

Nicosia's walled centre is very walkable, and the Ledra Street crossing takes you north in minutes with your passport. Outside the walls, though, there is no rail and the buses are of little use to visitors. In both places the ancient sites and mountains really need a hire car, and in Cyprus that means driving on the left.

Neither is a shopping destination, and they differ mainly in flavour. Antalya means haggling over carpets, ceramics and leather in Kaleiçi, air-conditioned malls in the modern city, and weekly neighbourhood markets that are good for spices and dried fruit.

Nicosia feels more like a capital's high street, with chains along Ledra Street and designer brands on Makarios Avenue. The Cyprus Handicraft Centre sells Lefkara lace, and the Bandabulya market across the line sells copperware and Turkish delight.

Antalya usually works out cheaper, as long as you eat in local köfte houses and use the trams rather than staying near Kaleiçi's terraces. Its all-inclusive packages can also suit families well.

In Nicosia, meze and souvla lunches are good value and the northern half costs less. But hotels are business-oriented and mid-range, and the hire car most visitors need adds noticeably to the budget.

Antalya has the one event worth planning a trip around: the summer opera and ballet festival on the Roman stage at Aspendos. In winter, its state opera and ballet company performs work that does not depend on understanding Turkish.

Nicosia's scene is smaller but more varied from night to night. The Cyprus Symphony Orchestra has a season, and there are summer concerts in the moat. Old-town bars play rebetiko, folk and jazz, which Antalya largely lacks, while most theatre is in Greek.

Antalya offers more ways to unwind. There are traditional hammams in Kaleiçi, and nearly every large resort in Lara, Belek and Kemer has its own hammam, sauna and spa, some of them extensive. Long shaded afternoons by the sea set the pace.

Nicosia's appeal lies in its history. The domed 16th-century Omeriye Hammam and the Büyük Hamam in the north are atmospheric places for a steam and massage. Beyond those it is mostly hotel spas, and for real rest people head up to the cool Troodos villages.