Beirut or Larnaca?

Larnaca is the better place for the sea. Its sand beach runs along the promenade in the heart of town, with calm shallow water, livelier Mackenzie Beach to the south and Nissi Beach and Fig Tree Bay within an hour.

Beirut's own shore is mostly rock and concrete platforms, and Ramlet al-Baida's water quality is unreliable, so a swim there usually means paying to enter a private beach club or driving to Byblos, Batroun or the Jiyeh coast. The water off Beirut is just as warm in late summer. The difference is that beach days there need planning.

Food is one of the main reasons to choose Beirut. The mezze culture, za'atar manakish at breakfast, knafeh shops, Armenian grills in Bourj Hammoud, modern Lebanese dining rooms in Achrafieh and Bekaa wine together give it a range Larnaca cannot match.

Larnaca's Cypriot meze, harbour fish tavernas and village kitchens inland are good and generous. Beyond that the choice is narrow, and the seafront menus lean towards visitors. Eat inland or near the fishing harbour, and save your more ambitious meals for Beirut.

Beirut has more to see, although war has broken up its old city. The National Museum's Phoenician sarcophagi and Roman mosaics, the Sursock Museum's modern art and the restored streets around Place de l'Etoile give you two or three full days, and the bullet-marked buildings tell a recent history of their own.

Larnaca can be covered in a day or so. The Byzantine Church of Saint Lazarus, Hala Sultan Tekke on the Salt Lake and the foundations of ancient Kition are worth seeing, but they are single sights rather than a whole city to explore.

Beirut is one of the great late-night cities of the region. Its bars fill Mar Mikhael and Gemmayzeh, the electronic clubs near the port run until dawn, and in summer the beach-club parties go on into the night. People dress up, and bottle service matters at the bigger venues.

Larnaca's evenings are cocktails on Finikoudes and DJ beach bars at Mackenzie, and they quieten a lot in winter. Anyone who wants to dance until morning has to travel to Ayia Napa.

Beirut has little green space of its own, but the mountains rising behind it change that. Pine forest and villages above 1,000m are within an hour, there is skiing at Faraya and Mzaar in winter, the Jeita Grotto is close by, and the Qadisha Valley and Cedars are further out.

Larnaca's surroundings are flatter and drier. Its strengths lie by the water: winter flamingos on the Salt Lake, the famous Zenobia wreck dive offshore and the sea caves of Cape Greco. The Troodos mountains are about ninety minutes away, so a mountain walk takes a little more effort from Larnaca.

From Beirut, a small country gives you an unusual amount of history within two hours: Baalbek's huge Roman temples, Crusader Byblos, the sea castle at Sidon, Tyre's waterfront ruins and the Beiteddine palace. Check conditions before going south or into the Bekaa, and set off early to beat the traffic.

Larnaca's central position makes it a sound base for Cyprus. Nicosia's walled old town, Lefkara's lace village, Choirokoitia and Kourion are easy days out. The sites are fewer and generally less grand than Lebanon's, but the roads are calmer.

Larnaca is the easier place to bring children. The town beach shelves gently, the promenade has playgrounds and room to run, the town is small and calm, and flamingos, a camel park and the Ayia Napa waterpark make good outings.

Beirut makes children welcome at every restaurant table, and the Jeita Grotto and the Harissa cable car are good outings. Moving around is the problem: broken pavements and fierce traffic make a pushchair hard work. It suits older children better.

Neither city has a metro or a railway, but Larnaca is much simpler to manage. Its flat centre puts the seafront, Saint Lazarus and the fort within a short walk of each other, and intercity buses reach Nicosia, Limassol and Ayia Napa.

In Beirut you can walk within Hamra or Gemmayzeh, but between districts you face steep streets, few crossings and heavy traffic, so ride-hailing and shared service taxis do most of the work. In both places, day trips really need a car or a driver.

Beirut is the stronger city for shopping. It has internationally known couture houses, designer boutiques in Gemmayzeh and Saifi Village, the open-air Beirut Souks downtown, and the jewellers and spice sellers of Bourj Hammoud.

In Larnaca, the high-street chains on Ermou and Zinonos Kitieos are ordinary. The things worth taking home are crafts: Lefkara lace and silver filigree, pottery from Skala, and bottles of Commandaria.

The two are not far apart, and Larnaca is slightly the cheaper of the two. Taverna meze is generous for what you pay, buses cost little, and rooms are much cheaper from November to March, although most visitors will want to budget for a hire car.

In Beirut, costs depend on how you spend your time. Manakish, falafel and neighbourhood mezze are very cheap, but the cocktail bars, clubs and beach-club entry fees that draw many visitors there cost about what they would in Southern Europe.

Beirut has more live music and performance, though on a small scale: Lebanese Philharmonic concerts in churches and university halls, Arabic-language theatre and cabaret in Hamra, and jazz and electronic sets in small venues. Its big moment is the summer festival season at Baalbek, Beiteddine and Byblos.

Larnaca offers little beyond Greek-language plays at the municipal theatre, the open-air summer festival at the fort and bouzouki nights in some tavernas. For anything larger, people go to Nicosia.

Neither city has a bathing tradition you would travel for, and in both, spa time means hotel spas. The real difference is pace. Larnaca is slow and quiet, with long coffees on the seafront and gentle winter sun, which suits a restful stay.

Beirut is loud and late, with generators running and traffic all day. To rest there, you head up to a guesthouse in the cool stone villages of the Shouf.