Bodrum or Nafplio?

Bodrum is the stronger place for swimming. The peninsula has bays to suit most people: the shallow shores of Bitez and Ortakent, the jetties and decks of Türkbükü and Yalıkavak, the windier western beaches, and boat days out to Kara Ada and coves no road reaches. The drawbacks are coarse sand and beach clubs holding the best stretches.

Nafplio has a handful of modest beaches on a sheltered gulf: pebbly Arvanitia below the cliffs, pine-backed Karathona 3km away and the longer, busier shore at Tolo. The water is as calm and warm as Bodrum's, but swimming fits around the sightseeing rather than filling the days.

Bodrum eats better. Its Aegean cooking runs from olive-oil vegetables and wild greens to long meze evenings, fish chosen at the town market and cooked at the tables around it, village breakfasts covering a whole table, and the polished seafood restaurants of Yalıkavak and Türkbükü. Gümüşlük's waterside fish tables are the slowest meal on the peninsula.

Nafplio's taverna food is steady and pleasant: octopus from the gulf, slow-cooked lamb, pies, Argolid oranges and the agiorgitiko red from Nemea. It rarely surprises, and the best meals are usually out at Tolo or in the villages of the plain rather than on the old-town squares.

Nafplio has the richer town to explore. As modern Greece's first capital it keeps an old town of Venetian, Ottoman and neoclassical houses. Above it is Palamidi and in the harbour is the Bourtzi, and the town also has the Mycenaean armour in the Archaeological Museum and the church where Kapodistrias was assassinated in 1831. Here the streets themselves are the sight, not only the monuments.

Bodrum's culture centres on one building: the Knights' Castle of St Peter, with its Museum of Underwater Archaeology and raised shipwrecks. Little of Halicarnassus survives, the Mausoleum is mostly foundations, and the town's own sights take two days at most.

Bodrum is the obvious choice for going out, though only from June to early September. You can choose between the packed bar street behind the harbour, the cheaper and louder clubs of Gümbet, and the dressed-up beach-club parties of Türkbükü and Yalıkavak, which often last until sunrise.

In Nafplio a night out means a long dinner, then a glass of wine on the harbour front or in the lanes off Syntagma Square. It stays busier on summer weekends when Athenians come down, but the town has no real clubs.

The two are close here, but the outdoors works differently in each. Bodrum's landscape of dry hills and inlets is best seen from a boat: gulet trips round the islands, sailing into the greener Gulf of Gökova, clear water for diving and snorkelling, and the meltem for windsurfing off Bitez.

Nafplio is better for land. The headland path and the coastal trail to Karathona start in town, the limestone draws rock climbers, and the fir-covered Mainalo range is about an hour and a half away. In both places, summer heat leaves walking to the early morning.

Nafplio is one of the best bases in Greece for day trips. Tiryns is about ten minutes away, Mycenae under half an hour and Epidaurus about forty minutes. Nemea, Ancient Corinth and the Corinth Canal are around an hour away, and Hydra or Spetses can be reached in a day by car and boat.

Bodrum is good rather than exceptional. Didyma, Miletus and Priene fill a day about an hour and a half away, and Iasos and Herakleia on Lake Bafa are closer. The ferry to Kos adds a Greek island in under an hour, but Ephesus is really an overnight trip.

Bodrum is set up for a family beach stay. Bitez and Ortakent have shallow water, and there are hotels with pools, kids' clubs and slides, large water parks, and restaurants that welcome children late into the evening. Beyond the beach, the castle's shipwrecks are the main outing, and families sleep better away from Gümbet.

Nafplio is gentle and safe, with a mostly traffic-free old town, ice cream on the harbour front and calm water at Karathona. It has no attractions made for children, though older ones enjoy the castles and the boat to the Bourtzi.

Neither is easy beyond its own centre, and in both places most visitors who want to explore hire a car. Nafplio's old town is small and flat, with Arvanitia beach a short walk away, but the buses to the ancient sites run infrequently.

Bodrum's centre is steeper, but dolmuş minibuses from the bus station reach nearly every bay. The catch is going back through town to get from one bay to another, and summer traffic on the roads.

Bodrum has more to buy. There are leather sandals made to measure in small workshops, a covered bazaar, big weekly textile and village markets, and luxury boutiques at the Yalıkavak marina. Much of the rest you could find anywhere in Türkiye.

Nafplio is an hour or two of browsing along Staikopoulou and Vasileos Konstantinou: souvenirs, a few galleries and komboloi worry beads, plus Argolid olive oil, honey and Nemea wine to take home.

Nafplio is easier on the budget. Taverna meals, local wine and the site fees at Mycenae and Epidaurus are fair. The main expense is the old-town guesthouses at weekends and in high summer, and staying in Tolo cuts it.

Bodrum in midsummer is Türkiye's most expensive resort area. Yalıkavak, Türkbükü and Gölköy set the tone, and taxis and sunbed fees add up quickly. Package hotels in Gümbet, dolmuş fares and simple pide places keep a careful budget workable, especially in May, June and late September.

Both have a performing season only in summer, with little the rest of the year, but they offer different things. Nafplio's great event is ancient Greek drama in the theatre of Epidaurus during the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, and there is classical music in the old Parliament in town.

Bodrum's summer means Turkish pop and jazz concerts in its restored ancient theatre and in the castle, a long-running ballet festival with the castle as its stage, chamber music in a stone quarry at Gümüşlük, and live Turkish music in the meyhanes.

Bodrum is the better choice for pampering. Its larger resorts have hammams with scrub and foam massage, and the luxury hotels around Türkbükü and Yalıkavak have full spa floors. For quiet, stay in Gümüşlük or the western villages rather than the centre.

Nafplio has no bathing culture and only a few hotel spas. Its calm comes from the slow pace, with long lunches and evening walks round the headland, and thermal water is about an hour away at Loutraki.