Fethiye or Goreme?

This is the starkest difference between the two. Fethiye is a beach destination first. It has the pine-backed lagoon at Oludeniz, the boat-only cove at Butterfly Valley, the sand at Kidrak and the quieter shingle at Kabak, along with Calis on the town's own bay.

Goreme is landlocked on the Anatolian plateau, and the river at Avanos is not for swimming. Anyone who wants both usually splits the trip, a few days among the rock formations and then the rest on the coast.

Neither place is a food destination, but Fethiye gives you more to work with. You choose fish at the town market and have it cooked with meze around the square, the canal-side market sells olives, honey and gozleme, and plain lokantas serve the locals. The resort strips are much weaker.

Goreme is a small village with menus written for visitors, so the choice is narrower still. Its pleasures are regional ones: testi kebab cracked open at the table, manti, and wine from Cappadocia's volcanic soils.

Goreme has the deeper heritage on its doorstep. The Open Air Museum is a whole monastic valley of rock-cut churches, and the Dark Church and Tokali Church keep frescoes of real quality. More chapels are tucked into the surrounding valleys and the village itself is carved from the tuff.

Fethiye's sights are dramatic but few: the temple-fronted Lycian tombs in the cliff above the town, a Roman theatre by the harbour, sarcophagi in the streets and the ghost village of Kayakoy over the ridge. Rebuilt after the 1957 earthquake, the rest of the town is modern.

Fethiye has a real night out in summer. You can choose relaxed cocktails and meyhane tables in the lit lanes of Paspatur, or loud bars, karaoke and clubs on the Hisaronu strip until the early hours.

In Goreme, a glass of local wine on a terrace overlooking the floodlit rocks is about as late as it gets. Everyone is in bed early for the pre-dawn balloon launches.

Both are outstanding, but Fethiye offers more variety. Mountains, sea and gorge all lie within reach: tandem paragliding from Babadag down to the lagoon, the Lycian Way's cliff paths past Faralya and Kabak, wading up Saklikent Gorge, and kayaking or diving in clear water.

Goreme has a single landscape, but a unique one. Rose, Red, Love and Pigeon valleys begin at the edge of the village, among pink and pale tuff pinnacles, and the dawn balloon flight over them is Cappadocia's signature experience. Without coast or forest, the outdoor options are narrower.

Both towns make excellent bases, Fethiye slightly more so, and the outings differ in kind. From Fethiye the trips go to Lycian ruins at Tlos, Pinara, Xanthos and Patara, by boat to the tombs at Dalyan, along the coast to Kas and Kalkan, and in season across to Rhodes's medieval Old Town if you have your passport.

From Goreme the circuit is closer and more alike. You can visit the underground cities of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, the citadel at Uchisar, the cave villages of Zelve, potters in Avanos and the Greek mansions of Mustafapasa. Kayseri's Seljuk mosques and bazaar make the main change of scene.

Fethiye is easier with young children. The shallow, sheltered lagoon at Oludeniz is close to ideal for small swimmers, the hotels are built around pools, and boat trips with swimming stops keep a week going. Avoid the heat of July and August.

Goreme is better suited to older children than to toddlers. Sleeping in a cave, crawling through an underground city and riding horses through the valleys are memorable, but the paths have unfenced drops, buggies struggle on the lanes and balloon flights have minimum ages.

Fethiye is the easier of the two to get around without a car. Shared dolmus minibuses run regularly from town to Oludeniz, Hisaronu, Ovacik, Kayakoy and Calis, water taxis cross the bay to Calis, and intercity buses reach Dalyan, Kas and Kalkan. Only inland sites such as Tlos, Pinara and Saklikent Gorge really need a hire car or a tour.

Goreme is tiny, and you can walk from the centre to the Open Air Museum and the valley trailheads, but public transport beyond the village is thin. Local buses to Uchisar, Avanos and Urgup are slow and sparse, so many visitors hire a scooter or bicycle to get between these nearby villages. For the underground cities, and for the Ihlara gorge more than an hour's drive away, you will realistically need an organised tour, a taxi or a hired car.

Peshtemal towels, honey and spices are Fethiye's best buys, from the long covered weekly market by the canal. The lanes of Paspatur add carpets, leather, ceramics and lamps to browse, though there are no fashion streets.

Goreme comes down to two crafts beyond the souvenirs on its main street: carpets and kilims from the large showrooms, and red-clay pottery from Avanos, where you can watch it being thrown. Buy one good piece, but not much else.

Overall costs are much the same, and in both places the bill depends on choices more than on the destination. In Fethiye, staying in town and eating at lokantas is cheap, while lagoon-side hotels, sunbeds and extras like paragliding and diving push costs up.

In Goreme, a basic stay is cheap: hostels in old cave houses, gozleme stalls and walking the valleys. The boutique cave hotels and the dawn balloon flight are what make a stay expensive.

Neither has a performing arts season, and the little there is differs in kind. In Fethiye you get informal music, a saz player in a meyhane or a cover band in Hisaronu. Goreme offers staged shows for visitors, including the whirling dervishes' Sema ceremony in a caravanserai near Avanos, which is the more memorable evening of the two.

Fethiye is the better place to slow down. A historic Ottoman hammam in Paspatur offers the full ritual, and the yoga retreats on the terraced slopes above Kabak and Faralya are quiet, with the sea below. Stay away from the resort strips in high summer.

Goreme's evenings are calm and its terrace breakfasts are unhurried, but the pre-dawn balloon starts and packed tour days make it hard to rest. Its hammams and cave-hotel spas are small, and for real thermal water you have to drive elsewhere in the province.