Fethiye or Larnaca?

Both are true beach destinations with the same warm late-summer sea, but they offer different kinds of beach. Fethiye's best swimming is out of town. Oludeniz has a sheltered turquoise lagoon backed by pine and mountains, and there are coves like Kidrak and the cliff-walled beach at Butterfly Valley. Calis, the town beach, is coarse sand and pebble.

Larnaca's beaches are closer to hand and softer underfoot. Finikoudes has fine grey sand and shallow water right below the old town, and Mackenzie has beach bars. They are pleasant rather than striking, and for scenery to match Oludeniz you would travel to Ayia Napa or Protaras.

The two are on a par: you will eat well in both, though neither is a food destination. In Fethiye, the best meals are at the fish market, where you pick fish at a stall and a restaurant cooks it, plus gozleme at the canal market and rakı with meze by the harbour. The resort strips mostly serve fry-ups and pizza.

Larnaca's strength is the long Cypriot meze, running from halloumi and dips to sheftalia and kleftiko, and village tavernas inland are often better than the promenade. You can finish with Commandaria, or Cypriot coffee in a kafeneio.

Each has a day or two of sights, and the sights are quite different. Fethiye's highlights are dramatic and in the open air: Lycian tombs cut into the cliff above town, sarcophagi standing in the streets, and the empty stone houses of Kayakoy over the ridge.

Larnaca's highlights are mostly religious and archaeological: the ninth-century Church of Saint Lazarus with its carved iconostasis, Hala Sultan Tekke beside the Salt Lake, and the foundations of ancient Kition. The old Skala quarter adds pottery workshops to browse.

Fethiye offers more of a night out in summer. You can choose between rooftop terraces and meyhane tables in the lantern-lit lanes of Paspatur, or the loud strip of bars, karaoke and late clubs in Hisaronu.

Larnaca's nights are quieter: cocktail bars and late cafés along Finikoudes, and DJs at the Mackenzie beach bars. For real clubbing you would go to Ayia Napa. Both towns wind down a lot in winter.

This is where the two differ most. Around Fethiye, mountains nearly 2,000m high rise straight from the sea, with paragliding from Babadag, cliff walking on the Lycian Way past Kabak, canyon wading at Saklikent and kayaking among the islands, all close by.

Larnaca sits in flatter, drier country. It has its own highlights: winter flamingos on the Salt Lake and the Zenobia, one of the world's famous wreck dives. But the sea caves of Cape Greco and the Troodos forests are an hour or more away.

Fethiye has the richer choice of day trips. Tlos, Pinara, Xanthos, Letoon and Patara form a dense cluster of Lycian sites, and Dalyan's river trip passes rock tombs on the way to Kaunos. Kas and Kalkan make easy coastal outings, and in season a ferry crosses to Rhodes's walled Old Town.

Larnaca's appeal is its central spot on the island. Nicosia and its divided old town are close, and so are Lefkara, Choirokoitia and Stavrovouni. Kourion, Paphos and the Troodos painted churches make longer days out, ideally by car.

The two are about equally good with children, for different reasons. Fethiye's draw is the shallow, sheltered lagoon at Oludeniz, along with pool hotels and boat trips with swimming stops. Larnaca makes the logistics easier: a gently shelving beach in town, playgrounds on the promenade and an airport just minutes away. In both, the attractions built for children are mostly further afield.

Both have small, walkable centres and get harder to explore further out, with no railway in either. Fethiye has the better local network: frequent dolmus minibuses link the town with Oludeniz, Hisaronu and Kayakoy, and water taxis run across the bay. Larnaca has its airport on the doorstep, but local buses are sparse, so most visitors hire a car and drive on the left.

Neither is a place for a shopping trip, but Fethiye is more fun to browse. Its weekly canal market sells spices, honey, cotton towels and textiles, and the Paspatur lanes have carpets, leather, ceramics and lamps.

In Larnaca, Ermou and Zinonos Kitieos have high-street chains, and there is a mall. The more memorable buys are Lefkara lace and silver filigree, pottery from Skala and a bottle of Commandaria.

Fethiye is the cheaper of the two, as long as you stay in town, eat in lokantas and get about by dolmus. Lagoon-side resorts, paragliding and boat trips push costs up quickly.

Larnaca is moderately priced. Meze and bakery snacks are good value a few streets back from the promenade, but most visitors want a hire car, which is a real extra. Rooms there are much cheaper in winter.

Neither has a proper season of theatre or concerts, though Larnaca offers slightly more. It has a municipal theatre and a summer festival with music and dance at the fort, and Nicosia is close for orchestras. In Fethiye, live music mostly means a saz player in a meyhane or a cover band in Hisaronu.

Fethiye offers more for a restful vacation. A historic Ottoman hammam in Paspatur does the full scrub and foam ritual, and small yoga retreats sit on the terraced slopes above Kabak and Faralya.

Larnaca has no bathing tradition, and its spas are mostly in resort hotels east of town. What it offers is a slow pace: long coffees on the seafront, evening walks along the promenade and a mild, quiet winter.