Fethiye or Limassol?

The beaches are close in quality, but the setting is different. Fethiye's best swimming is a short minibus ride from town: the shallow turquoise lagoon at Oludeniz, the sandy cove at Kidrak and Butterfly Valley, reached by boat between cliffs. Boat days to island coves add to that, and the scenery is the main reason to go.

Limassol's city beaches are grey sand and fine shingle with sunbeds and calm water, easy to use but not beautiful. For something better you drive to the chalk cliffs at Governor's Beach, the open bay below Kourion or the cove at Pissouri. Its advantage is a slightly longer swimming season.

Limassol eats better. A proper Cypriot meze in a family taverna, with kleftiko, village sausage and souvla, is a meal you plan an evening around, and the wine villages on the slopes towards Troodos add Xynisteri and the sweet Commandaria.

Fethiye's highlight is the fish market, where you choose your fish at a stall and a restaurant on the square cooks it. Outside the town centre, Hisaronu and Oludeniz mostly serve resort menus, so the range is narrower.

Neither town has much to see within its own limits, but the sights differ. Fethiye's are dramatic and few: Lycian rock tombs cut into the cliff above the streets, sarcophagi standing on ordinary roads, and the deserted stone village of Kayakoy over the ridge, the most moving of them.

Limassol offers a castle with a medieval museum, a small old quarter of mosques and Orthodox churches, and the shoreline ruins of Amathus. It is less striking, but it tells the story of a mixed Greek and Turkish town.

Limassol has the better night out. The lanes around Saripolou Square fill with people drinking outside until late, the marina has smarter lounge bars, and with a large resident population the town does not go quiet the way a resort does.

Fethiye offers lit-up cocktail bars and meyhane tables in Paspatur, or Hisaronu's loud strip of karaoke and package-crowd clubs. Much of that closes from November to April.

Fethiye is the stronger outdoors base by some distance, because its landscape starts right at the shore. Babadag rises behind the Oludeniz lagoon for paragliding, the Lycian Way follows cliff paths through pine forest past Faralya and Kabak, and Saklikent Gorge is under an hour inland.

Limassol's outdoors needs a drive: about an hour up to the black pines and waterfall trails around Mount Olympos, or out to the Akrotiri salt lake, where flamingos winter. It is pleasant, but the mountains sit behind the city rather than in the view from the beach.

Both are equally good bases for outings, with different kinds of history. From Fethiye the trips are mostly Lycian: Tlos on its hilltop, the tomb-riddled cliff at Pinara, Xanthos and Letoon, and the boat ride under Dalyan's temple tombs. In season there is also a ferry to medieval Rhodes, so bring a passport.

From Limassol the range is wider: Roman mosaics at Kourion and Paphos, painted Byzantine churches in the Troodos valleys, Neolithic Choirokoitia, and Nicosia, where you can walk across the Green Line between the two halves of the city.

For families the two are much alike: beach-focused, welcoming to children and short on attractions built for them. Fethiye has the advantage of the sheltered Oludeniz lagoon for small swimmers, plus boat trips with swimming stops. Limassol has a long, flat promenade for pushchairs and scooters, resort hotels with kids' clubs, a waterpark and a small zoo, which gives slightly more to do on a day out of the water.

Fethiye is easier without a car. Dolmus minibuses run regularly from the compact town to Oludeniz, Hisaronu, Calis and Kayakoy, and water taxis cross the bay. You only need a car or a tour for the inland ruins at Tlos and Pinara and for the wade up Saklikent Gorge.

Limassol stretches for kilometres along the coast. Buses cover the seafront and the walkable old town, but beaches outside the city, Kourion and the mountains usually mean taxis or a hire car, and on Cyprus you drive on the left.

Neither is a shopping destination, and they offer different things. Fethiye is all market: the long covered weekly market by the canal and Paspatur's lanes of carpets, lamps and peshtemal towels. Limassol has high-street chains on Anexartisias, boutiques at the marina and malls on the edge of the city, and the best things to take home are halloumi, Commandaria and Lefkara lace.

Fethiye is noticeably kinder to your wallet, as long as you stay in the town rather than beside the lagoon. Guesthouses, lokanta meals and minibus fares are cheap, and the main extras are activities such as paragliding and boat cruises.

Limassol is one of the pricier places in Cyprus. The coast and marina charge Western European resort rates in summer, and hiring a car adds to the cost. Taverna meals and travelling outside the peak months help, but it rarely works out as cheap.

Limassol has more on stage, though it is still a small local scene. The Rialto and Pattihio theatres run drama and concerts in the cooler months, and an ancient Greek play at Kourion at sunset is a memorable summer evening. In Fethiye, live music mostly means a saz player in a meyhane or a cover band in Hisaronu.

Fethiye is the better place to slow down. It has a historic Ottoman hammam in Paspatur for the full scrub and foam ritual, and the terraced slopes above Kabak and Faralya hold small yoga retreats where there is little to do but look at the sea.

Limassol's version is hotel spas along the coast and long, slow meals. For real quiet you go up to the Troodos hill villages, an outing rather than somewhere on your doorstep.