Goreme or Kusadasi?

This one is entirely one-sided. Goreme is on the central Anatolian plateau, a long day's drive from any sea, and the only place to swim is a cave-hotel pool.

Kusadasi is built around the water. Ladies Beach is at the edge of town, the busier Long Beach runs south, quieter Pamucak lies to the north, and the Dilek Peninsula park has pine-backed coves of pebble and sand. Many visitors to Cappadocia end their trip on a coast like this.

Neither town is worth the trip for its food, but Kusadasi offers more variety. Goreme's terrace restaurants mostly serve the same menu of testi kebab cracked open at the table, manti and gozleme, and it gets repetitive after a couple of nights. The red and white wines from Cappadocia's volcanic soils are its best feature.

Kusadasi eats from the Aegean: grilled fish, meze, vegetables cooked in olive oil and wild greens. These are best in the meyhanes of Kaleiçi and in the lokantas where locals have lunch, and the large weekly market is worth a visit. Avoid the harbour front and the resort buffets and you will eat noticeably better than in the village.

Goreme has the better sights within walking distance. The Open Air Museum's rock-cut churches, with the deep colours of the Dark Church and the fine painting in Tokali Church, are a short walk from a village of fairy-chimney houses and dovecotes cut into the tuff.

Kusadasi town takes an hour or two to see: the small fortress on Pigeon Island, the Ottoman caravanserai and a few old lanes in Kaleiçi. Its history lies at the ancient sites inland, which you visit as day trips rather than in the town itself.

Of the two, only Kusadasi has real nightlife. Bar Street near the harbour has pubs, karaoke and dance bars that run late on summer nights, and open-air clubs around Long Beach and the marina stay open until the early hours, mostly for a young package crowd. Goreme has a few terraces serving wine and raki, and most visitors are asleep early before the pre-dawn balloon launches.

Goreme's landscape is the main reason to go. Rose, Red, Love, Pigeon and Zemi valleys of pale and pink tuff begin at the edge of the village, and you can walk them for hours among cones and ridges while balloons rise over them at sunrise. The range is narrow, though, with no water and little forest.

Kusadasi has more variety but nothing as striking. The Dilek Peninsula has a forested ridge, a canyon walk, wild horses and clear water for snorkelling and diving. About an hour away, the granite Latmos mountains above Lake Bafa offer rougher hiking.

Both towns make good bases for exploring their region, but Kusadasi's day trips are more varied. Ephesus is about twenty minutes away, with Selçuk, the House of the Virgin Mary and the village of Şirince close by. Priene, Miletus and Didyma make a separate day along the coast, and in summer a ferry crosses to Samos.

Goreme is at the centre of the Cappadocian circuit. The underground cities of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, Uchisar's citadel and the potters of Avanos are all within an hour. It is a long list, but much of it is more rock-cut heritage like what you already see in the village.

Kusadasi is the easier choice with children of any age. Sandy beaches with gentle entry into the water, resort hotels with kids' clubs and pools, and two water parks fill most days, although the middle of the day in midsummer is too hot for much.

Goreme suits older children better, who can sleep in a cave room, crawl through an underground city and ride horses through the valleys. With toddlers it is hard work, with steep and unfenced paths, lanes that are difficult with a buggy and minimum ages for balloon flights.

Both centres are small enough to walk around, but Kusadasi has more useful public transport. Its dolmuş minibuses run along the coast to the main beaches and inland to Selçuk, so you can reach Ephesus without a car. Hotels spread along the coast road can leave you a long way from town, though.

In Goreme you can walk to the Open Air Museum and the valley trailheads. Beyond that, the local buses are slow and infrequent, so tours, taxis or a hire car are the realistic way to reach the underground cities and Ihlara.

Kusadasi has more shops, though little of what they sell is special. The covered bazaar by the cruise port sells leather, carpets, jewellery, cotton towels and imitation designer goods, with a hard sell. The weekly market is better for olive oil, spices and dried figs.

Goreme's main street is mostly souvenirs, but the region has two real crafts: hand-knotted carpets and kilims, and the red-clay pottery of Avanos, where you can watch it being made on the wheel.

Overall the two cost about the same, but the money goes on different things. In Goreme, a guesthouse, local buses and walking the valleys keep a stay cheap, but boutique cave hotels and the dawn balloon flight can take up much of the budget.

In Kusadasi, lokanta meals, market food and dolmuş rides are cheap, and package hotels cost less than comparable resorts elsewhere on the Aegean. Beach clubs, harbour-front dining and entry to Ephesus and the other ancient sites add up over a week.

Neither town has a theatre or a concert season, and both put on Turkish-night dinner shows with folk dancing and belly dancing. Goreme also has the Sema ceremony of the whirling dervishes, held in an old caravanserai near Avanos, which makes a more memorable evening. Kusadasi has occasional open-air concerts in summer and cover bands in some bars.

In both towns, wellness mostly means a hammam run with visitors in mind. What differs is the setting. Goreme's calm comes from quiet evenings and long terrace breakfasts over the rocks, though pre-dawn balloon starts and packed tour days can get in the way of rest. Kusadasi is loud in high summer, so for a restful stay pick a resort spa or the coves to the south in May, June or September.