Goreme or Limassol?

Here the two cities are as far apart as they can be. Goreme has no beach life at all. The Kizilirmak at Avanos is not for swimming, and the only place to swim is a cave-hotel pool, so travellers who want the sea usually add a few days on the Turkish coast.

Limassol is built around the sea. Its city beaches from Dasoudi to Amathus are grey sand or shingle and more practical than pretty, but the water is calm and warm for half the year. Governor's Beach under its chalk cliffs, the open bay at Kourion and the sheltered cove at Pissouri are better beaches within easy reach.

Limassol eats better and with more range. A Cypriot meze of halloumi, village sausage, kleftiko and charcoal souvla makes a whole evening, fish tavernas near the old port grill the day's catch, and the covered municipal market and old-town coffee shops add local flavour. The best cooking is away from the seafront, in the old town and the hill villages.

Goreme's food is pleasant but limited. The drama of testi kebab cracked open at the table, manti and gozleme carry a couple of nights before the village menus start to look the same. Both places do have their own wine. Cappadocia's volcanic soils give local reds and whites, while Limassol's vineyard villages make Xynisteri, Maratheftiko and the old sweet Commandaria.

Goreme has the stronger sights within walking distance. The Open Air Museum is a whole monastic valley of rock-cut Byzantine churches, and the frescoes in the Dark Church and Tokali Church are among the finest in the region. The fairy-chimney houses and dovecotes of the village itself make it all hang together, and it takes a day or two to see properly.

Limassol's own heritage is thinner. There is the small medieval castle and its museum, the old mixed Greek and Turkish quarter, the district archaeological museum and the ruins of Amathus with their sunken harbour on the city's edge. Anyone after grand architecture has to drive out of town.

Limassol has a real evening scene, while Goreme barely has one. In Limassol the old-town lanes around Saripolou Square fill with people drinking outside until the early hours, the marina has smarter cocktail bars, and in summer the beach bars and a few big clubs on the tourist strip stay open past midnight. It suits relaxed late nights more than serious clubbing.

In Goreme the dawn balloon launches set the clock. A glass of local wine or raki on a terrace looking over the lit rocks is about as late as it gets, and there are no clubs.

Goreme's outdoors starts at the edge of the village. Rose, Red, Love, Pigeon and Zemi valleys offer hours of walking among cones and ridges of tuff, horse and bike trails cross the same ground, and the sunrise balloons over the valleys are the region's signature experience. It is one landscape, with no water and little forest, but it is a remarkable one.

Limassol's nature is more varied but less striking up close. Within about an hour you can walk under black pine near Mount Olympos or to the Caledonia waterfall, and closer in there are flamingos on the Akrotiri salt lake through winter, cliff walks at Cape Aspro and diving and wind sports along the coast. In both places midsummer is too hot for walking in the lowlands.

Limassol has the slight edge because its outings vary more. Kourion and the Kolossi tower lie just west, the Paphos mosaics and Tombs of the Kings are about forty-five minutes on, and inland there are the painted churches of Troodos and the wine village of Omodos. Nicosia, about an hour away, lets you cross the Green Line in a divided capital.

Goreme's list is just as convenient, with the underground cities of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, Uchisar's citadel, the cave villages of Zelve and Cavusin and the potters of Avanos mostly under an hour away. However, much of it repeats the theme of rock-cut heritage, and only Seljuk Kayseri changes the subject.

Limassol is the easier family choice, especially with young children. The beaches shelve gently into calm water, the seafront promenade suits pushchairs and scooters, and there are resort kids' clubs, a waterpark to the west and a small zoo. Midsummer heat means planning the day around mornings and the sea.

Goreme is a better fit for older children. Sleeping in a cave room, crawling through an underground city and riding through the valleys can be the highlight of their trip. Toddlers fare worse, with steep, unfenced paths, lanes that defeat buggies and minimum ages on balloon flights.

Both are easy on foot at their core and awkward beyond it. Goreme's village is tiny, with the Open Air Museum and valley trailheads within walking distance. Limassol stretches for kilometres along the coast, but the old town, castle and marina sit close together and the promenade links much of the rest.

The difference lies in what comes next. Goreme's slow local buses leave the underground cities and Ihlara to tours, taxis or a hired car, and the airports at Nevsehir and Kayseri are about an hour away. Limassol has coast-road buses and intercity coaches, but there is no railway on the island and inland buses are sparse, so a car, driven on the left, is what opens up the mountains and the outlying beaches.

Limassol is the better place for ordinary shopping, with chain stores on Anexartisias and Makarios Avenue, boutiques at the marina and malls on the edge of town. The best things to take home are halloumi, carob syrup and Commandaria, plus lace and silverwork from nearby Lefkara.

Goreme has souvenirs along its main street and a small weekly market, nothing more. What it does offer is the region's real crafts, hand-knotted carpets and kilims and the red-clay pottery of Avanos, made at the wheel while you watch.

Goreme is the cheaper base, but only if you choose to make it so. Cave-house hostels, simple guesthouses, roadside gozleme and free valley walks keep a basic stay modest. Boutique cave hotels, menus aimed at tourists, guided tours, entry fees and above all the dawn balloon flight can push the bill up quickly.

Limassol is among the dearer places in Cyprus. Beachfront hotels and the marina area charge Western European resort prices in summer. Family-run tavernas, cheap buses and modest site fees soften the bill, and coming outside the peak months makes the biggest difference to room prices.

Neither is a destination for performance, but Limassol has more of it. The Rialto and Pattihio theatres host drama, touring concerts and dance in the cooler months. In summer there are open-air concerts on the seafront and ancient Greek plays at Kourion's clifftop theatre at sunset, and the pre-Lent carnival brings parades to the streets.

In Goreme everything is staged for visitors. The Turkish night dinner shows in cave venues are lively but touristy. The Sema ceremony of the whirling dervishes in a caravanserai near Avanos is the more rewarding evening.

Both are equally restful, and neither has a thermal bathing tradition of its own. Goreme's calm comes from quiet evenings, long terrace breakfasts over the rocks and village hammams with the classic scrub and foam massage, though pre-dawn starts and busy tour days work against it.

Limassol relies on well-equipped resort spas along the coast and a slow Mediterranean rhythm of long lunches and evening walks on the promenade. For real stillness, visitors go up to the pine-scented hill villages of Troodos.