Goreme or Paphos?

This is the widest gap between the two. Goreme is a long day's drive from any coast and the river near Avanos is not for swimming, so a cave-hotel pool is the only option. Many visitors add a few days on the Turkish coast for that reason.

In Paphos the sea is the main attraction. The town beaches are short and often rocky, but Coral Bay's shallow sand is about 13km away, Lara Bay offers undeveloped shore on the Akamas, and the water stays warm into late autumn.

Paphos eats better. Goreme's terraces serve much the same menu of testi kebab cracked open at the table, manti and gozleme, and after a couple of nights it repeats itself.

A Cypriot meze is a fuller experience: halloumi, village sausage, kleftiko and grilled fish, best in the family tavernas of Ktima and the hill villages. Both places pour local wine, Cappadocian vintages from volcanic soil against the Laona and Kathikas wines, but in Paphos it is worth avoiding the harbour strip and eating inland.

Goreme's highlight is a single monastic valley, the Open Air Museum, where the Dark Church and Tokali Church keep remarkably vivid Byzantine frescoes. Add the fairy-chimney houses and dovecotes of the village and a day or two is enough.

Paphos has more to see, and it spans more centuries. The Roman floor mosaics of the House of Dionysus are among the finest in the Mediterranean. Around them are an odeon, the Hellenistic Tombs of the Kings, the harbour castle, St Paul's Pillar and the district museum in Ktima, which together fill two or three days.

Goreme has almost no nightlife. Balloon launches before dawn send most visitors to bed after dinner, and a glass of raki or local wine on a terrace is the whole evening.

Paphos has Bar Street in Kato Paphos, with pubs, karaoke and a few clubs open into the small hours in summer, as well as quieter cocktails on the seafront. The scene is seasonal, though, and largely shut from November to March.

Both are strong for the outdoors, but in very different ways. Goreme offers one landscape, right at the door: Rose, Red, Love and Pigeon valleys start at the edge of the village, with hours of walking among pinnacles and dawn balloons above. Horses, bikes and ATVs use the same ground.

The countryside around Paphos is more varied but needs a car. You get roadless Akamas coast with nesting turtles, the narrow Avakas Gorge, mouflon in the Paphos Forest and pine trails in the Troodos, plus diving, snorkelling and kayaking, which Goreme cannot offer.

Goreme has the edge because so much is packed so close. Derinkuyu and Kaymakli's underground cities, Uchisar's citadel, the cave villages of Zelve and Cavusin and the potters of Avanos are all less than an hour away, although many outings are variations on rock-cut heritage.

From Paphos the range is broader but the drives are longer: Kourion on its cliff, the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, Limassol, the painted Troodos churches and Nicosia's divided walled centre about an hour and a half away.

Paphos is much easier with children. Coral Bay's gentle shallows, kids' clubs in the resorts, a water park, a zoo and boat trips fill a week, and tavernas welcome little ones late into the evening.

Goreme suits older children for a few days of cave rooms, underground tunnels and horse rides. For toddlers it is difficult, with steep valley paths, buggy-unfriendly lanes and age limits on balloons.

In both places you can walk the centre but need wheels for the rest. Goreme is a tiny village where the Open Air Museum and the valley trailheads are on foot, but slow, infrequent buses mean most people use tours, taxis or a hired car for the outlying sites.

Paphos is more spread out, with hotels strung along the coast and a steep climb up to Ktima. Buses reach Coral Bay, but most visitors hire a car and drive on the left.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each has its own craft rather than stores. In Goreme that means hand-knotted carpets and kilims, plus the red-clay pottery made at Avanos.

Paphos offers lace, baskets and produce in the old covered market in Ktima, and honey, carob and wine in the villages where they are made.

Goreme can be slightly cheaper, but only if you keep to hostels, gozleme stalls and walking. Boutique cave hotels, menus aimed at visitors, tours and above all the balloon flight push the cost up quickly.

Paphos is priced like a eurozone resort. Meze dinners are generous for the money and the ancient sites are cheap, but summer seafront hotels and near-essential car hire add up. Winter there is noticeably cheaper.

Paphos is ahead, mainly because of the long-running Aphrodite Festival, which stages open-air opera in front of the harbour castle in early autumn, and the occasional performance in the ancient odeon.

Goreme's live performances are put on for visitors: Turkish dinner shows in cave venues and, more rewarding, the whirling dervish Sema in a caravanserai near Avanos.

Both are equally restful, in different ways. Goreme offers village hammams with steam and scrub, slow breakfasts overlooking the rocks and silent evenings, but pre-dawn starts and full tour days take something away.

In Paphos, relaxation comes from the large resort spas, promenade walks and quiet inland villages, and it is calmest once the summer crowds have left.