Istanbul or Kusadasi?

Kusadasi has sand right on its doorstep. There is Ladies Beach in town, the long built-up stretch of Long Beach, the quieter sweep of Pamucak and the clear coves of the Dilek Peninsula half an hour south, so you can swim every day of your stay.

In Istanbul the sea is something to sit beside. Swimming means an hour's trip to Kilyos or Sile on the Black Sea, where strong currents mean you should only swim on lifeguarded stretches. The other option is a ferry to the small pebbly coves of the Princes' Islands.

Istanbul brings together cooking from the whole country, from Black Sea anchovies to south-eastern kebabs and Ottoman palace dishes, and the food alone is a reason to go. Think lokanta lunches, fish sandwiches by the Galata Bridge, grazing through Kadikoy's market streets and long meyhane nights in Beyoglu and Kumkapi.

Kusadasi sticks to Aegean cooking: grilled fish, olive-oil vegetables and wild greens. It does them well in Kaleiçi and the local lokantas. Along the resort strip, international menus and hotel buffets take over, and fine dining is hard to find.

This is the widest gap between the two. On Istanbul's historic peninsula alone, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern are all a short walk apart. Further out are the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Chora mosaics, the land walls and the Bosphorus palaces, enough for a week.

In Kusadasi itself there is the small fortress on Pigeon Island, an Ottoman caravanserai and a few old lanes in Kaleiçi, all seen in an hour or two. The town's real history lies outside it, at Ephesus.

Istanbul's nights are bigger and more varied. Beyoglu has rooftop bars over the Golden Horn and late meyhanes off Istiklal, Karakoy and Cihangir have cocktail and wine bars, and Kadikoy and Moda have cheaper bar streets. In summer, clubs on the Bosphorus shore at Ortakoy stay open until dawn.

Kusadasi's nightlife is concentrated in the pubs, karaoke and dance bars of Bar Street, plus a few open-air clubs near Long Beach and the marina, mostly for young package travellers. It is a summer scene that shrinks to a handful of bars out of season.

Kusadasi has wilder country close by. The Dilek Peninsula national park has a forested ridge, a canyon walk, wild horses and clear water for snorkelling and diving. About an hour away, the Latmos mountains above Lake Bafa offer rocky hiking.

Istanbul's outdoors is gentler and more urban: shoreline walks along the Bosphorus at Bebek and Rumeli Hisari, tulips in Emirgan in April, trails in Belgrad Forest and cycling on the Princes' Islands. There are no mountains nearby, and getting out of the city takes time.

Kusadasi is by far the better base for day trips. Ephesus is about twenty minutes away, with Selçuk, the House of the Virgin Mary and the village of Şirince next to it. Priene, Miletus and Didyma make another full day to the south, and in summer a ferry crosses to Samos.

From Istanbul the easy outings are by water: the Princes' Islands, or a cruise up the Bosphorus to Anadolu Kavagi. Bursa is the best town trip, about two hours away. Edirne and Iznik make long days, and Gallipoli and Troy need a night away.

For a simple beach vacation with children, Kusadasi is easier. It has sandy beaches that slope gently into the water, resort hotels with kids' clubs and pools, and two water parks at the edge of town. Its drawbacks are the midsummer heat and how little there is beyond the beach.

Istanbul has more variety, with ferry rides, the submarine and trains at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Miniaturk and large aquariums, and children get just as warm a welcome. But crowds, steep cobbles and long transfers make it more tiring, especially with a pushchair.

In Istanbul one rechargeable card covers the metro, the T1 tram, the Marmaray tunnel, the funiculars and the ferries, so you never need a car. Packed trams at rush hour and taxis stuck in traffic are the drawbacks.

Kusadasi's centre is small enough to walk, and dolmuş minibuses run to the beaches and to Selçuk for Ephesus. Beyond that, public transport is thin. Many hotels are spread along the coast road far from the centre, and Priene, Miletus, Didyma and the national park are much easier with a hire car or a tour.

Istanbul covers the whole range. There are the covered streets and hans of the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, lanes where each street still keeps to its own craft, Nisantasi's designer houses, Cukurcuma's antiques and Kadikoy's flea markets.

Kusadasi's shopping is built around the cruise port, with leather, carpets, jewellery and fake designer goods sold with a hard sell. The weekly market, with olive oil, dried figs and spices, is the better find, and there are few design shops or craft workshops.

The two cost about the same overall, and both reward eating where locals eat. In Istanbul the cheap things are transport, ferries and street food. In Kusadasi they are dolmuş fares, market produce and lokanta meals. In both, the entry fees for major sites add up.

Where the costs build up differs. In Istanbul it is hotels and restaurants in Sultanahmet, Galata and along the Bosphorus, and heavily taxed drinks, so staying in Kadikoy helps a lot. In Kusadasi it is harbour-front dining and beach clubs, while mid-range hotels and packages cost less than comparable resorts across the Aegean.

Istanbul has the state opera and ballet at the Ataturk Cultural Centre, modern concert halls, and summer music and jazz festivals in historic courtyards. You can also see Sema ceremonies in old dervish lodges and hear jazz and Anatolian folk in small venues in Beyoglu and Kadikoy, though most theatre is in Turkish.

Kusadasi has almost none of this. There are Turkish-night dinner shows in hotels, cover bands in bars and the odd open-air concert in summer, but no theatre or concert season.

Both towns have hammams, but Istanbul has the real thing. Several sixteenth-century baths by Sinan, such as the Cemberlitas and Haseki Hürrem, are still working, under marble domes with star-shaped skylights, and there are plainer neighbourhood baths too. The city around them is loud, so calm comes from the bath, tea on a terrace in Kandilli or a slow ferry.

Kusadasi has one historic bath in Kaleiçi and resort-hotel hammams that are mostly tourist versions of the tradition. Relaxing there depends more on the season: in May, June and September, the hotels outside town and the coves to the south are quiet.