Istanbul or Tashkent?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Istanbul at least has the sea. The sandy Black Sea beaches at Kilyos and Sile are about an hour away and warm enough in high summer, although you should respect the undertow. The Princes' Islands add pebbly coves a ferry ride from the centre.

Tashkent is in a doubly landlocked country, so swimming means hotel pools, water parks or a long drive to the Charvak reservoir. Its cool mountain water is a welcome break from the heat, but it is a lake, not the seaside.

Istanbul is one of the great eating cities, with cooking from every region of Turkey. You can have meze and rakı in a Beyoglu meyhane, stews from a lokanta at lunch, fish sandwiches by the Galata Bridge and a slow graze through Kadikoy's market streets.

Tashkent's food is narrower. It centres on plov from communal cauldrons at midday, with samsa, lagman and the halls of bread and dried fruit at Chorsu Bazaar. It is heavy on meat and hard for vegetarians, and there is far less choice in the evening than in Istanbul.

Istanbul's historic peninsula puts Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the Basilica Cistern a few minutes' walk from one another, with the Archaeology Museums just below the palace walls. Beyond them are Sinan's Süleymaniye, the Chora mosaics, the Theodosian land walls and the palaces along the Bosphorus, enough to fill a week of sightseeing.

Tashkent lost most of its old town in the 1966 earthquake and was rebuilt with broad Soviet avenues and modernist blocks, so its heritage survives in pockets. There is the Hazrat Imam complex with one of the oldest surviving Qurans, the Kukeldash Madrasa above Chorsu and the carved, painted rooms of the Museum of Applied Arts. Two or three days cover it, and the great Timurid monuments are in Samarkand.

Istanbul's nightlife is big and goes on late. It runs from rooftop bars and singing meyhanes off Istiklal Avenue to the cheaper bar streets of Kadikoy and Moda, and in summer to clubs on the Bosphorus that stay open until dawn.

Tashkent is much quieter, with pubs, beer gardens, karaoke and long dinners around Amir Timur Square, and most places close around midnight. Its summer terraces are pleasant, but anyone planning a real night out should choose Istanbul.

Istanbul's outdoors is the Bosphorus itself. There are shoreline walks at Bebek and Rumeli Hisari, tulip-filled parks in April, Belgrad Forest and the pine-covered Princes' Islands. All of it is pleasant but gentle, and there are no mountains nearby.

Tashkent itself is flat and hot, but the western Tian Shan begins about an hour and a half away. There you can walk the ridges of the Ugam-Chatkal National Park, ride horses above Charvak, or ski at Chimgan and Amirsoy in winter. For real landscape, Tashkent has the edge.

Istanbul's outings mostly go by boat, while Tashkent's best one goes by train. Ferries run from Istanbul to the car-free Princes' Islands or up the Bosphorus to the fishing village and Genoese castle at Anadolu Kavagi. Bursa, the first Ottoman capital, is about two hours away by fast ferry and bus, while Edirne and Iznik make long days, and the sheer size of the city makes every exit slow.

From Tashkent, the high-speed train reaches Samarkand, with the Registan and the Shah-i-Zinda, in just over two hours, though a night there does it more justice. Beyond that one great trip, outings lead to the Chimgan mountains and the Charvak reservoir rather than to other towns.

People in both cities make a fuss of children, so the difference is in what there is to do and how tiring it is. Istanbul offers more: ferry rides, the submarine and trains at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Miniaturk and large aquariums. Crowds, steep cobbles and pavements that are hard going with a pushchair take their toll.

Tashkent has a zoo, amusement and water parks, and big parks full of local families in the evening. Its spread-out avenues and summer days above 35°C are hard on small children, though. Cheap taxis help, and spring or autumn are much easier.

Istanbul is hilly and divided by water, while Tashkent is flat and spread out. In Istanbul, one rechargeable card covers the T1 tram through the old city, the metro, the funiculars, the Marmaray tunnel and the ferries, and crossing between continents by boat is a treat in itself. The historic peninsula, Galata and Beyoglu can be walked if you don't mind steep streets, but the tram is packed at rush hour and taxis crawl in traffic.

Tashkent's Soviet-scale avenues and long blocks make walking between sights slow, hot work. Its metro is clear and frequent, with stations close to the old town and the main squares, and cheap app taxis fill the gaps, so getting about is easier than the distances suggest.

Istanbul is one of the great shopping cities. It has the covered streets of the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar, designer boutiques in Nisantasi, antiques in Cukurcuma and flea markets in Kadikoy, and haggling is expected in the old markets.

In Tashkent, the shopping worth doing is at Chorsu and the madrasa workshops. Look for suzani, ikat, Rishtan ceramics and skullcaps, though they often cost less in the towns where they are made. Beyond that there are malls and chain stores, with few independent designers and almost no luxury shops.

Tashkent is clearly the cheaper stay. Bazaar meals, the metro, app taxis, museum entry and even opera seats cost little. Only the international business hotels are expensive.

Istanbul can be done cheaply if you live on simit, lokanta meals and ferries. But Sultanahmet and the Bosphorus shore push up hotel and restaurant prices, heavily taxed alcohol makes nights out costly, and entry fees at the major monuments add up for foreign visitors.

Istanbul has the broader scene. There is opera and ballet at the Ataturk Cultural Centre, summer jazz and music festivals in historic courtyards, Sema ceremonies in dervish lodges, and small rock and Anatolian folk venues in Beyoglu and Kadikoy.

Tashkent's highlight is one grand house, the Alisher Navoi Theatre. Tickets for its classic ballet and opera are easy to get, and its halls are decorated in the styles of different Uzbek regions. There are also philharmonic concerts and maqom singing. In both cities, most theatre is performed in languages few visitors speak.

Istanbul's sixteenth-century hammams are still working, several of them by Sinan, with star-pierced domes and heated marble slabs. A bath in one is among the best things to do in the city, and tea terraces in Kandilli or Emirgan offer calm away from the noise.

Tashkent has old bathhouses too, but bathing is not part of a visit there. Relaxing means long afternoons on a tea-house platform, walks in the Botanical Garden or, for a proper retreat, the mountain sanatoria around Chimgan.