Izmir or Antalya?

Antalya has its beaches on the doorstep. Pebbly Konyaaltı runs under the mountains west of the centre, sandy Lara lies to the east, and you can even swim off the rocks below Kaleiçi. Within an hour, Kemer's pine-backed coves and Belek's long sands widen the choice, and the water is noticeably warmer.

Izmir's own waterfront faces a gulf you would not swim in. For a beach you travel about an hour to Ilica's shallow sand, the wilder coves of the Cesme peninsula, or the long family strips at Gumuldur and Ozdere. It is a fine coast for a day out, but it does not shape the stay the way Antalya's coast does.

Izmir is the better place to eat. Its Aegean cooking is built on olive oil, herbs and wild greens, and an evening at a meyhane, with cold meze, fish and raki, is a ritual in itself. Street foods such as boyoz, gevrek and kumru give even breakfast a local character, and Kemeraltı's market lanes and the Urla vineyards add to it.

Antalya has good things of its own, notably piyaz with köfte, tandır lamb and fish from the Gulf. To find them you have to go to the plain kebab houses of the modern city, because Kaleiçi and the resort buffets cater mostly to visitors.

The two are evenly matched, but their history shows in different ways. Antalya's is compact and good-looking. Hadrian's Gate, the Ottoman houses of Kaleiçi and the Yivli Minare make a short, attractive walk, and the Antalya Museum, with its statues from Perge, is the best single sight in either city.

Izmir lost much of its old fabric in the fire of 1922, so its appeal lies in its layers rather than its looks. The Roman Agora of Smyrna, Kadifekale above the gulf, the caravanserais of Kemeraltı and the Asansör in Karataş tell the story of a trading port more than they please the eye.

Izmir has the better evenings out, and they belong to the city itself. People start with sunset drinks on the Kordon, then move into the small bars and rock bars of Alsancak's back streets, and in summer Alaçatı and Çeşme take over the big nights.

Going out in Antalya follows the season and is spread out. Kaleiçi's courtyard bars, the beach clubs on Konyaaltı and Lara and the resort discos are far enough apart that you need taxis between them, and in winter the scene shrinks to a few bars serving locals.

Antalya has the more dramatic setting, with the Taurus mountains falling straight into the sea. The Lycian Way, the cable car up Tahtalı Dağı, rafting in Köprülü Canyon and the Düden falls pouring into the sea give it a range of outdoor activity that Izmir cannot match.

Izmir's outdoors is gentler and centred on the water. There is the promenade round the gulf, the flamingos of the Gediz Delta, and the steady wind at Alaçatı, which makes Izmir the clear choice for windsurfers and kitesurfers. Spil Mountain and Bozdağ add hiking, but both are an hour or more away.

Both cities are surrounded by ancient sites, but Izmir has the most famous of them close at hand. Ephesus is about an hour away by train, Pergamon and Sardis are around two hours, and Şirince and Alaçatı add old villages and stone streets to the ruins.

Antalya's surroundings are excellent too, with Perge nearby, the theatre at Aspendos and Termessos high on its peak. Its bigger outings, to Demre and Kekova or to Alanya, mean long days and usually a car or a tour.

Antalya is built for families in a way Izmir is not. The resorts at Lara, Belek and Kemer have pools, slides and kids' clubs, Belek has a theme and water park, the city has a large aquarium, and Lara's shallow, sandy water is close by.

Izmir offers simpler pleasures: scooters on the Kordon, the Wildlife Park at Sasalı, Kültürpark and rides on the bay ferries, with Ilica's gentle beaches an hour away. Both cities are warm towards children, and both are hard going in the heat of July and August.

Izmir is the easier city to get around. You can walk on the flat from Konak to Alsancak, and a metro, the İZBAN line along the gulf and the ferries across the bay cover most of what a visitor needs. Trains also reach Selçuk, the station for Ephesus.

Antalya's trams link the airport, Kaleiçi and Konyaaltı. Beyond that, the resort coast stretches for tens of kilometres, and most of the ruins and trails need a hire car or a tour.

Izmir's Kemeraltı is a working bazaar where locals buy fabrics, copperware, olive oil soaps and spices. It has far less of the repetition you find in Kaleiçi's lanes of carpets and leather, and Alsancak's boutiques add some fashion.

In Antalya, the best things to buy come from the weekly neighbourhood markets rather than the old town, and beyond those, shopping mostly means malls. Neither city is a destination for luxury shopping.

Day to day the two cost much the same, but the money goes in different places. In Antalya, köfte houses and city transport are the cheap end, and all-inclusive packages can suit families. Kaleiçi, the beach clubs and seafront rooms in summer cost more.

Izmir is better value for an independent city stay, with cheap street breakfasts, lokanta meals and ferry rides. The costs come at meyhanes, where alcohol is heavily taxed, on the Cesme peninsula in summer, and in entry fees at Ephesus and the other sites.

Izmir has the fuller programme. State opera and ballet perform at the Elhamra, there is a state symphony orchestra, and each summer the International Izmir Festival brings concerts to the ancient theatre at Ephesus. Alsancak adds bars with live rock and jazz.

Antalya's state companies perform mostly in winter. Its one great draw is the summer opera and ballet festival on the Roman stage at Aspendos, and otherwise live music means bar bands and hotel shows.

The two are evenly matched for relaxation, but in different ways. In Antalya it comes through the old hammams of Kaleiçi and the large spas of the resorts at Lara, Belek and Kemer, which suits anyone who wants to be looked after without leaving the hotel.

Izmir's distinctive offer is thermal water. There are the Balçova springs, known in antiquity as the Baths of Agamemnon, and the warm springs at Ilıca, and unhurried evenings on the Kordon add to the calm.