Izmir or Kalambaka?

Neither place has swimming on its doorstep, but the gap is wide. From Izmir, the sandy shallows of Ilica and the clearer coves around Altinkum are about an hour away on the Cesme peninsula. Gumuldur and Ozdere have long sandy strips to the south, so beach days fit easily into a city stay.

Kalambaka sits inland on the edge of the Thessalian plain, more than two hours from the sea. Swimming there means a hotel pool or a chilly river in the Pindos, so beach time belongs on another part of the trip.

Izmir has by far the better food. Aegean cooking here is built on olive oil, wild greens and fish, eaten as long meze spreads with raki. The city has its own street food in boyoz, gevrek and kumru, along with Kemeraltı's market lanes and wine from Urla.

Kalambaka offers honest central Greek taverna food: grilled lamb and pork, bean soups, pies and tsipouro, often with a view of the Meteora pillars at sunset. It is satisfying for a couple of nights, but the menus repeat and there is no market or café culture to explore.

The two are well matched for sightseeing, but in quite different ways. Kalambaka has a single major attraction: six working monasteries on sheer rock, with frescoed churches, old refectories and collections of icons and manuscripts. Two days covers them well, and modest dress is required.

In Izmir the sights are spread out and come from different periods. There is the Roman Agora of ancient Smyrna, Kadifekale above the gulf, the Clock Tower on Konak Square and the Ottoman hans of Kemeraltı. The fire of 1922 left the centre largely modern, so it is better for wandering than for great monuments.

Izmir is the place to go out. Evenings begin with a drink on the Kordon at sunset and carry on in the packed back lanes of Alsancak until late. In summer, the beach clubs of Alaçatı and Çeşme are an hour to the west.

Kalambaka winds down after dinner, and a drink at a café-bar on the central square is the usual end to the night. For anything livelier, Trikala's bar street is half an hour's drive away.

Kalambaka has the more striking outdoors. The Meteora pillars begin at the edge of town, monks' footpaths lead through oak woods to the clifftops, and the rocks are a well-known climbing area. West of town, the Pindos add fir forests and rafting in the Aspropotamos valley.

Izmir's outdoors is mostly about the water: the promenade round the gulf, flamingos in the Gediz Delta, and the steady wind at Alaçatı, one of the Mediterranean's best places for windsurfing. Mountain walking at Spil and Bozdağ takes a drive of one to two hours.

Izmir is one of the best bases anywhere for ancient sites. Ephesus is about an hour away by train, Pergamon and Sardis are around two hours, and Priene, Miletus and Didyma make a long day to the south. Şirince, Alaçatı and Old Foça make lighter outings.

From Kalambaka the options are pleasant rather than grand: Trikala's Varousi quarter, the stone village of Metsovo over the Pindos, and Ioannina with its castle quarter on the lake. A hire car helps in both places, but Kalambaka's sparse buses make one almost essential.

Izmir is the easier choice with children. The flat Kordon is good for scooters, and the Wildlife Park at Sasalı, Kültürpark's small fun fair and cheap ferry rides fill the days. Ilica's shallow, sandy water suits small swimmers.

Kalambaka can excite older children who can hike or try a beginners' climb. The monasteries, though, mean long flights of steps, hushed rooms and dress rules, so families usually find one or two nights enough.

Izmir has a full city network: a metro, İZBAN trains along the gulf, trams, buses and bay ferries, all on one card. The walk from Konak to Alsancak is flat and pleasant. The drawbacks are the city's size and heavy rush-hour traffic on the coastal roads.

You can cross Kalambaka on foot in a quarter of an hour, but the monasteries are spread along a winding road above town, and the bus up is infrequent. Fit walkers can climb the old paths in about an hour. Everyone else needs taxis, a tour or a car.

Kemeraltı makes Izmir the place to shop. It is a large working bazaar of lanes and old hans where locals buy fabrics, copperware, leather and olive oil soaps, and Alsancak adds boutiques. The city also has several large malls.

Kalambaka has a street of souvenir shops and the monasteries' own icons, and its honey, herbs and tsipouro are the best things to take home. An hour is plenty.

Both are good value, but different things raise the bill. In Izmir, street breakfasts, lokanta meals and the ferries cost little. Seafood dinners with heavily taxed alcohol, Cesme in summer and entry to Ephesus are what push spending up.

In Kalambaka, guesthouses and tavernas are cheap and monastery entry fees are small. Rooms facing the rocks, Orthodox Easter and the car or tours needed to reach the sights add to the total.

Izmir has a proper programme. The State Opera and Ballet performs at the historic Elhamra theatre, the State Symphony plays at the Ahmed Adnan Saygun Arts Centre, and the International Izmir Festival brings summer concerts to the theatre at Ephesus. Theatre is in Turkish, so visitors who don't speak it will rely on music and the live-music bars of Alsancak.

Kalambaka has little beyond the odd summer concert or a musician in a taverna. Byzantine chant at a monastery service is moving to hear, but it is worship, not a performance.

Bathing in Izmir goes back to antiquity. The Balçova hot springs were known as the Baths of Agamemnon, Ilıca has warm springs near the shore, and the old hammams of Kemeraltı still offer a scrub and steam. Slow evenings over tea on the Kordon add to the calm.

Kalambaka has no thermal baths or hammams and only a few hotel spas. Its calm comes from a town that goes to bed early and the quiet light on the rocks at dawn and dusk, which is restful for a couple of nights.