Izmir or Kas?

Kas is the better place to swim. In Izmir you cannot swim off the city waterfront, so a beach day means an hour's drive to the shallow sand at Ilica on the Cesme peninsula or to the long family beaches at Gumuldur and Ozdere, and the northerly wind can make the sea feel cool.

In Kas you swim from wooden decks and rock platforms in town into deep, very clear water that is a few degrees warmer in late summer. For sand, Kaputas lies twenty minutes away at the foot of its gorge, Patara's dunes are within an hour, and boats from the harbour stop at coves no road reaches.

Izmir is much the better place to eat. It has its own Aegean cooking built on olive oil, wild greens and herbs, street classics such as boyoz, gevrek and kumru, the fish and spice lanes of Kemeraltı, modern bistros in Alsancak and wine from the Urla vineyards.

Kas serves the same kind of coastal meze, grilled fish and village breakfasts, often well. But there are only a few streets of restaurants, the menus repeat and the prices follow the yachts. You will eat well for a week, but over a fortnight it starts to feel the same.

Neither is a great sightseeing destination, but Izmir has a good deal more. The Roman Agora of ancient Smyrna, the walls of Kadifekale above the gulf, the Clock Tower on Konak Square, the caravanserais of Kemeraltı and two worthwhile museums fill a couple of days, even though the 1922 fire left the centre mostly modern.

In Kas there is a small Hellenistic theatre facing the sea, Lycian rock tombs in the cliff, the Lion Tomb and a whitewashed old quarter, all seen in a morning. Its important ancient sites lie outside the town.

Izmir has a proper night out and Kas does not. Evenings start with drinks on the Kordon at sunset and move on to the back lanes of Alsancak, where small bars and rock bars spill into the street until late. In summer the beach clubs of Alaçatı and Çeşme are an hour away.

Kas offers late dinners and cocktails on terraces above the harbour. In high summer a few places stay busy past midnight, and there are no clubs. It is a town for a drink with a view.

Kas is the better base for the outdoors, because steep mountains drop straight into some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean. It is a diving centre, the Lycian Way passes the town, and you can kayak over the drowned ruins at Kekova, paraglide down to the marina or wade up Saklikent gorge.

Izmir's outdoors is gentler and more spread out: the long promenade round the gulf, flamingos in the Gediz Delta, the cliffs of Karaburun and some of the best windsurfing in the Mediterranean at Alaçatı. Inland it has pine forest at Spil and winter skiing at Bozdağ, which Kas cannot offer.

Both are excellent bases for ancient sites, and Izmir has the edge in range and in famous names. Ephesus is an hour away by train, Pergamon and Sardis about two hours, and Priene, Miletus and Didyma make a full day out, with Şirince, Alaçatı and Old Foça for easier outings.

Kas looks to Lycia instead: Myra and the church of Saint Nicholas at Demre, Xanthos, Letoon and Patara to the west, and the sunken city at Kekova by boat. One thing Izmir cannot match is the short ferry to the Greek island of Kastellorizo.

Izmir is easier with children. The flat Kordon suits scooters, the Wildlife Park at Sasalı and Kültürpark fill a day, the ferries across the bay are an outing in themselves, and the shallow sand at Ilica is good for small swimmers.

Kas is calm and welcoming, but there is little made for children, the lanes are steep and in town you swim down ladders into deep water. It suits older children who snorkel or want to try diving best, and families with toddlers head to the sandy, gently shelving beaches at Patara or Kaputas.

Getting about is far simpler in Izmir, at least within the city. A metro, the İZBAN railway along the gulf, trams and buses all run on one card, and the ferries to Karşıyaka and Bostanlı are the nicest way across the bay. The centre walks well too, flat along the seafront from Konak to Alsancak. Against that, the city sprawls a long way round the water and the coastal roads jam at rush hour.

Kas is compact but steep, and the harbour, old quarter and swimming decks are close together. Beyond the town you rely on coastal minibuses and boats from the harbour. For the inland sites most people hire a car for the winding coast road.

Izmir has bigger and more practical shopping. Kemeraltı is a working bazaar where locals buy fabrics, copperware, leather and spices, Alsancak has boutiques and there are large malls. Olive oil soap and Urla wine are good things to take home.

Kas has a couple of lanes shaded by bougainvillea, with silver jewellery, linen, ceramics, kilims and a few galleries. It makes a pleasant evening browse but is not a reason to go.

Izmir is the cheaper place to stay. Street breakfasts, lokanta meals, local transport and the bay ferries cost little, and mid-range hotels are reasonably priced. Bills only climb at the meyhanes and in summer on the Cesme peninsula.

Kas is an upmarket small resort, and in summer its boutique hotels, harbour restaurants, dives and boat trips cost about what they would in southern Europe. Back-street pensions, pide bakeries and minibuses keep costs down, and prices are noticeably lower in spring and autumn.

For an evening of opera, ballet or a symphony concert, only Izmir is worth considering. The state opera and ballet perform in the historic Elhamra, the state symphony plays at the Ahmed Adnan Saygun Arts Centre, and each summer the International Izmir Festival stages concerts in the ancient theatre at Ephesus. Plays are in Turkish, though, and outside the festival the programme is mostly local.

Kas has no stage or concert hall at all. Performance there means musicians playing folk or acoustic sets in a bar on a summer evening, or the occasional concert in the little ancient theatre by the sea.

Anyone who wants to bathe rather than simply unwind should pick Izmir. The thermal springs at Balçova on its western edge were known in antiquity as the Baths of Agamemnon and still feed pools and hotels. Warm springs also rise near the shore at Ilıca, and a few old hammams in Kemeraltı still offer a scrub and steam. Its calm is a city's calm, found over tea on the Kordon.

Kas has no springs or historic bathhouses, only hammams and massage rooms in some peninsula hotels and yoga retreats in the hills in spring and autumn. What it gives you instead is quiet: long breakfasts, afternoons on a sun deck above the sea and none of the noise of the big resorts.