Jerusalem or Larnaca?

Larnaca is a proper beach town and Jerusalem is not. In Larnaca you can step from the old town onto the palm-lined sand at Finikoudes, try the beach bars of Mackenzie, or drive to the white sand of Ayia Napa and Protaras. The town beaches are more pleasant than beautiful, but swimming fits easily into any day.

From Jerusalem the sea is a day trip. You take the train to Tel Aviv for long sandy beaches, or go down to the Dead Sea to float on rocky, salty shores. Both are worth doing, but neither replaces a beach on the doorstep.

Jerusalem offers more range. Mahane Yehuda market turns from spice stalls into grills at night, Arab hummus counters and knafeh sit alongside Kurdish, Iraqi and Yemenite Jewish cooking, and the Judean Hills supply the wine. Do plan around kosher menus and the Shabbat closures in the west of the city.

Larnaca's food is good but simpler. Cypriot meze, fish by the harbour and village tavernas inland are the pleasures, with Commandaria to finish. Beyond that the seafront menus are written for visitors, and for variety you have to go to Nicosia or Limassol.

This is where the two differ most. Jerusalem's walled Old City puts the Western Wall, the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock within a square kilometre, with Bronze Age excavations below and the Israel Museum and Yad Vashem beyond the walls. It needs several days and repays them.

Larnaca's sights are fewer and quieter: the Byzantine church of Saint Lazarus, Hala Sultan Tekke by the Salt Lake, the remains of Phoenician Kition and the potteries of Skala. They are pleasant to see, and a day or two covers them.

Neither city is made for big nights out, but Jerusalem gives you a little more to do after dark. Once the stalls of Mahane Yehuda close, many of them turn into small bars and grills, there are pubs around Nahalat Shiva and Jaffa Road, and students keep a few places busy on weeknights. Friday evenings are quiet because of Shabbat, and for clubbing people take the train to Tel Aviv.

Larnaca's evenings are slower and depend on the season. In summer you get cocktails along the Finikoudes promenade and DJs at the Mackenzie Beach bars, but the town goes quiet in winter, and anyone after a club night heads to Ayia Napa.

The outdoors is about equally rewarding in both, but very different. Jerusalem sits between the wooded Judean Hills and the desert, so you get spring walks around Sataf and Ein Karem, the Wadi Qelt canyon, the oasis at Ein Gedi and a dawn climb up to Masada.

Larnaca's appeal is the coast and wildlife. Flamingos winter on the Salt Lake, the Zenobia wreck is a famous dive, and Cape Greco suits kayaking and snorkelling, with the Troodos forests further away. Divers will find nothing like this in Jerusalem.

Both make good bases, but Jerusalem has richer places within reach. Bethlehem lies just south, and Masada with Qumran, Jericho, old Jaffa, Caesarea and Acre add up to a dense chain of biblical and Crusader history. Some West Bank sites involve a checkpoint, so many visitors go with a guide.

From Larnaca you can explore Cyprus: divided Nicosia, Lefkara lace, Neolithic Choirokoitia, Kourion and, on a long day, the mosaics of Paphos. Most of these are much easier with a hire car.

Larnaca is the easier choice with children. The gently shelving town beach is safe for paddling, the promenade has playgrounds, the town is calm and the airport is minutes away. The flamingos, a camel park and the Ayia Napa waterpark round out the outings.

Jerusalem welcomes children warmly and has the Biblical Zoo, the aquarium and the Bloomfield Science Museum. Still, the stepped Old City lanes defeat a stroller and the holy sites ask for quiet, so it suits older children better than toddlers.

Jerusalem has the better public transport. A light rail runs past the Old City walls to Yad Vashem, buses cover the rest, and a fast train reaches Tel Aviv and the airport. The catch is Shabbat, when everything stops, and the hilly, stepped streets of the centre.

Larnaca's centre is small, flat and easy on foot, but beyond it you need a car. There is no railway and the buses are limited, so most visitors drive, on the left.

Jerusalem gives a shopper more to do. You can bargain for olive wood and spices in the Old City souq, buy Armenian painted ceramics and silver Judaica, and find the international brands on the Mamilla promenade. Larnaca's high streets are ordinary, and the best things to take home are Lefkara lace and filigree, Skala pottery and halloumi. Neither city is a fashion destination.

Larnaca is clearly the cheaper stay. Taverna meals are generous, buses and sights cost little, and from November to March rooms become much cheaper, although a hire car adds to the bill.

Jerusalem is expensive for hotels, sit-down meals and drinks, especially around the festivals. Free holy sites, falafel and market lunches, and eating in the Arab neighbourhoods help, but a comfortable trip still costs a lot.

Jerusalem has the fuller calendar, with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Theatre, the Israel Festival and summer concerts in the Sultan's Pool below the walls, although most drama is in Hebrew. Larnaca has little beyond Greek plays at the municipal theatre, the summer festival at the fort and bouzouki nights in tavernas.

Neither is a spa destination, but they rest you in different ways. Jerusalem is tense and crowded, and its real wellness draw is an hour away at the Dead Sea, with mineral mud and buoyant water, plus the strange calm of Shabbat. Larnaca's spas are in resort hotels, and its strength is simply slowness: long coffees by the sea and quiet, mild winters.