Kas or Larnaca?

These two are about equal for the beach, but the swimming feels quite different. In Kas you climb down from wooden decks and concrete platforms on the peninsula into deep, very clear blue water, or use the two small pebble beaches by the harbour. For sand you go out of town, to Kaputas below its gorge or to the long dunes at Patara.

Larnaca puts sand right at the town's front door. Finikoudes has shallow, calm water you can wade far out into, and Mackenzie has beach bars, but both are pleasant rather than beautiful. The striking turquoise bays are near Ayia Napa and Protaras, up to an hour away.

Both serve a meze-based coastal cuisine and are fairly evenly matched, though the dishes differ. In Kas, evenings mean cold mezes, grilled fish and rakı by the harbour, and mornings mean village breakfasts with honey and gözleme, with herbs from the Lycian hills. But only a few streets of restaurants serve much the same food.

Larnaca's Cypriot meze is heartier, moving from halloumi and dips to sheftalia, souvla and kleftiko. Strong coffee in old kafeneia is part of daily life, and the best meals are often at village tavernas a short drive inland. Its seafront menus are aimed squarely at visitors.

Larnaca has more to see within the town itself. The ninth-century Church of Saint Lazarus with its carved iconostasis, the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque on the Salt Lake shore, the Phoenician foundations of Kition and a handful of museums take a day or two.

Kas, built over ancient Antiphellos, takes about a morning: the small theatre facing the sea, rock tombs in the cliff, the Lion Tomb and the whitewashed old quarter. Its important ancient sites lie outside the town.

Neither town is a party town, but Larnaca has more going on at night. In summer its promenade and back lanes fill with late cocktail bars, Mackenzie Beach has DJs and a younger crowd, and the clubs of Ayia Napa are about forty minutes away.

Kas evenings are slower: a late dinner, then a drink on a terrace above the sea with divers and yachting people. A few bars stay busy past midnight in high summer.

Kas is far stronger for the outdoors. It sits where steep mountains meet some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean, with reefs, caves, amphorae and wrecks a short boat ride from the harbour. The Lycian Way, kayaking at Kekova, paragliding from the mountain behind the town and wading up Saklikent gorge round it out.

Larnaca's country is low and dry. Its highlights are the flamingos on the Salt Lake in winter and the Zenobia wreck, a famous dive in its own right. Cape Greco's sea caves and the Troodos forests are an hour or more away.

Kas has the richer range of day trips. Within about an hour you reach Myra and the church of Saint Nicholas, Xanthos and Letoon, the ruins of Patara and the castle village of Simena. Kastellorizo is a short ferry ride, so you can spend a day on a Greek island.

Larnaca's strength is its central position on Cyprus. You can visit the divided capital Nicosia, the lace village of Lefkara, Neolithic Choirokoitia and Kourion above the sea, with Paphos and the painted Troodos churches as a long day out. Many of these are easier by car.

Larnaca suits families with small children much better. Finikoudes slopes very gently into the sea, the promenade has playgrounds and space to run, and the airport is so close that travel days stay short. The Salt Lake flamingos and the Ayia Napa waterpark make easy outings.

Kas is calm and welcoming, but children swim from ladders into deep water, the lanes are steep and there is little made for them. It works best for older children who can snorkel or try diving.

Getting around is about equally easy in both, with the same pattern: walk the centre, then rent a car for the wider area. The centre of Kas is compact but climbs steeply. Coastal minibuses and harbour boats cover a good deal, including Kekova and the Greek island, and the coast road twists all the way.

Larnaca's centre is flat and easy to walk, and the airport is next door. Cyprus has no railway and limited buses, though, and driving there is on the left.

Neither is a shopping destination, and what you find differs. Kas has a couple of pretty old-quarter lanes with silver jewellery, linen clothes, ceramics, kilims and small galleries.

Larnaca has ordinary high-street chains and a mall. Its more interesting buys are Lefkara lace and filigree, pottery from the Skala workshops, and a bottle of Commandaria.

Larnaca is a little kinder on the wallet. It is moderately priced, and generous taverna meze, cheap buses and free or modestly priced sights keep daily costs down, though a rental car adds up.

Kas is one of the more upmarket small resorts on the Turkish coast. Its boutique hotels, harbour restaurants, dives and boat trips cost much what they would in southern Europe, so the savings come from back-street pensions, pide bakeries and the minibuses. Both are noticeably cheaper outside summer.

In Kas, performance comes mostly by chance: musicians playing in bars on summer evenings, and now and then a concert in the small ancient theatre above the sea.

Larnaca offers a little more you can actually plan for. It has a municipal theatre with Greek-language plays, open-air music and dance at the fort during the summer festival, and live bouzouki in some tavernas at weekends. For orchestras or larger concerts, though, you would still go to Nicosia.

Both towns relax you through their pace rather than spa culture, and neither has historic baths or springs. In Kas, that means sun decks above the sea, hotel hammams on the peninsula and yoga retreats in the hills in spring and autumn.

Larnaca's spas are in the large resort hotels east of town. Its quieter appeal is a mild, sunny winter with long seafront coffees.