Kas or Limassol?

These two are about equal for the sea, but you get into the water in very different ways. In Kas you mostly swim from wooden decks and rock platforms on the peninsula, straight into deep, very clear blue water, and the two small beaches are pebble. For sand you drive or take a minibus to Kaputas or the long dune beach at Patara.

Limassol is the reverse: a long string of easy grey sand and shingle beaches right along the city, with sunbeds and shallow, calm water. For more scenery you head out to the chalk cliffs at Governor's Beach or the bay below Kourion. Choose Kas for snorkelling and clear water, Limassol for wading in and a sunbed close to your hotel.

Limassol eats better and with more variety. Its meze runs to a dozen or more dishes, from halloumi to kleftiko and souvla, and the best of it is in family tavernas in the old town and the hill villages. Behind the city are the wine villages, which make Xynisteri, Maratheftiko and the sweet Commandaria, and the covered market and old coffee shops add more.

Kas has its pleasures, such as cold mezes and rakı at harbour tables and long village breakfasts with honey and gözleme. But a few streets of restaurants cook much the same menu, and after several nights it starts to repeat.

Neither town is a culture destination, but Limassol has a little more within the city. It has the medieval castle and its museum, an old quarter of mosques and Orthodox churches from its mixed Greek and Turkish past, and the district archaeological museum. The ruins of Amathus run up the hill at the eastern edge of the city.

Kas has a small Hellenistic theatre facing the sea, rock tombs in the cliff and the Lion Tomb at the top of the shopping lane, and you can see it all in a morning. In both places the bigger sites are outside town.

Limassol is clearly the place for a night out. On warm nights the bars around Saripolou Square fill the old-town lanes until the early hours, the marina has smarter lounge bars, and in summer a few large clubs on the tourist strip stay open past midnight.

Kas has no clubs worth the name. The evening is a late dinner and then a cocktail on a terrace above the harbour with divers and people off the yachts, and outside summer the town goes to bed early.

Kas has the more dramatic outdoors, because the mountains drop straight into the sea there. The water is clear enough to make it a serious diving centre, with caves, amphorae and wrecks a short boat ride out. On land there is the Lycian Way along the cliffs, kayaking at Kekova, paragliding down to the marina and the cold wade up Saklikent gorge.

Limassol's strength is height. The Troodos pines and the trails around Mount Olympos are cool when the coast is hot, and the summit sometimes gets snow for skiing. Nearer the city, flamingos winter on the Akrotiri salt lake.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is in the kind of outings. From Kas everything is ancient Lycia plus the sea. You can take a ferry to the Greek island of Kastellorizo, a boat to the sunken city and castle village at Kekova, and visit Myra, Xanthos and Patara by road.

Limassol's outings cover more periods: Neolithic Choirokoitia, Kourion on its cliff, the mosaics of Paphos, the painted Byzantine churches of the Troodos and the divided capital of Nicosia across the Green Line. Most of these need a car.

Limassol is the easier family choice. Its beaches slope gently into warm, calm water, the promenade suits pushchairs, and the resort hotels have pools and kids' clubs. There is also a waterpark a short drive away and a small zoo in the municipal gardens.

Kas is welcoming and safe, but in town children swim from ladders into deep water and the lanes are steep. It is better for older children who can snorkel or try diving, with trips to the sand at Patara for younger ones.

Kas is the simpler place to get around. The harbour, old quarter and swimming decks are all within a short, if hilly, walk. Minibuses run along the coast to Kalkan, Kaputas, Patara and Demre, and boats leave from the harbour.

Limassol stretches many kilometres along the shore. The old town and marina are walkable and buses run along the coast road, but there is no railway on the island and inland buses are few, so most outings mean a hire car or taxis, with driving on the left.

Limassol gives you more to do with a shopping afternoon. It has the high-street and fashion chains of Anexartisias and Makarios Avenue, marina boutiques and the malls on the edge of town. It also has good things to take home, such as Commandaria, carob syrup and halloumi, plus Lefkara lace and silver a short drive away.

Kas has one or two bougainvillea-shaded lanes of silver jewellery, linen, ceramics and kilims. They are pleasant for a browse after dinner and not much more.

Costs are much the same in both, and both are expensive at the top end in summer: boutique hotels and harbourside dinners in Kas, beachfront hotels and marina cocktails in Limassol. The ways to save differ. In Kas it is back-street pensions, pide bakeries and the minibuses. In Limassol it is family-taverna meze, the buses and cheap entry to the archaeological sites. Both cost noticeably less outside high summer.

Limassol has more to offer here, though it is still small. The restored Rialto and Pattihio theatres put on drama, dance and touring concerts in the cooler months. In summer ancient plays are staged at Kourion above the sea at sunset, and the pre-Lenten carnival fills the streets.

Kas has musicians in its bars on summer evenings and an occasional concert in its little seaside theatre, with no regular programme.

Neither has thermal springs or an old bathing tradition, so the two come out about even. In Kas the restful part is the small town itself: quiet sun decks above the water, hammams in a few peninsula hotels and yoga retreats in the hills in spring and autumn. Limassol relies on the large, well-equipped spas of its coastal resort hotels, and for real quiet people go up to the pine air of the Troodos villages.