Kusadasi or Marmaris?

Both are swimming resorts first, and on beaches alone there is little to choose between them. Kusadasi's town beaches are proper sand: Ladies Beach by the centre, Long Beach further south, and the wide, quieter sweep of Pamucak to the north. For the clearest water, go to the pine-backed coves of the Dilek Peninsula.

The Marmaris promenade has coarse sand and shingle instead. However, the enclosed bay keeps the water calm, and by late summer it is a couple of degrees warmer. Its best swimming is mostly reached by boat or water taxi: the bay's coves, Icmeler and Turunc, and the fine sand of Sedir Island.

Kusadasi eats better, though neither town is a reason to travel for food. In the fish restaurants and meyhanes of Kaleiçi you can spend a whole evening over meze and rakı away from the harbour front, and the plain lunchtime lokantas cook for locals.

In Marmaris, resort menus cover more of the town, and good Turkish cooking takes more searching for, in the harbour fish restaurants and the pide houses behind the promenade. Its local speciality is pine honey from the surrounding forests. In both towns the weekly market is a better food experience than most of the restaurants.

Neither town will keep a sightseer busy for long. Kusadasi has slightly more to look at: the little fortress on Pigeon Island, the fortified Ottoman caravanserai in the centre and the old Kaleiçi lanes with their mosque and hammam. Marmaris has its hilltop castle with a modest archaeological museum and an old quarter of whitewashed stepped lanes, worth an hour for the marina views. In both towns, the history lies outside town.

Both towns have a Bar Street, but the one in Marmaris is louder and runs later. It is a lane of open-fronted clubs with laser shows and foam parties, filling up after midnight and going on until nearly dawn, with a young, mostly British crowd. Calmer cocktail bars line the marina.

Kusadasi offers more of a mix, with pubs, karaoke and dance bars by the harbour and large open-air clubs out by Long Beach. A long dinner in Kaleiçi is the gentler alternative. In both towns the scene largely shuts down outside summer.

Marmaris has the stronger natural setting. Pine-covered hills almost ring its bay, and beyond them the Bozburun and Datca peninsulas form a barely built-up run of headlands, inlets and islands, one of Turkey's great sailing grounds. Gulet cruises, the Carian Trail, diving and sea kayaking all start here, and the loggerhead turtle beach near Dalyan is within reach.

Kusadasi's best landscape is concentrated in the Dilek Peninsula national park, with its canyon walk, wild horses and the Büyük Menderes delta. The granite Latmos mountains above Lake Bafa add rockier hiking. It is good country for a day out, but the wild coast does not start on your doorstep as it does in Marmaris.

This is where Kusadasi pulls well ahead. Ephesus is about twenty minutes away, with Selçuk, the Basilica of St John and the House of the Virgin Mary next to it, and Şirince's hill village a short drive further. Priene, Miletus and Didyma make a second full day among ancient cities, and in summer the ferry crosses to Samos.

Marmaris has one excellent outing: the ferry to Rhodes and its walled medieval town. Dalyan's river boats beneath Lycian rock tombs make another good day. Beyond those, its trips are mostly to quiet peninsula villages, plus the long drive to Knidos, rather than a run of major sites.

For a beach-and-pool family trip the two are evenly matched. Both have kids' clubs and water parks, children are made welcome everywhere, and beyond the beach there is little made for children in either. Kusadasi has sandy town beaches with gentle entry and two water parks. Marmaris has a calm, shallow bay and boat trips with swimming stops that older children love, and families are best based in Icmeler or Armutalan, away from the noise of Bar Street.

Both towns run on dolmuş minibuses, and both need a hire car or a tour to see the wider area. Kusadasi's great asset is the direct dolmuş to Selçuk, which puts Ephesus within easy reach. Its centre climbs steeply, though, and many hotels sit far out on the coast road.

Marmaris is easier within its bay. A flat promenade several kilometres long is good for walking or cycling, and water taxis cross to Icmeler and Turunc. Outside the bay, the peninsula villages and Dalyan lie along winding mountain roads with little bus service.

The bazaars sell much the same in both towns: leather jackets, carpets, Turkish delight and copy designer goods, with haggling expected. Kusadasi's shops are geared to cruise passengers, and the sales pitch is more persistent. Marmaris has the better souvenirs to take home, in pine honey, natural sponges, olive oil soap and peshtemal towels. In both towns the weekly market rewards a visit more than the bazaar.

Overall costs are much the same. Both have plenty of package and all-inclusive hotels at fair prices, cheap dolmuş rides and inexpensive lokanta meals away from the front, and both charge tourist prices on the seafront and for imported drinks.

Where the extra money goes is different. In Kusadasi it is site entry, charged at rates set for foreign visitors, which adds up over Ephesus and the Ionian cities. In Marmaris it is organised boat and jeep trips and nights on Bar Street, so compare the trips before you book.

Neither town has a theatre, concert hall or performance season, so this should not sway the choice. Live entertainment in both means Turkish-night dinner shows with folk and belly dancing, cover bands in bars and the odd summer concert. In Marmaris those concerts are held in an open-air amphitheatre.

The hammam is the main way to unwind in both towns, mostly in hotel or tourist form. Kusadasi has a historic Turkish bath in its old quarter. Marmaris has more hammams spread across town, plus the mud baths and hot springs near Dalyan for half a day of soaking.

For real quiet in Kusadasi, stay in the hotels outside town or head for the southern coves in May, June or September. Marmaris has calmer Icmeler and, slower still, the peninsula villages of Turunc, Selimiye and Bozburun.