Larnaca or Tel Aviv?

Both have warm sea from May into November, but in Tel Aviv the beach is part of the city itself. Pale sand runs the full length of the city from the old port down to Jaffa, with breakwaters, lifeguards and stretches that each have their own character. Locals use it morning and evening, and the late-summer sea is a degree or so warmer.

Larnaca's Finikoudes has greyer sand and is plainer to look at. Its shallow, very gentle water is a real plus with small children, and Mackenzie has beach bars under the flight path. For the island's postcard beaches, you have to travel out to Ayia Napa or Protaras.

Tel Aviv is by far the better city for eating. Hummus counters, sabich stands, Yemenite soups and Iraqi kubbeh sit alongside a confident chef-led scene of loud, shared-plate dining rooms, and the Carmel and Levinsky markets are made for grazing.

Larnaca does one thing well: the long Cypriot meze, best in the village tavernas inland or the fish tavernas near the old harbour. Beyond that, the seafront menus are generic and fine dining is hard to find.

Neither city is a major cultural destination, but Tel Aviv has more to fill your days. There are the Bauhaus streets of the White City, Jaffa's old stone quarter, the low houses of Neve Tzedek, and museums such as ANU and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Larnaca's sights fit into a day or two. The main ones are Saint Lazarus with its carved iconostasis, Hala Sultan Tekke beside the Salt Lake, the Phoenician foundations of Kition and the pottery workshops of Skala.

Tel Aviv treats going out as part of its identity. Wine and cocktail bars around Rothschild and Lilienblum spill onto the pavement past midnight, and house and techno clubs in basements in the south of the city run until dawn. Thursday is the big night, and the gay scene is among the most open in the region.

Larnaca's evenings are calmer: cocktails along the promenade and DJs at the Mackenzie beach bars in summer, and very quiet in winter. Anyone who wants proper clubs makes the trip to Ayia Napa.

The two are close here, but the outdoors means different things in each. Larnaca has the Zenobia, one of the best known wreck dives in the world, and flamingos on the Salt Lake in winter. The sea caves of Cape Greco and the pine-covered Troodos are both within reach.

Tel Aviv's outdoor life happens on and beside the water: surfing, kitesurfing, the coastal cycle path and the lawns of Yarkon Park. The Carmel ridge and the canyons of Ein Gedi are a drive away. In both cities, summer heat pushes serious walking into spring and autumn.

Both make good bases, but Tel Aviv's day trips are bigger and easier to reach by train. Jerusalem is about half an hour away, and Haifa's Baha'i Gardens, Roman Caesarea and Crusader Acre are close too, with Masada and the Dead Sea filling a long day. Public transport stops for Shabbat, so Saturday trips need a car or a tour.

From Larnaca you can easily reach the divided old town of Nicosia, Lefkara, Choirokoitia and Stavrovouni, and Kourion or Paphos on a longer drive. Here a hire car does most of the work.

Both are easy with children, and Tel Aviv is a step ahead on things to do. It has Luna Park in Yarkon Park, the Ramat Gan Safari and the Children's Museum in Holon, and children are welcome at restaurant tables late into the evening.

Larnaca's strength is simplicity: a gently shelving town beach, a small, calm town and an airport minutes away. Outings are fewer, mainly the camel park, the flamingos and the waterpark at Ayia Napa.

Both centres are flat and easy to walk, but Tel Aviv is much better once you go further. It has a light-rail line, a dense bus network, bike-share and fast trains to Jerusalem and Haifa, although almost all of it stops for Shabbat.

Cyprus has no railway. Beyond Larnaca's compact seafront and old town, most visitors rely on a hire car and drive on the left.

Tel Aviv gives you more reason to browse. You'll find Israeli designers along Dizengoff and Sheinkin, the Nahalat Binyamin crafts market, and the flea market and vintage studios of Jaffa, though prices are high. Larnaca's high street is ordinary, and its best buys are crafts and food: Lefkara lace and silver, pottery from Skala and a bottle of Commandaria.

Larnaca is much the cheaper stay. Taverna meze is generous for what you pay, sights cost little, and rooms get much cheaper from November to March, although a hire car adds to the bill.

Tel Aviv is among the most expensive cities in the Mediterranean, with costly hotels, restaurant meals and cocktails. Street food, the free beaches and walking the White City keep a day manageable, but never cheap.

Tel Aviv is far stronger here. It has the Israel Philharmonic, the Israeli Opera and Habima, the national theatre. Contemporary dance stands out, with Batsheva and the Suzanne Dellal Centre, and there is rock, jazz and Mizrahi pop in the clubs in the south of the city.

Larnaca offers the summer Larnaca Festival at the fort and weekend bouzouki music in tavernas. For anything bigger, people go to Nicosia.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and in both the spas are mostly in large hotels. The real difference is pace. Larnaca is slow all year, with long seafront coffees and mild, uncrowded winters. Tel Aviv runs loud and fast and only calms down on Shabbat and along the promenade, but the mineral pools of the Dead Sea are within a day trip.