Limassol or Tel Aviv?

Limassol's city beaches are grey sand or fine shingle, practical rather than pretty, and the best swimming means a drive to Governor's Beach, Kourion or the cove at Pissouri. Lady's Mile gives a quieter stretch west of town.

Tel Aviv comes out ahead because there the beach is the city: a continuous strip of pale sand from the old port to Jaffa, within walking distance of almost any central hotel, with breakwaters and lifeguards along it. Expect crowds at weekends and strong currents away from the guarded spots.

Limassol's strength is the meze, best eaten in family tavernas in the old town and the hill villages, plus its own wine country, with Xynisteri, Maratheftiko and the sweet Commandaria. The food is good, but the range is narrow.

Tel Aviv offers far more variety: Yemenite, Iraqi and Bukharan cooking alongside sabich and hummus counters, a chef-led restaurant scene, cafés that stay full all day and grazing in the Carmel and Levinsky markets. Plan around Shabbat, when many kitchens close.

Limassol's own sights fill a day: the castle with its medieval museum, the old mixed quarter of mosques and churches, and the ruins of Amathus at the city's edge. Most of the area's heritage lies outside town.

Tel Aviv has more to see within the city, though it is no museum capital either. Walking the UNESCO-listed Bauhaus streets of the White City, climbing through old Jaffa and visiting the Museum of Art and ANU make for several full days.

Limassol's evenings are pleasant and fairly late. They centre on the old-town bars around Saripolou Square and the cocktail lounges at the marina, with a few clubs open on the tourist strip in summer.

Going out is central to life in Tel Aviv. Thursday nights run to dawn, wine bars spill onto the pavements of Rothschild and Lilienblum, and there is basement techno and one of the most open gay scenes in the region. For a serious weekend out, Tel Aviv wins easily.

Limassol has real mountains behind it. Within about an hour, the Troodos offers black pine forest, the circuit around Mount Olympos and the path to the Caledonia waterfall, and the Akrotiri salt lake draws flamingos in winter.

Tel Aviv is flat and built up, so outdoor life there means the seafront path, surfing and kitesurfing, and Yarkon Park. The Carmel ridge and Ein Gedi are a drive of an hour or more. On the coast of both cities, midsummer is too hot for walking.

Both are strong bases. Limassol's outings are close and varied: Kourion and Kolossi, the Paphos mosaics, the painted Troodos churches, Lefkara, and Nicosia, where you can cross the Green Line. Nearly all are easier with a hire car.

Tel Aviv's list has more major sites, starting with Jerusalem half an hour away by fast train, then Caesarea, Haifa's Baha'i Gardens, Acre and a long day to Masada and the Dead Sea. The trains help, but for trips on a Saturday you need a car or a tour.

Both suit families, with calm beaches and a local culture that welcomes children in restaurants late into the evening. The difference is in kind: Limassol is a resort vacation built around hotel pools, kids' clubs, a waterpark and the sea, while Tel Aviv adds city outings such as Luna Park in Yarkon Park, the Ramat Gan Safari and the Children's Museum in Holon for days off the sand.

Limassol is long and thin, and only the old town, the old port and the marina are close enough to walk between. Buses run along the coast, but beaches beyond the city and the mountains really need a car or taxis, and the island has no railway.

Tel Aviv's flat, compact centre is easy on foot or by bike-share, with light rail, buses and fast trains to Jerusalem and Haifa. Its weak point is Shabbat, when most public transport stops.

Neither city is a shopping destination. Limassol has the high-street chains on Anexartisias, a few marina boutiques and some malls, and its best buys are edible or handmade: halloumi, carob syrup, Commandaria and Lefkara lace.

Tel Aviv gives browsers more: Israeli designers on Dizengoff and Sheinkin and in Neve Tzedek, the Nahalat Binyamin crafts fair and the Jaffa flea market, with spices, Judaica and Dead Sea cosmetics to take home.

Limassol is expensive by Cypriot standards, and the seafront and marina charge resort prices in summer. Taverna meals, buses and entry to the sites stay reasonable, though, and rooms get cheaper outside the peak season.

Tel Aviv costs a great deal more. Hotels are expensive at every level, and a restaurant meal or a round of cocktails costs as much as in the priciest Western European capitals. Street food, the free beaches and walking the White City are what keep a stay affordable.

Limassol's performing arts are small: Greek-language drama at the Rialto and Pattihio theatres, summer concerts on the seafront, and ancient plays in the theatre at Kourion at sunset, which is the one most worth planning around.

Tel Aviv has the major institutions: the Israel Philharmonic, the Israeli Opera, Habima and, above all, contemporary dance from Batsheva and at the Suzanne Dellal Centre. Rock, jazz and Mizrahi pop fill clubs in the south, although most theatre is in Hebrew.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, so both rely on the spas of large hotels. Limassol makes for the calmer stay, with its slower Mediterranean pace, long lunches and the cool pine air of the Troodos villages within easy reach.

Tel Aviv is loud and fast through the week, and its quiet moments come from Shabbat and early walks on the seafront. For real restorative bathing, you need the mud and mineral pools of the Dead Sea, about an hour and a half away.