Marmaris or Nicosia?

Marmaris is built around swimming. The promenade beach of coarse sand and shingle runs towards Icmeler inside a sheltered bay. For better water there are boat trips, the quieter beaches at Turunc and the fine sand of Sedir Island, though the main strip gets crowded in high summer.

Nicosia sits inland on the Mesaoria plain, so a swim means driving about 45 minutes to Larnaca or over the hills to Kyrenia. The sea there is just as warm. In town, though, a pool is the only way to cool off, so the beach becomes an occasional day out rather than part of every day.

Nicosia eats better. You can linger over meze in the old-town lanes around Faneromeni, eat souvla off the charcoal grill, then walk across the Green Line to the Turkish Cypriot grills near the Bandabulya market. That gives it two kitchens in one city, plus Commandaria and the Troodos wines to try.

In Marmaris good Turkish food takes some finding behind a seafront of full breakfasts and laminated menus. The rewards are the stews in the lokanta, grilled fish and meze by the harbour, and the weekly market, where pine honey is the local speciality.

This is where the two differ most. Marmaris has its small Ottoman castle above the harbour, an hour's wander through the stepped lanes of the old quarter and the bazaar in its old caravanserai. Visitors with an interest in history take excursions instead.

Nicosia fills two or three days inside its Venetian walls. On the south side are the terracotta warriors of Ayia Irini at the Cyprus Museum and the Byzantine icons at the Archbishop's Palace. Across the Green Line stand the Selimiye Mosque and Büyük Han, and walking from one half of a divided capital to the other is worth doing for its own sake.

Marmaris has the bigger night out, though only one kind. In summer Bar Street's clubs, laser shows and foam parties run until near dawn for a young, largely British crowd, and from November to April most of them shut.

Nicosia is quieter and more local. Students and young professionals drink on the pavements around Faneromeni Square and Ledra Street from about midnight, and a few clubs outside the walls stay open later. Its bars are open all year, but few people come for the nightlife alone.

Marmaris has the better setting. Pine-covered hills ring the bay, and beyond lie the wild headlands and inlets of the Bozburun and Datca peninsulas, one of the great sailing grounds of the Turkish coast. Gulet cruises, diving, kayaking and spring or autumn walks on the Carian Trail are all close at hand.

Nicosia's own plain is flat and brown in summer, so the landscape starts at the edges of the city. There are walks along the ridge of the Kyrenia range, and about an hour away are the cooler pine trails of the Troodos, where Mount Olympos has snow in winter.

Nicosia has the wider choice, because almost all of Cyprus is within a day. To the north are Kyrenia's harbour, Bellapais and St Hilarion. To the east lie walled Famagusta and Roman Salamis, and to the south-west the painted churches of the Troodos and Kourion. A hire car makes most of it easy.

Marmaris has fewer outings, but they are excellent. The best is the hour-long ferry to medieval Rhodes. There is also the river trip past the rock tombs at Dalyan, and a long drive to the ruins of Knidos.

Marmaris is far easier with children. The calm, shallow edges of the bay, hotel pools and children's clubs, the water park and boat trips cover most days, as long as you stay in Icmeler or Armutalan, away from Bar Street.

Nicosia feels safe, and Cypriots happily bring children to late dinners. But it has no zoo, aquarium or theme park of note, and the beaches need a car. In July and August temperatures often go above 35°C, which is hard on small children.

Within its bay, Marmaris is simple to get around. A flat promenade runs for several kilometres for walking or cycling, dolmus minibuses run constantly to Icmeler and Armutalan, and water taxis cross to Turunc. Only the peninsulas and Dalyan call for a tour or a hire car.

Nicosia is easy only inside the walls. There everything is a short walk, and the Ledra Street crossing takes you into the north with an ID check. Beyond the walls the suburbs are built around the car, local buses are rarely useful, and most day trips mean driving yourself, on the left.

Neither is a shopping destination, but the shopping is quite different. In Marmaris you haggle in the covered bazaar over leather, carpets, spices and copy designer goods. The things worth taking home are pine honey, natural sponges and peshtemal towels.

Nicosia has ordinary city shopping, with chain stores on Ledra Street and designer brands on Makarios Avenue. For something local there is Lefkara lace at the Cyprus Handicraft Centre, and spices and copperware in the Bandabulya market.

Your money goes a little further in Marmaris. Package and all-inclusive hotels are plentiful and keenly priced, the dolmus is cheap and food in the lokanta away from the seafront costs little. Costs rise on Bar Street and on organised trips, which are worth comparing before you book.

In Nicosia, meals are the bargain, especially in the northern half. Hotel rooms, though, are mid-range and aimed at business travellers, and the hire car most visitors need adds a real cost.

Of the two, only Nicosia has a stage worth planning an evening around. The Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, the state theatre and summer concerts in the moat make up a modest programme through the year. Most drama is in Greek, but old-town bars play rebetiko, folk and jazz.

In Marmaris, live performance means hotel entertainment, Turkish nights staged for tourists and the odd summer concert at the open-air amphitheatre.

Marmaris has more ways to unwind. There are hammams across town and in most big hotels, full resort spas, the mud baths near Dalyan and slow peninsula villages such as Selimiye and Bozburun. Its baths, though, are modern places run for visitors.

Nicosia has fewer options, but older ones: the restored 16th-century Omeriye Hammam, and the Büyük Hamam in the north. Beyond the old town's slow summer afternoons, people looking for real rest go up to the Troodos villages.