Agra or Rishikesh?

Neither city has a coast, and neither has anywhere safe to swim outside a hotel pool. Rishikesh at least has places to sit by the water: white sand banks along the Ganges and the camp beaches near Shivpuri. The cold, fast current means a dip at the ghats, holding the chains, is as far as a careful visitor goes. In Agra the Yamuna is a view behind the Taj and nothing more.

Agra has more to offer at the table. It has Mughlai kormas, biryani and tandoor kebabs, bedai and jalebi for breakfast in the lanes near the Jama Masjid, chaat in Sadar Bazaar in the evening, and boxes of petha to take home. The weak spot is the run of tour-group restaurants near the Taj.

Rishikesh is a holy town, so all the food is vegetarian and no alcohol is sold. You eat thalis at simple dhabas or sit in Tapovan cafés, where the terraces over the river are better than the menus, which repeat from one café to the next. Meat eaters, and anyone who wants a beer with dinner, will do better in Agra.

Agra holds some of the finest Mughal building anywhere. Go to the Taj Mahal at dawn, when the marble is softly lit, and cross the river to Mehtab Bagh for the classic view at sunset. Agra Fort's red sandstone halls show where the emperors held court, and the inlay at the Baby Taj and the deer-filled park around Akbar's tomb at Sikandra fill a second day.

Rishikesh's sights are about faith and atmosphere rather than grand architecture. You can cross Ram Jhula to the painted ashrams of Swarg Ashram, look up at the tiers of Tera Manzil and join the crowds for the evening aarti at Triveni Ghat. The overgrown Beatles ashram in the forest is its best-known sight. There are no great monuments or museums, though, and two or three days are plenty.

Both towns are quiet after dark, and neither is a place to go out. The difference is the drink. In Agra you can still have one in a hotel bar or on a rooftop facing the dome. Rishikesh sells no alcohol at all, so evenings mean the riverside aarti and a long café dinner, and most people are in bed early for dawn yoga.

Rishikesh is far stronger outdoors. The Ganges runs out of the Shivalik hills right at the edge of town, with rapids for rafting upstream, walks to waterfalls such as Neer Garh, sunrise over snow peaks from Kunjapuri, and Rajaji National Park next door for elephants and, with luck, a tiger.

Agra sits on a flat, hot plain with no hills or trails. Its outdoor appeal is wildlife, above all the winter migrant birds at Keoladeo in Bharatpur and the gharials and river dolphins of the Chambal.

Agra has the better excursions. Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's abandoned sandstone capital, is close enough to combine with Bharatpur or Deeg. Mathura and Vrindavan, the towns of Krishna, are about an hour north, and the fast train reaches Gwalior's hilltop fort in about two hours.

Rishikesh's best trip is down the river to Haridwar, where the aarti at Har Ki Pauri is grander than anything in Rishikesh itself. Dehradun, Mussoorie and Devprayag are worth the trip too, but the winding hill roads make them longer, slower days.

Neither is easy with small children, but Rishikesh does a little better with teenagers. It offers rafting, ziplines and jeep safaris, and its vegetarian food is easy on young stomachs. On the other hand, the river is fast, the lanes are steep and the macaques snatch food.

Agra offers older children the scale of the Taj and the ramparts of the fort, plus the bear rescue centre towards Mathura. The rest is heat, traffic and touts, so families tend to sightsee early and spend the afternoon in the hotel pool.

Rishikesh is easier to manage day to day. Footbridges and riverside paths link Tapovan, Lakshman Jhula, Ram Jhula and the ghats, so you can walk most places, though often uphill. Cheap shared vikrams run along the main road, and you only need a taxi for rafting put-ins and hilltop temples.

Agra's sights are too far apart to walk between, and the pavements are broken or missing. Visitors rely on auto-rickshaws, app taxis or a car and driver for the day, and only the final stretch to the Taj is on foot or by electric cart.

Agra has more worth taking home. There is pietra dura marble inlay made by the same artisan families whose craft decorates the Taj, along with leather, carpets and the bazaar bustle of Kinari and Sadar. Shop where you choose, though, because drivers steer visitors to overpriced showrooms.

Rishikesh sells one theme: yoga clothes, malas, singing bowls, incense and philosophy books, repeated stall after stall along the bridge lanes.

Both are among the cheapest places to stay well, with guesthouses, local food and short rides that cost very little. Where the money goes is what differs. In Agra the large expenses are the foreigners' entry fees at the Mughal monuments and the hotels with Taj views. In Rishikesh most of what you do, from the aarti to drop-in classes, is cheap or free, and the costs come from rafting, teacher trainings and riverside retreats.

Neither has a concert hall or a season. Rishikesh's music feels more alive because it is part of daily devotion: singing and drums at the aarti, kirtan sessions where visitors join in on harmonium and tabla, and the occasional sitar or bansuri recital.

Agra's performances are mostly staged for tourists, such as shows retelling the Shah Jahan story and dance evenings in hotels. The Taj Mahotsav at Shilpgram each spring is the exception, with folk dance and crafts.

In Agra, rest is something you fit in between monuments, not a reason to come. After a pre-dawn start at the Taj, the break is an Ayurvedic massage or a swim back at the hotel, or an hour inside the Mughal walls of the Baby Taj or Sikandra, which keep out most of the city's noise. Once you step back through the gate, the traffic and the hustle are there again.

Rishikesh reverses this, because here the practice is the itinerary. People book a week of silent meditation, a teacher training lasting several weeks or a course of Ayurvedic detox, and the town's habits of no alcohol and early nights do the rest. Rishikesh is not quiet everywhere, as the bridges and the main road are loud and crowded, but the stillness is never more than a short walk away, behind an ashram gate or further up the river.