Arusha or Livingstone?

Neither city offers a beach vacation. Both are far inland, so in both your swimming will mostly be in a lodge pool.

The swims each one does offer are very different. Near Arusha it is Chemka, a warm, clear spring among fig trees about an hour and a half's drive away. In Livingstone it is Devil's Pool or Angel's Pool, guided swims on the very edge of the falls, possible only when the river is low.

Arusha has more to eat outside your lodge. Nyama choma with kachumbari and ugali, chipsi mayai at roadside stalls and evening mishkaki skewers give it real street food. The Central Market and the coffee farms on Meru's slopes, where you can drink coffee where it is grown, add to the choice.

Livingstone's food is mostly lodge grills and international dishes. The local food worth trying is nshima with relishes and whole Zambezi bream. Here the setting, a river deck or a sunset cruise, matters more than the cooking.

Both towns take an afternoon at most. Their history is different. Arusha's is political and post-colonial: a museum in the old German boma and another on Nyerere's 1967 Arusha Declaration. Its strongest cultural experience is a visit to Maasai and Meru villages outside town.

Livingstone's history is colonial and about exploration. The Livingstone Museum holds the explorer's letters, the railway museum has steam locomotives, and veranda-fronted buildings line the main road. The steel arch of the Victoria Falls Bridge is the landmark visitors remember.

Arusha has a proper night out if you want one. Bars serve Kilimanjaro lager with grilled meat, and a few clubs fill with Bongo Flava and Afrobeats at weekends, though mostly with locals, students and volunteers.

Livingstone has no clubs. Evenings mean a sundowner on the river, then perhaps a backpacker hostel bar or a local tavern. Early starts for rafting keep most nights short.

Both are among Africa's great outdoor bases, but they work differently. From Arusha you head out on long journeys: walking and canoe safaris in Arusha National Park, a crater-rim climb of Meru, Kilimanjaro two hours east, and multi-day circuits to Ngorongoro and the Serengeti.

Livingstone has everything close by. The falls are about 10km from town, with rafting, gorge swings and hikes to the Boiling Pot in the Batoka Gorge below. You can also canoe past hippos above the falls, walk to see white rhino, and spend a day in Chobe. Those within easy reach give it the slight edge.

Away from the wildlife, there are few towns to visit from either base. From Arusha, the outings stay in Tanzania: Moshi under Kilimanjaro, the market village of Mto wa Mbu near Lake Manyara, and community-run visits to Maasai and Meru villages.

Livingstone's outings cross borders. You walk over the bridge to Victoria Falls town in Zimbabwe, which needs a visa, or drive to Kasane in Botswana. Closer to home there is Mukuni village, whose chief is the traditional custodian of the falls.

Neither is easy with toddlers. Both suit older children better, and both need malaria precautions. Arusha works for school-age children who can cope with long, bumpy drives. In town there is a reptile park, but pavements are uneven and traffic is heavy.

Livingstone is better for teenagers, who can enjoy the spray of the falls and boat trips among hippos. Many of its best activities, including rafting and Devil's Pool, have minimum ages, and the heat in October and November is hard on young children.

Livingstone is the easier of the two. Activities usually include pick-ups and taxis are plentiful, so getting to the falls and the riverside lodges takes little planning, though walking the roads near the park edges is unwise because of elephants.

In Arusha, the centre around the clock tower is close enough to walk, but pavements are broken and traffic is heavy. Dala-dalas and boda-bodas are hard for newcomers, so you end up depending on taxis, lodge transfers and your safari driver.

Arusha is the clear choice. It is the craft centre of northern Tanzania, with Maasai beadwork, shukas, Makonde ebony carving and Tinga Tinga paintings in the curio markets. Galleries on the edge of town have finer pieces at fixed prices, and tanzanite dealers sell a gem mined nowhere else. The Central Market is good for coffee and spices.

Livingstone has curio stalls in town and at the falls selling carvings, baskets and copper, plus brightly coloured chitenge cloth, and little else.

Both towns have two price levels: cheap local life and international prices for what visitors come to do. Arusha comes out somewhat cheaper. Its guesthouses, street grills and dala-dalas cost very little, although park fees, safari vehicles and climbs are expensive.

In Livingstone, the falls walkways on their own are a modest outing. Costs rise quickly once you add rafting, helicopter flights, Devil's Pool, a Chobe safari and visas for the border crossings.

Neither has a theatre or concert season, so what you see is traditional performance, and the traditions differ. Arusha has Maasai jumping dances at cultural villages and lodges, hotel acrobatic troupes, and weekend bar bands playing Bongo Flava and taarab.

Livingstone's drum and dance troupes sometimes include the masked Makishi dancers. The Lwiindi ceremony of the Toka-Leya is the main event in its traditional calendar.

Livingstone is the more restful place to stay. A lodge on the upper Zambezi gives you decks over the water and long quiet hours between excursions, provided you avoid the busy adrenaline side of town.

In Arusha the calm is found only on the outskirts, at coffee-estate and garden lodges towards Usa River with spas and views of Meru. Most people use them for a day's rest before or after a safari or a climb rather than as a reason to visit.