Aswan or Hurghada?

Here the two are as far apart as they can be. Aswan is a desert river town far from the sea. Swimming there means a hotel pool, or a cool dip from a sandbank below the west-bank dunes, keeping an eye on the current and the passing boats.

Hurghada is built for the beach, with a long Red Sea shore, clear warm water and swimming in almost any month. The catch is that the resorts own the sand, and reef flats in front of many hotels mean you swim from a jetty. The best beaches are on the Giftun islands and in the bays towards Makadi and Sahl Hasheesh.

Neither city is worth travelling to for its food, but the meals you get are different. Aswan's strength is Nubian home cooking: clay-pot stews, Nile fish and hibiscus drinks, eaten on a terrace over the river or at a family table in a west-bank village, plus the ful and taameya stalls along the souk.

Hurghada's eating revolves around the all-inclusive buffet. Outside the hotels, you can eat plain local dishes in El Dahar, or choose a fish from the ice by the harbour and have it grilled. The international menus at Sakkala and the marina are adequate but forgettable.

In Aswan, ancient Egypt is close at hand. The Temple of Isis on Philae, the ruins of Yebu on Elephantine, the Nubian Museum, the Tombs of the Nobles and the Unfinished Obelisk make two or three full days of sightseeing, most of it reached by boat.

Hurghada grew from a fishing village into a resort, and its sights are the Hurghada Museum, the El Mina mosque and the Coptic cathedral in El Dahar. To see pharaonic Egypt you have to leave town and travel a long way inland.

Of the two, only Hurghada has a real night out. Sheraton Road in Sakkala and the marina have bars, shisha lounges and large beach clubs that stay open into the small hours, with themed parties in high season. It is a strip built for visitors, with little local character.

An evening in Aswan means a walk along the Corniche, tea and shisha by the river and a stroll through the souk, which is lit after dark. A drink on a hotel terrace at dusk is usually as far as it goes, and there are no clubs.

Hurghada offers more to do outdoors, and most of it is underwater. Coral reefs begin just offshore, with turtles, dolphins and wrecks that divers know across the Red Sea, and the steady wind makes El Gouna and Soma Bay a kitesurfing coast. Inland, the bare Red Sea mountains are the setting for jeep trips, quad-bike rides and stargazing.

Aswan's landscape is gentler: black granite islands at the First Cataract, palms along the banks and golden dunes running down to the river. You enjoy it from a felucca or with binoculars on the herons and kingfishers, rather than through anything more energetic.

Aswan has the better day out. Kom Ombo and Edfu, further north along the Nile, fit into one long day, with a stop at Daraw's camel market or Gebel el-Silsila on the way, and the Temple of Kalabsha is a short boat ride across Lake Nasser. Abu Simbel is the big draw, but it means a pre-dawn desert drive or a flight.

Near Hurghada there is little more than El Gouna's marina, the port of Safaga and the Roman quarries in the desert. Luxor is the great prize, but at four hours each way it works better as an overnight stay.

Hurghada is far easier with children. Resorts come with water slides, kids' clubs and sheltered, shallow beaches. Glass-bottom boats and a semi-submarine show children the reef without getting wet, and the aquarium in town makes a change of scene.

Aswan has nothing designed for children. Even so, felucca rides, the boat to Philae, a camel up the dunes and the baby crocodiles in a Nubian village can fill a few days for school-age children. Most of the sights are ruins, though, and the summer heat is harsher than on the coast.

Aswan is the easier town to get around. Its centre is a compact strip between the Corniche and the souk street, walkable in the cooler hours, and cheap public ferries cross to Elephantine and the west bank. For Philae and the tombs you hire a boat or taxi and agree the fare before you set off.

Hurghada stretches for kilometres along a single coast road, with few pavements and stressful crossings. You rely on shared minibuses, taxis or hotel shuttles, and many visitors simply travel on their excursion transfers.

Neither town is a shopping destination, but Aswan's souk is the better place to browse. Locals shop there too, so the papyrus sits beside sacks of hibiscus, dates and henna, and the west-bank villages sell real Nubian baskets, beadwork and pottery.

Hurghada's bazaars in El Dahar and along Sheraton Road sell similar spices, papyrus and alabaster, and the sellers are pushier. Its malls are mainly useful for a supermarket run.

Both are cheap by international standards, and Aswan is cheaper still. Local meals, the public ferry and Nubian guesthouses cost very little. The real expenses are site entry fees, chartered boats and the long trip to Abu Simbel.

Hurghada keeps costs down with all-inclusive packages and inexpensive diving and boat trips. Imported alcohol, marina restaurants and excursions booked through your hotel are what push the bill up.

Aswan's music belongs to the people who play it. Nubian drums, the tambour lyre and call-and-response singing turn up at village evenings and wedding processions, folklore troupes bring the same songs into some hotels, and Philae has its sound-and-light show after dark.

Hurghada's performances are staged for its visitors: hotel animation, belly dancing and tanoura dancers spinning in coloured skirts at desert-camp dinners. Either makes a pleasant evening, but neither town has a theatre or a regular concert programme.

Both are restful, in different ways. In Aswan the calm comes from the river: slow afternoons on a felucca, tea while the dunes turn gold and quiet nights in a west-bank guesthouse. The villages also offer the old cure of being buried in hot sand.

Hurghada's rest is the resort kind, a sunbed and a pool, with a hotel spa that often has a Turkish-style hammam and inexpensive massages. In both, the hassle outside the hotel, on Aswan's Corniche or in Hurghada's town, can break the calm.