Auckland or Melbourne?

Auckland has the better beaches, and more kinds of them. Along Tamaki Drive and on the North Shore, sheltered bays face the Hauraki Gulf and suit children and paddleboards. On the other side of the city, black-sand Piha and Muriwai take heavy Tasman surf, and Waiheke adds quiet white sand a ferry ride away.

Melbourne's city beaches at St Kilda, Elwood and Brighton are a tram or train ride from the centre, but Port Phillip Bay gives them only calm, rather plain water. The weather can turn cool in hours. The better sand is on the Mornington Peninsula, an hour or more away by car.

People travel to Melbourne to eat, and the city gives them plenty of choice. Espresso bars fill the CBD laneways, and brunch cafés line the streets of Fitzroy and Collingwood. Lygon Street is the Italian strip, Richmond and Footscray have Vietnamese noodle houses, and the produce halls of Queen Victoria Market add more.

Auckland's best eating is spread through the suburbs. You will find regional Chinese and Korean cooking along Dominion Road and Pacific Island food at the markets. Seafood is its strength, with green-lipped mussels and snapper, and a glass of Waiheke wine goes well with it. It is a good table, but a smaller scene.

Melbourne has more to see. The gold-rush wealth of the 1850s left a Victorian city that you can still walk through: the Royal Exhibition Building, the domed reading room of the State Library, and arcades and bluestone lanes. The National Gallery of Victoria is a serious art collection.

Auckland's one standout is the War Memorial Museum on the Domain. Its Māori and Pacific treasures, including a carved meeting house and a war canoe, are something Melbourne cannot match. Beyond that there is little historic streetscape, and the sights take about two days.

Melbourne is far the better night out. Small cocktail and wine bars sit up stairwells and on rooftops across the CBD, and Fitzroy and Collingwood have pubs and late bars. If you want to dance, Chapel Street has clubs that run into the early hours at weekends. The city is busy most nights of the week.

In Auckland, going out means choosing a strip. Ponsonby Road has the wine bars, and Karangahape Road has the late, alternative crowd. The strips are far enough apart that you will often take a taxi between them, and on weeknights much of the city is quiet by midnight.

Auckland is built on its landscape. Grassy volcanic cones rise between the suburbs with views over both harbours. Rangitoto and the rare birds of Tiritiri Matangi are short ferry rides away, and the Hauraki Gulf has sailing, kayaking and dolphins. To the west, the Waitākere Ranges have rainforest and waterfalls within easy reach.

Melbourne is flat, and in the city nature means the Botanic Gardens and the Yarra trail. The wilder places are a drive away: the mountain ash forest of the Dandenongs, the penguin parade on Phillip Island and the surf cliffs at the start of the Great Ocean Road.

Melbourne has the wider choice of day trips, and more of them can be done by train. Ballarat and Bendigo show off their gold-rush grandeur, Daylesford is a spa town, and the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula both have wineries.

Auckland's best day out is Waiheke by ferry, which is as good as anything near Melbourne, and the wineries and coast around Matakana come close behind. Hobbiton is a long day by road. Rotorua and Waitomo are too far for a day trip and need a night away.

Both cities are easy with children, but the days look different. Auckland's days are spent at the calm beaches, running up volcanic cones and taking short ferry rides. MOTAT has trams and planes, and Rainbow's End is a small theme park, though you will drive a lot between them.

Melbourne has more animal outings. Healesville has platypus and koalas, and Werribee has a safari bus. You can add the Puffing Billy steam train and the penguin parade on Phillip Island. Flat streets and trams make prams easy.

Melbourne is much easier to get around. The central grid is flat, trams in the CBD are free, and the tram lines reach St Kilda, Fitzroy, Carlton and South Yarra. Regional trains go as far as Ballarat and Bendigo.

Auckland's centre is compact but hilly, and its harbour ferries are a pleasure to use. Beyond them, buses and a limited train network serve a city built for cars. To reach the west-coast beaches, the Waitākere Ranges or the northern wineries, most visitors hire a car.

Melbourne is much better for shopping. Off Collins Street, the Block and Royal arcades have mosaic floors, and the upper end of the street holds luxury labels. Gertrude and Smith streets have local designers and vintage shops, and Chapel Street adds fashion.

Auckland is smaller and more about local design. Ponsonby Road and Newmarket have New Zealand labels. The things worth taking home are merino knitwear, pounamu carvings and Pacific art, and the Ōtara market has a strong Pacific character.

Both are expensive, and hotels, eating out and wine cost about the same in either. The savings come in different places. In Auckland the beaches, volcanic cones and coastal walks are free, and Asian food courts offer cheaper meals, though ferries and car hire add up.

In Melbourne the free tram zone and many free museums cut daily costs. The cheap eats in Chinatown, Footscray and Richmond are reliably good.

Melbourne has a much fuller stage calendar. The Arts Centre is home to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Ballet, historic theatres stage the big musicals, and pub band rooms in Fitzroy and St Kilda have local bands most nights. In autumn the Comedy Festival fills the city for weeks.

Auckland's calendar is lighter. The Philharmonia plays in the Town Hall, which has fine acoustics, and touring shows come to the ornate Civic. What it has that Melbourne does not is Pacific music and dance at the Pasifika Festival, and kapa haka performances.

Auckland has no bathing tradition, and unlike Melbourne it has no spa country close by. The nearest hot springs are the thermal pools at Parakai, about an hour north-west, which make an easy half day. Waiheke's slower pace and a few retreats help you unwind, but for serious geothermal bathing you need a night away in Rotorua.

Melbourne has mineral springs within a day's reach. At Daylesford and Hepburn Springs people have bathed since the nineteenth century, and a historic bathhouse sits at the centre of the town. The hot pools in the hills of the Mornington Peninsula are another easy day out. Closer in, the sea baths at St Kilda and Brighton have pools and saunas by the bay, so a slow afternoon needs no travel at all.