Ayutthaya or Chiang Rai?

Neither city has a coast, so you will need to add beach days in the south. The swimming on offer is a little different. In Ayutthaya the rivers are working waterways, so you swim in the hotel pool. Around Chiang Rai you can at least cool off under a forest waterfall or at a reservoir as well as in a pool.

Chiang Rai gives a food-minded traveller a bit more to explore. It has the northern repertoire of khao soi, nam ngiao, sai ua sausage and chilli dips with sticky rice, plus a large café culture built on coffee and oolong grown in the nearby hills.

Ayutthaya's cooking is good but narrower. It is central-plains food: boat noodles eaten several bowls at a time, giant river prawns grilled by the water, and roti sai mai from the stalls. Fine dining and international food are scarce in both places.

Ayutthaya wins clearly on heritage. For four centuries it was one of Asia's great capitals, and its ruins cover the whole island: the three chedis of Wat Phra Si Sanphet, the Buddha head in the tree roots at Wat Mahathat, and Wat Chaiwatthanaram at sunset. The range is narrow, but the scale is hard to match.

Chiang Rai's appeal is newer and more unusual. The White Temple, the Blue Temple and the Black House are modern artistic fantasies, and its older Lanna sites, including Wat Phra Kaew, are modest beside Ayutthaya's ruined capital.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Chiang Rai has a little more going on. A short street of small bars by the clock tower plays reggae and acoustic covers, and the night bazaar's beer tables keep people out after dinner. Ayutthaya has a short backpacker strip and riverside drinks looking at the floodlit ruins, and most people are back at their guesthouse early.

Ayutthaya's outdoors is flat river country: rice paddies, canals and the Chao Phraya, Pa Sak and Lopburi rivers looping round the old city. It is pleasant from a bicycle on the back lanes or a long-tail boat circling the island at dusk, with storks and egrets working the fields. But there is no high ground to climb and nothing you would call wild, and for forest and waterfalls you have to go as far as Khao Yai, about two hours by road.\n\nChiang Rai is the clear choice if the outdoors is the point of the trip.

The town lies in a green valley on the Kok River, ringed by forested ranges, so you can easily reach the tea terraces of Doi Mae Salong, the gardens and viewpoints of Doi Tung, and waterfalls such as Khun Korn. Further out, cloud fills the valleys below the ridge of Phu Chi Fa and the broad Mekong runs past the Golden Triangle, while elephant sanctuaries and quiet village roads for cycling make for gentler days.

Ayutthaya has the better choice of outings, largely because Bangkok and its Grand Palace are about ninety minutes away. Closer still, the Bang Pa-In summer palace is about twenty minutes away, and Lopburi's Khmer temples and macaques are reachable by train.

Chiang Rai's trips are pleasant but less famous: Chiang Saen and the Golden Triangle on the Mekong, the border market at Mae Sai, the gardens of Doi Tung and the Yunnanese tea village of Doi Mae Salong. They fill a few days, but none is a reason to come on its own.

Neither town is built around children, but Chiang Rai copes a little better. Singha Park's lakes, tea fields and animals make a proper family day out, and the cooler hill air helps. Ayutthaya's ruins and boat trips hold children's interest for a morning, but there is little shade and the midday heat is hard on small ones. Chiang Rai has drawbacks too: long drives between sights and the smoky spring months.

The two are broadly level, but they work in different ways. Ayutthaya is compact and flat, so a bicycle and the odd tuk-tuk or river ferry will take you to nearly everything. In Chiang Rai you can walk the centre, but the main sights are well outside it, so you will depend on drivers, songthaews, regional buses or a hired car or scooter.

Chiang Rai has more worth taking home. Its night bazaar and Saturday walking street on Thanalai Road sell hill-tribe textiles, silver and carved wood, and Doi Mae Salong oolong and local coffee make good gifts. In Ayutthaya it is mostly amulets, clothes and temple-gate souvenirs, with the Bang Sai crafts centre downstream as the one real exception.

Both are among the cheapest places to stay in Thailand. Where the money goes is different. In Ayutthaya your main costs are the separate entry fee at each ruin and a tuk-tuk for the day. In Chiang Rai the temples cost little, but drivers and tours to the hills become the biggest part of the budget.

There is little to plan around in either. Chiang Rai has a few more evening options: Lanna dance on the night bazaar stage, khantoke dinners and acoustic sets in bars. Ayutthaya's main show is its annual World Heritage fair, with light-and-sound performances among the ruins.

Chiang Rai offers more ways to unwind. It has hot springs at Pong Phrabat and Mae Kachan, resort spas by the river and in the hills, and meditation and yoga retreats in the countryside, all helped by cooler air.

In Ayutthaya, rest means a cheap shophouse massage after a day of cycling, then a quiet evening on a riverside terrace once the tour buses have left.