Ayutthaya or Hue?

Ayutthaya has nothing here at all. It sits inland on the central plain, its rivers are not for swimming, and the Gulf of Thailand is more than two hours away, so a hotel pool is the only option.

Hue at least makes a beach day possible. Thuan An is a plain local strip of sand about 15km away, and Lang Co, with its lagoon, is the prettier trip south. The sea is good for swimming only from spring to late summer, and anyone after real beach time still heads further down the coast.

Hue is the better place to eat. Its cooking grew out of the imperial kitchens, so it is hotter, saltier and built on many small dishes: bun bo Hue to start, then steamed and leaf-wrapped rice cakes and river clams over rice. The many pagodas also make it unusually easy to eat vegetarian.

Ayutthaya's eating is good but limited. Boat noodles, grilled river prawns by the water and roti sai mai make a memorable short list, and the night markets cover the rest. Neither town does fine dining or foreign food, but in Hue there is more to explore.

The two are equals as historic capitals, but they offer different kinds of past. Ayutthaya is a ruin field, the remains of a Siamese capital sacked in 1767: brick prangs, chedis and the Buddha head in tree roots at Wat Mahathat, with gold from the crypts in the national museum. It is older and huge in scale, but almost all of one type.

Hue's monuments are later and more intact. The moated citadel still holds gates, throne halls and the Forbidden Purple City, scarred by 1968, and the Nguyen emperors' tombs upriver each have a different architecture. Add Thien Mu pagoda and the Kim Long garden houses, and Hue has more variety for a stay of several days.

Neither is a place for a big night, but Hue has a little more going on. A few streets on the south bank fill with backpacker bars and happy hours, locals drink beer over ice at pavement stalls, and the night market by the Truong Tien bridge keeps the riverside busy until late evening.

Ayutthaya's version is a short strip of guesthouse bars and a drink on a riverside terrace facing the floodlit temples. It is pleasant enough, but the town is in bed early, and a proper night out means going back to Bangkok.

Hue has far more landscape to get out into. Close in there are pine hills around the tombs and villages for cycling, and to the east the wide Tam Giang lagoon with its fish traps and stilt huts. About an hour south, Bach Ma climbs to 1,450m through wet forest, and the Hai Van Pass drops from the mountains to the sea.

Around Ayutthaya the land is flat rice plain and rivers. Storks over the paddies and a long-tail boat at dusk are its gentle pleasures, and the nearest forest is Khao Yai, two hours off.

Ayutthaya has the easier outings. The Bang Pa-In summer palace is twenty minutes away, Bangkok's palace and temples are about an hour and a half by train, and Lopburi offers Khmer temples, King Narai's palace and its macaques, all simple to do as day trips.

Hue's trips are big but long. The old Demilitarised Zone sites lie about two hours north and usually fill a whole guided day, while Da Nang and Hoi An to the south are often treated as onward stops rather than returns. Its closer craft villages and the Thanh Toan bridge make good half days.

Both work for a short stop with children rather than as a family base, and neither has anything built for them. In Ayutthaya the draw is a morning among the ruins, with tuk-tuks and boat rides, but there is little shade, the heat lasts all year, and climbing on most monuments is not allowed.

Hue is a little easier on parents in day-to-day terms, with lighter traffic, riverside parks, dragon boats and the wide citadel grounds, though its autumn rains can confine a family indoors for weeks.

Getting around is about equally easy, and in both towns a bicycle is the best way to see the place. Ayutthaya's ruins are spread across an island a few kilometres wide, so most visitors hire a tuk-tuk for a circuit and use small ferries to reach the temples on the far banks.

Hue has a compact centre you can walk, from the south-bank hotels over the bridge to the citadel, but the tombs lie well upriver and call for a taxi, a motorbike driver or a boat.

Hue has a little more worth carrying home. Dong Ba market is a real local hall of fabric and dried goods, and the city's own crafts, conical hats with poems hidden in the leaves and incense from Thuy Xuan, make distinctive gifts. There are tailors in the hotel streets too.

Ayutthaya's shopping is mainly amulets and clothes at the night markets, plus floating markets staged for visitors. Its one craft stop is the royal centre at Bang Sai, on the way to Bangkok.

Both are very cheap, and Hue stretches a budget slightly further, with good mid-range hotels and stall food for almost nothing. Its extra costs are the citadel and tomb tickets and any royal dinner or resort you choose.

In Ayutthaya the cost that adds up is the entrance fee charged separately at each major ruin, along with a tuk-tuk circuit. Rooms, noodles and bicycle hire are otherwise close to free.

Hue has a real performing tradition to see. Nha nhac court music is staged in the citadel, and in the evenings ca Hue singers perform on dragon boats on the Perfume River among floating lanterns. Both are aimed at visitors, but they are rooted in the city's history, and the Hue Festival widens the programme in its season.

Ayutthaya has almost nothing outside its annual World Heritage fair, when light-and-sound shows play among the ruins.

Both are good for slowing down, though in different ways. Ayutthaya's rest is simple: a cheap Thai massage after a day on the bicycle, then a quiet riverside evening once the coach groups have left.

Hue offers a broader kind of calm. It has pagodas, garden houses, tai chi by the river, proper spas at the riverside resorts and the Thanh Tan hot springs with mud baths about an hour away.