Ayutthaya or Luang Prabang?

Neither town has a beach, but Luang Prabang at least has somewhere memorable to swim. The turquoise pools below the Kuang Si waterfall and the smaller Tad Sae falls make a fine half-day outing in the forest.

Ayutthaya has nothing like that. Its rivers are working waterways and the Gulf of Thailand is more than two hours away, so swimming means the hotel pool.

The two are evenly matched for food, and the difference is in the cooking itself. Ayutthaya serves provincial Thai food: bowls of dark boat noodles eaten several at a time, grilled giant river prawns by the water, and roti sai mai, its own spun-sugar sweet. Bangkok is close at hand when you want more variety.

Luang Prabang cooks Lao dishes such as peppery or lam and crisp kaipen river weed. It also has something Ayutthaya lacks, a colonial legacy of baguettes, bakeries and strong highland coffee. In both towns the choice is narrow and the menus start to repeat after a few days.

Ayutthaya has the stronger draw. This was the seat of Siam for four centuries, and its ruins cover an entire island. The great sights include the three chedis of Wat Phra Si Sanphet, the Buddha head held in tree roots at Wat Mahathat and Wat Chaiwatthanaram at sunset. Add the crypt gold in the Chao Sam Phraya museum and the Portuguese and Japanese quarters to the south, and you have more than a single town usually offers.

Luang Prabang works on a smaller, more intimate scale. Its strength is a working religious town: more than thirty monasteries crowned by Wat Xieng Thong, novices in the streets and the dawn alms procession. Its museums are modest, though, and Ayutthaya's sheer range of monuments is greater.

Both are early-night towns, but Ayutthaya stays up a little later. A short strip of backpacker bars and riverside terraces looking out on the floodlit temples keep going, and there is no curfew to cut the evening short. Bangkok is near enough for a proper night out.

In Luang Prabang a town curfew closes the garden bars and terraces around midnight. After that the streets go dark and silent.

Luang Prabang is far ahead here. Steep green hills ring the town, Kuang Si falls and its sanctuary for rescued black bears are nearby, and slow boats run up the Mekong between limestone cliffs. Kayaking, mountain biking and village treks are easy to arrange, and the sunset climb up Mount Phousi gives the best view of it all.

Ayutthaya's landscape is flat paddy and canal country. You can cycle under shady trees and watch egrets over the rice fields, but the nearest wild ground is Khao Yai, about two hours away.

Ayutthaya has the better choice of day trips. Bangkok's Grand Palace and markets are about an hour and a half away, and the eclectic Bang Pa-In summer palace is twenty minutes away. Lopburi, with its Khmer temples and the macaques of Phra Prang Sam Yot, is an easy train ride north.

Luang Prabang's classic outing is the boat up the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves, filled with Buddha images, with a stop at a weaving or whisky village. The railway reaches Vang Vieng and Vientiane, but beyond those it is mostly countryside.

Neither town is built around children, and they are broadly level. What differs is the kind of outing. In Ayutthaya, the ruins and a boat or tuk-tuk circuit hold their interest for a morning, but the prangs are mostly off-limits for climbing and the open sites have little shade.

Luang Prabang has the single best family day: the bears and swimming pools at Kuang Si, plus quiet streets for cycling together. Unpaved village roads and limited medical care make it better for older children than toddlers.

Luang Prabang is the easier town to get around. The old town sits on a compact, flat peninsula with light traffic, and nearly everything is a short walk apart.

Ayutthaya's ruins are spread over an island several kilometres across, with key temples on the far banks. You need a bicycle, a hired tuk-tuk or a river ferry, and the main roads carry fast traffic.

Luang Prabang gives a shopper more to find. Its nightly craft market sells silk, Hmong embroidery, mulberry-paper lanterns and silver. The weaving studios in town and in villages such as Ban Phanom sell naturally dyed textiles of real quality.

Ayutthaya's stalls run mainly to amulets, clothes and souvenirs, and its floating markets are staged for visitors. Its one real craft stop is the Bang Sai centre downstream.

Both are cheap, but Ayutthaya goes further. Riverside guesthouses and rooms with a pool cost little even by Thai standards, and separate entry fees at each ruin are the only real extra.

Luang Prabang is the most expensive stop in Laos. Its restored colonial boutique hotels, wine-list terraces and private drivers can push a stay well above what Ayutthaya asks.

Neither town offers much here, but Luang Prabang has an evening worth planning around. The Phralak Phralam, the Lao Ramayana, is danced in masks at the theatre in the Royal Palace grounds, and small venues stage folk evenings.

Ayutthaya's main performance comes once a year, when the World Heritage fair puts on light-and-sound shows among the ruins. For the rest of the year there is little more than an occasional temple fair.

Luang Prabang is the better place to unwind. The slow rhythm of alms round and Mekong sunset sets the pace of the day. Lemongrass herbal saunas give it a bathing tradition of its own, and boutique hotels add garden spas and riverside yoga.

Ayutthaya's rest comes in simpler forms: cheap Thai foot and body massage after a day on the bicycle, and a quiet riverside terrace once the tour buses have gone.