Baku or Tashkent?

Baku at least has a sea to swim in. The north shore of the Absheron peninsula, from Bilgah to Pirshagi, has long sandy beaches and summer water warm enough for a comfortable swim. The shore is flat, though, sometimes littered, and the water is rarely clear.

Tashkent has no coast at all. Swimming means hotel pools, water parks or the drive of about 80km to the Charvak reservoir. Its pebbly shores and cool, clear mountain water are a good escape from the heat, but they are a day out rather than a beach vacation.

Both cuisines are built on plov and grilled meat, and both are very good within a narrow range. Baku's table is the more varied, with saffron plov, sturgeon kebabs, herb-filled qutab and sour plum sauces. It also has local Madrasa reds and brandy, and the Taza Bazaar for caviar and pomegranates.

Tashkent's eating is heavier and more of a daily ritual: midday plov from giant cauldrons, tandir samsa, lagman and non bread, with Chorsu Bazaar as the showpiece. Wine drinkers will find more in Baku, and vegetarians will struggle more in Tashkent.

Baku has more of its history standing in one place. The walled Icherisheher, with the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, sits beside streets of sandstone mansions from the oil boom. The Heydar Aliyev Center and the Flame Towers add a striking modern layer.

Tashkent lost much of its old fabric in the 1966 earthquake, so its heritage survives in pockets among the Soviet avenues, such as the Hazrat Imam complex and the Kukeldash Madrasa. The Museum of Applied Arts and the ornate metro are worth seeing, but the great Silk Road monuments are in Samarkand, not here.

Neither is a party city, but Baku offers more for an evening out. The seafront Boulevard, Fountain Square and Nizami Street stay busy late in summer. There are wine bars, hotel rooftops and a few clubs for a well-dressed weekend crowd.

Tashkent's nights are more about company than staying out late: beer gardens, karaoke and long dinners with friends around Amir Timur Square. Most places close around midnight.

Here Tashkent pulls well ahead. Within about an hour and a half by road, the western Tian Shan rises to Big Chimgan above the Charvak reservoir. Summer brings ridge hikes, walnut valleys and paragliding, and winter brings skiing at Chimgan and Amirsoy.

Baku's surroundings are bare semi-desert, more strange than beautiful: mud volcanoes, the burning hillside of Yanar Dag and the Gobustan plateau. For real mountains and forest you need to go to Quba or Shahdag, three hours away, and stay the night.

Tashkent has the one great day trip: Samarkand, with the Registan and the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, just over two hours away by high-speed train. Beyond that, the outings lead to the mountains and the reservoir rather than to other towns.

Baku has more short trips but none on that scale. The Gobustan rock carvings with the nearby mud volcanoes, the Ateshgah fire temple and the Mardakan towers make good half-days, and Shamakhi works as a full day. None of them compares with a day among Timur's monuments.

Both cities welcome children warmly, and both are hardest on families in the summer heat. In Baku the fun is concentrated on the seafront Boulevard, with fountains, boat rides, a small amusement park and the funicular up to Highland Park. There is no major zoo or theme park, though, and the underpasses are awkward with a pushchair.

Tashkent has more made for children, including a large zoo, amusement parks and water parks. On the other hand, its sights are spread along wide avenues and its summer days are much hotter.

Getting around is about equally easy, but in different ways. Baku's sights cluster in a walkable centre around the Old City, Fountain Square and the Boulevard, while its metro mostly serves residential districts.

Tashkent is built on a Soviet scale, so walking is slow and tiring, but its metro is more useful to visitors, with stations close to the old town and the main squares. In both cities, cheap app taxis cover the rest.

Each city has its own crafts to come for. In Baku it is carpets, sold by Old City dealers alongside silk kelaghayi headscarves and copperware from Lahij. Neftchilar Avenue adds a few luxury boutiques to the high-street chains.

In Tashkent the bazaars are the draw, with suzani, ikat silk and Rishtan ceramics around Chorsu, though much of it is cheaper in the towns where it is made. Modern shopping there is mostly malls, with almost no luxury retail.

Baku runs at two price levels. Riding the metro, crossing town by app taxi, eating plov and kebab in a tea house and walking the Old City all cost little. The other Baku, aimed at business travellers and well-off locals along the seafront, charges close to Western European prices, and how much of your time you spend there decides the cost of the trip.

Tashkent is cheap more consistently. Almost everything a visitor pays for is inexpensive, and the one clear exception is the international business hotels. Mid-range hotels as well as simple guesthouses keep a stay cheap by any international standard, so the total depends far less on where you choose to stay and eat.

The two are closely matched, and each has a grand opera and ballet house at its centre. Baku's own sound is mugham, heard at the International Mugham Centre and in Old City restaurants, along with a long jazz tradition. Its summer programme can be thin.

In Tashkent, an evening at the Alisher Navoi Theatre, with halls decorated in the styles of Uzbekistan's regions, is the one to book, and tickets are easy to get. The city also has drama in Russian and Uzbek, but jazz and rock are limited to a few small venues.

Neither city is a place for a restful break. Baku's historic baths are mostly visited as monuments. Its calm moments come on the Boulevard and in Old City tea houses, while the wind and traffic make it hard to linger.

Tashkent is a little gentler, with tea-house platforms in the shade and quiet walks in the Botanical Garden. For a proper retreat, the mountain sanatoria around Chimgan are within easy reach.