Bangkok or Chiang Rai?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation, but Bangkok at least has the sea within reach. Bang Saen and Pattaya are a long day out by road, with warm water. Chiang Rai is far inland in the hills, so swimming there means a hotel pool or a cool pool under a waterfall, and the coast is a separate leg of the trip.

Bangkok is one of the world's great places to eat. You can graze along Yaowarat Road after dark, shop the produce halls of Or Tor Kor and book the restaurants reworking regional Thai cooking, and there is also strong Japanese and Chinese food and a real cocktail culture.

Chiang Rai's strength is narrower: northern dishes like khao soi, nam ngiao and sai ua sausage, eaten cheaply at the night bazaar and the walking-street markets. Its garden cafés roasting hill-grown beans are a real pleasure, but the range runs out after a few days.

Bangkok has the major monuments: the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho's Reclining Buddha and Wat Arun across the river, along with the National Museum and the canal life of Thonburi. There is enough to fill several days in the old city.

Chiang Rai's appeal is contemporary and unusual. The White Temple, the Blue Temple and the dark teak halls of Baan Dam are unlike anything in the capital. Its own Wat Phra Kaew is where the Emerald Buddha now kept in Bangkok was found, but the older heritage is modest and two or three days covers it.

The two are far apart here. Bangkok has nights in several styles: polished cocktail bars and clubs around Sukhumvit and Thonglor, the cheap and loud strip of Khao San, Silom's gay scene and rooftop bars above the river.

Chiang Rai's evenings are a long dinner, then a beer at the night bazaar or a reggae bar near the clock tower, and most of the town is asleep by midnight.

Here Chiang Rai is the stronger choice. The town sits in a green valley on the Kok River, with waterfalls such as Khun Korn, hill-tribe trekking routes, the tea slopes of Doi Mae Salong and the sunrise ridge of Phu Chi Fa all within reach.

Bangkok's outdoors comes down to Lumphini Park's monitor lizards and an afternoon cycling the raised paths of Bang Krachao. Forests and waterfalls mean an overnight trip to Khao Yai or Kanchanaburi.

Bangkok has the better day trips, led by Ayutthaya's temple ruins, an easy train ride north. The canal country to the southwest adds the Amphawa floating market and the Maeklong railway market, and Kanchanaburi's Death Railway bridge makes a long but worthwhile day.

Chiang Rai's outings are pleasant rather than famous. The usual loop takes in the old walled town of Chiang Saen, the Golden Triangle viewpoint and the border market at Mae Sai. The Yunnanese tea village of Doi Mae Salong adds another day.

Both cities welcome children warmly, but Bangkok has more to keep them busy. There is Sea Life Ocean World, Safari World, Dream World and KidZania, plus air-conditioned mall play areas for the hottest hours. The heat and the crowded pavements still mean keeping days short.

Chiang Rai has Singha Park, with tea fields, lakes and animals, and a morning at an elephant sanctuary, but little else made for children. The long drives between sights wear thin with small children.

In Bangkok the Skytrain, the underground and the Chao Phraya boats make most areas easy to reach without a car, even if the old city lies off the rail network and road traffic crawls.

Chiang Rai's centre is small enough to walk, but almost everything worth seeing is outside it. That leaves you relying on tuk-tuks, songthaews, a hired driver or your own scooter or car to see the hills properly.

Bangkok is one of Asia's shopping cities. Chatuchak's thousands of weekend stalls, the linked malls from Siam Paragon to ICONSIAM, MBK's electronics and Chinatown's gold shops can fill days.

Chiang Rai is a market town by comparison. Its night bazaar and the Saturday walking street on Thanalai Road are good for hill-tribe textiles, silver and carved wood. Doi Mae Salong oolong and local coffee are the best things to take home.

Both are cheap by Western standards, and Chiang Rai goes a little further still, with low-cost guesthouses, very cheap market meals and temples that charge little or nothing. Its one real expense is getting out to the sights. In Bangkok the costs that add up are rooftop bars, imported wine and staying on the river or in Sukhumvit.

Bangkok has the stage to itself in this pair. Khon masked dance drama plays at the Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre and the National Theatre, the Thailand Cultural Centre hosts the symphony orchestra, and Muay Thai nights at Rajadamnern bring their own ritual music.

Chiang Rai offers Lanna dance on the night bazaar stage and khantoke dinners, which are pleasant extras rather than a reason to go.

Bangkok has more to offer for pampering. There is traditional massage taught and given at Wat Pho, shopfront parlours open late on every street, and some of Asia's most refined hotel spas. What it lacks is quiet, so rest comes in short breaks between the traffic and the heat.

Chiang Rai has fewer spas but a calmer setting. Its slow small-town pace, simple soaking pools at Pong Phrabat and Mae Kachan, and yoga and meditation retreats in the countryside give a different kind of rest.