Bangkok or Hanoi?

Neither city is anywhere to go for the beach, but Bangkok comes off slightly better because real sand is within reach. Bang Saen and Pattaya are under two hours away by road, so a long day by warm water is possible, and the city's rooftop hotel pools are a pleasure in themselves.

From Hanoi the coast at Ha Long, Cat Ba or Sam Son is too far for a day, so the sea means a separate stay. In town you are left with a hotel pool or the water parks by West Lake.

Both are great street-food capitals, but Bangkok has the greater range. You can eat well there at any hour, from boat noodles and som tam at plastic tables to the night kitchens of Yaowarat and the produce halls of Or Tor Kor, and there is a serious tier of restaurants reworking regional Thai food, plus strong Japanese and Chinese cooking.

Hanoi works on a narrower, deeper principle: stalls that have cooked a single dish for decades, pho at breakfast, bun cha at lunch, cha ca fried at the table. Its drinking is the real treat, with egg coffee in upstairs cafés and fresh bia hoi on corner stools, but its upscale restaurants are a thinner layer than Bangkok's.

Bangkok has more of the sights that stop you in your tracks. Rattanakosin Island packs the gilded Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew and the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho into a short walk, and Wat Arun faces them across the river. Its museums are fewer, and away from the old centre and the river the city is mostly towers.

Hanoi's heritage is quieter and more spread through the streets: the guild lanes of the Old Quarter, the calm courtyards of the Temple of Literature, French Quarter villas and the Ba Dinh complex. It is stronger on twentieth-century history, told at Hoa Lo prison and the Women's Museum, and the Museum of Ethnology is a gem.

Bangkok is one of Asia's great nights out, and Hanoi is a pleasant evening instead. Bangkok offers polished cocktail bars and clubs in Thonglor and Ekkamai, backpacker noise on Khao San Road, a long-standing gay scene in Silom and rooftop bars high above the river, mostly running until around two.

Hanoi's nights start early on the pavement, with bia hoi on tiny stools and loud backpacker bars around Ta Hien, and at weekends the streets around Hoan Kiem close to traffic for strolling. By midnight most of the city has gone quiet, so it is no place for clubbing until dawn.

Hanoi has much the better access to landscape. Ninh Binh, about two hours south, puts limestone towers, rice paddies and cave boat rides on the rivers of Trang An and Tam Coc within a day, the Ba Vi hills offer forest walks, and in town the West Lake shoreline is good for walking or cycling.

Bangkok's green spaces are city parks, Lumphini with its monitor lizards and the palm-lined cycling paths of Bang Krachao. Khao Yai and the Kanchanaburi countryside need a night away, and the humid heat cuts short any long activity in the middle of the day.

Bangkok has the stronger list close to home, led by the ruined temples of Ayutthaya, an easy train ride north, with the Bang Pa-In palace on the way. The canal country to the west adds the Amphawa floating market, the train-dodging stalls of the Maeklong railway market and the giant stupa at Nakhon Pathom, and Kanchanaburi's Death Railway bridge makes a long day.

Hanoi's outings are more about villages and pilgrimage: the old royal temples of Hoa Lu, the boat-and-cave approach to the Perfume Pagoda, and craft villages such as Bat Trang and Van Phuc. Duong Lam's laterite houses are closer, but Ha Long Bay really needs an overnight cruise.

Children get a warm welcome in both, but Bangkok has far more to fill their days: Sea Life Ocean World, Safari World, Dream World, KidZania and big air-conditioned play areas in the malls for the hottest hours. The Skytrain and river boats are fun in their own right.

Hanoi's offer for children is smaller, mainly the water puppet theatre, the zoo, the village houses at the Museum of Ethnology and the water parks. Its streets are also harder going, since motorbikes and pavement stalls make a pushchair a struggle, so a hotel by the lake and a car with a driver help a lot.

Bangkok is the easier city for a visitor to get around. The BTS Skytrain and the MRT are cool, clean and simple to use, linking Siam, Sukhumvit, Silom, Chatuchak and Chinatown, with a rail link from Suvarnabhumi airport, and the Chao Phraya express boats run to the Grand Palace and Wat Arun. The weak spots are the old city and the gaps between stations, where traffic crawls and the heat makes walking hard work, so it pays to plan each day around one line or pier.

Hanoi has nothing like that network, since its urban rail barely touches the places visitors go and the buses are hard to use without Vietnamese. What makes up for it in part is a compact centre, with the Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, the French Quarter and Ba Dinh close enough to walk between, though you will often step into the road and need to learn to cross slowly through the motorbikes. For anything further, cheap ride-hailing cars and motorbike taxis do the work.

Bangkok is a serious shopping city, with the chain of malls around Siam and Ratchaprasong, ICONSIAM on the river, Pratunam's wholesale clothing and Chatuchak's thousands of weekend stalls. Thai silk, celadon and benjarong porcelain are good to take home.

Hanoi is smaller and more personal. The Old Quarter still sorts its trades by street, Hang Gai's tailors will make clothes in a day or two, and lacquerware, Bat Trang ceramics and hill-tribe textiles are good buys. With no luxury street and the same souvenirs repeated around the lake, it suits browsing more than a big spend.

Both are very cheap, and Hanoi is cheaper still. Its street meals, bia hoi and ride-hailing cost next to nothing, and boutique hotels in the Old Quarter are inexpensive. The extras that add up are mostly Ha Long Bay cruises and international hotels.

Bangkok's prices are low for daily life too, but they climb faster in particular places: imported drinks, rooftop bars, the Grand Palace entry fee and hotels in Sukhumvit or on the river. Staying in Banglamphu keeps costs down.

Neither is a city to plan a trip around its stages, but Bangkok offers a little more. Khon masked dance drama at the Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre and the National Theatre is the highlight, the Thailand Cultural Centre has the symphony orchestra, and Muay Thai at Rajadamnern or Lumpinee comes with its own ritual music.

Hanoi's signature is water puppetry by Hoan Kiem Lake, short and charming with live traditional music. Ca tru sung poetry in Old Quarter communal houses and occasional ballet or opera at the colonial Opera House make for an evening or two.

Bangkok treats massage almost as an institution. You can be treated at the Wat Pho school inside the temple grounds, shopfront parlours stay open late on every street, and the grand hotel spas rank among Asia's most refined. Calm comes only in short doses between the traffic and the heat.

Hanoi's Old Quarter has plenty of inexpensive foot massage and herbal-bath spas, which are welcome after long days on foot, but the top end is shallower. Peace is easier to find there than you might expect, in the lanes and cafés around West Lake or at the lakes at dawn.