Bangkok or Malacca?

Neither city is a place to swim, but Malacca is slightly better placed. In Malacca the sea is right at the edge of town, and Klebang makes a pleasant sunset stroll. There is quiet sand at Tanjung Bidara, only about 30km up the coast, although the water there is never clear.

Bangkok's nearest coast is mudflat and fish farms, and the beaches at Bang Saen and Pattaya are a long day's round trip away. In practice, swimming in Bangkok means a hotel pool, often a rooftop one.

Bangkok is one of the great eating cities of the world, and its range is far wider than Malacca's. Within a few days you can eat at Chinatown's night stalls, Or Tor Kor's produce halls and the boat noodle counters, and then at ambitious restaurants reinventing regional Thai cooking. There is strong Japanese and Chinese food and a proper cocktail culture too.

Malacca's food is narrower but very much its own. It is the home of Nyonya cooking, with ayam pongteh, assam fish and chicken rice balls, plus Kristang devil's curry from the Portuguese Settlement. Malacca is wonderful for one cuisine done well, while Bangkok can feed you something new at every meal for a fortnight.

Bangkok's sights are on a much grander scale. The Grand Palace, Wat Pho's Reclining Buddha and Wat Arun across the river are monuments people cross the world to see. The National Museum and the Thonburi canals add depth, although sightseeing is concentrated in the old centre.

Malacca offers layers of history rather than grandeur. A Portuguese church ruin, a red Dutch square, Peranakan merchants' townhouses and a Chinese temple, a mosque and a Hindu temple side by side on Harmony Street all lie within a short walk. It is a charming place to explore, but its museums are small.

The two cities are far apart here. Bangkok offers polished cocktail bars and clubs in Thonglor and Ekkamai, the noisy backpacker street scene of Khao San Road, Silom's gay bars and rooftop bars high above the river, with nights running until around two.

In Malacca, an evening means the weekend night market on Jonker Street, a beer by the lit-up river and the flashing trishaws. On weeknights the town is quiet by the time Bangkok is just getting started.

Both are hot, flat lowland cities with little landscape on the doorstep, so the difference is in what you get. Bangkok's outdoor life is in its parks: lizards in Lumphini, and cycling on raised paths through the orchards of Bang Krachao. Malacca has walks along the river and coast, the small island of Pulau Besar, and a proper rainforest climb up Gunung Ledang about an hour and a half away, something Bangkok can only match with an overnight trip to Khao Yai.

Bangkok is much the better base. Ayutthaya's ruined capital alone is worth a day, and the floating markets, the Maeklong railway market, the great stupa at Nakhon Pathom and Kanchanaburi's Death Railway bridge are all within reach.

Malacca works better as a place to stay than as a base for trips out. Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya are about two hours away and deserve more than a day. Closer options are the riverside town of Muar and the buffalo-horn roofs of Negeri Sembilan, which make pleasant but low-key outings.

Both cities welcome children warmly and both are tiring in the heat. The difference is in scale. Bangkok has big attractions built for children, such as Sea Life under Siam Paragon, Safari World, Dream World and KidZania, along with air-conditioned malls for the hottest hours, but crossing the city takes a long time.

Malacca is smaller and simpler, with light-covered trishaws, a short river cruise, the zoo and the Ayer Keroh water parks. It is easy to manage if you avoid the crowded weekends in the old town.

The two are about equally easy to get around, in opposite ways. In Bangkok you rely on rail and river: the Skytrain, the MRT and the Chao Phraya boats are cool and quick, but walking between stations is hard going and traffic on the roads is among the slowest anywhere.

Malacca has no metro at all, but its heritage core is small enough to walk or cycle in the early morning. You only need a ride-hailing car for the zoo, Klebang or the Portuguese Settlement.

Bangkok is a major shopping destination and Malacca is not. Bangkok has a continuous chain of malls around Siam and Ratchaprasong, the wholesale clothing of Pratunam, Chatuchak's thousands of weekend stalls and Chinatown's gold shops, with Thai silk, celadon and benjarong porcelain to take home.

Malacca's shopping is concentrated in the lanes around Jonker Street: antique porcelain and clocks, beaded Nyonya slippers, kebaya blouses and painted tiles. These are good small purchases, but there is little beyond them.

Both cities are very kind to a budget, and where the extra costs fall is different. In Bangkok, comfortable hotels with rooftop pools and riverside rooms cost much less than their Western equivalents, though the Grand Palace fee and the rooftop bars cost more. In Malacca, most temples and museums are cheap or free and restored shophouse guesthouses are good value, but rooms fill up and prices rise at weekends and during Malaysian school vacations. Alcohol is heavily taxed in both.

Bangkok has more worth booking. Khon masked dance drama at the Sala Chalermkrung and the National Theatre is a real highlight, and the Thailand Cultural Centre hosts the symphony orchestra and touring productions. There are also small jazz bars, and Muay Thai nights with live ringside music.

Malacca's one bookable show is the staged history spectacle on its rotating platform by the waterfront. Beyond that it is a matter of timing: dondang sayang, Kristang branyo at the Festa San Pedro, and lion dances on festival days.

For a vacation built around being looked after, Bangkok is well ahead. Its massage ranges from the temple school at Wat Pho, where the Thai style is taught, to riverside hotel spas among the most refined in Asia, and a good foot or oil massage is always close by, even late in the evening. Malacca's reflexology shops are cheap and pleasant but ordinary by comparison, and its only proper spas are at resorts on the edge of town.

What Malacca offers instead is a slower pace. On a midweek morning its shophouse lanes and long kopitiam breakfasts are calmer than anything in central Bangkok, where rest comes in short breaks from the heat and traffic. Neither city has a real bathing culture, so for spa days and skilled massage choose Bangkok, and choose Malacca only if a quiet weekday matters more than the treatments.