Bengaluru or Delhi?

Neither city is a beach destination. Bengaluru is on the Deccan plateau and Delhi is on the northern plains, so in both of them swimming means a hotel pool, and in Delhi you will be glad of one in the heat before the monsoon. The real difference is how far the sea is afterwards. From Bengaluru the Karnataka coast is a day's travel or an overnight trip, while from Delhi you would normally fly on to Goa or Kerala.

Bengaluru eats best in the morning. Masala dosa and filter coffee are taken standing at the counter of a darshini, the old vegetarian houses of Basavanagudi and Malleswaram have had breakfast queues for generations, and the military hotels serve biryani from dawn. It is also the place for southern cooking that is hard to find in the north, from ragi mudde to Mangalorean seafood and Kodava pork, and the food lanes of VV Puram take over in the evening.

Delhi is still the stronger city for food overall. Its cooking is richer and meatier, built on Mughlai and Punjabi traditions, and a walk through Old Delhi around Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid makes a meal of nihari, stuffed parathas and grilled kebabs. Butter chicken and dal makhani were first made here, and chaat carts are everywhere. At the top end, South Delhi has polished modern Indian cooking of a kind Bengaluru does not really match.

This is where the two cities differ most. Delhi has centuries of capitals built one on top of another: the Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, the Qutb Minar, Jama Masjid and the Lodi tombs. Add the imperial axis of New Delhi and the national collections, and there is easily a week of sightseeing.

Bengaluru is a modern city whose sights fill two or three days. The best are Tipu Sultan's wooden summer palace, Bangalore Palace, the Vidhana Soudha and the Bull Temple. The region's great heritage lies outside the city, at Mysuru and beyond.

Bengaluru is the better city for an evening out, as long as the evening is about drinking rather than dancing. Its brewpubs, rooftop terraces and cocktail bars are packed into 100 Feet Road, Koramangala and the streets around Church Street. The easygoing crowd starts arriving straight after work.

Delhi's nightlife is split into separate pockets, Hauz Khas Village, Connaught Place and the towers of Gurugram, and you travel between them by taxi. Gurugram does have the bigger clubs. In both cities the night ends early by big-city standards.

Bengaluru has much more to offer outdoors. Cubbon Park and Lalbagh are pleasant to walk in the mild plateau air. Beyond the city, the granite country of Nandi Hills, Savandurga and Ramanagara offers sunrise drives, hikes and rock climbing, and Bannerghatta has a safari on the edge of town.

Delhi's flat, dry plain gives you gardens and the scrubby Ridge forest. Its real draw is winter birdwatching at Okhla and Sultanpur. Fierce heat, a heavy monsoon and winter smog make outdoor plans difficult for much of the year.

Delhi has by far the stronger day out. The Taj Mahal and Agra Fort are a little under two hours away by express train. Fatehpur Sikri, the Krishna towns of Mathura and Vrindavan, and the hilltop fort at Neemrana are further choices.

Bengaluru's best day out is to Mysuru's palace and Srirangapatna, also about two hours by train, and Lepakshi's painted temple lies to the north. Its finest heritage, Hampi and the Hoysala temples of Belur and Halebidu, needs an overnight stay.

Children are warmly welcomed in both, but Bengaluru is the easier city to visit with them. The mild climate is a real advantage. Bannerghatta has a zoo, a butterfly park and a safari, there is a technology museum and a planetarium near Cubbon Park, and the park's lawns give children room to run.

Delhi has steam locomotives at the Rail Museum, the zoo by Purana Qila and the Akshardham water show. But summer heat, winter smog and stomach bugs weigh more heavily there, so late winter and early spring are the comfortable times to go. In both cities, traffic and broken pavements make pushchairs hard work.

Delhi is the easier of the two to get around, thanks to a large air-conditioned metro with English signs, an airport express line and stations near most of the major monuments. Distances are still huge, but you can cross the city without sitting in traffic.

Bengaluru's Namma Metro is clean but reaches fewer of the places a visitor wants. Most days depend on auto-rickshaws and app taxis through some of India's most notorious jams, so planning each day by area and avoiding rush hour matters even more there.

Delhi is one of India's best places to buy crafts from across the country. There are the state stalls of Dilli Haat and the emporiums on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, the specialist bazaars of Old Delhi and the spice market at Khari Baoli. Khan Market, Shahpur Jat and Hauz Khas add Indian designers, and Janpath and Sarojini Nagar cover cheap clothes.

Bengaluru's shopping is more regional. The lanes of Chickpet sell Mysore silk, and you will also find sandalwood carvings and Channapatna's lacquered toys, plus Commercial Street and the malls. It has no fashion district to match Delhi's.

Both are inexpensive for a foreign visitor, but Delhi makes a budget go further, with plenty of guesthouses and mid-range hotels and street food everywhere. Bengaluru is one of India's pricier cities. Its hotels are geared to business travel and alcohol is heavily taxed, so brewpub evenings become the biggest expense, though darshini meals and auto rides still cost very little.

Delhi has the fuller stage. Through the cooler months there are Hindustani recitals and Kathak around Mandi House, the National School of Drama is based there, and free qawwali is sung in the courtyard of the Nizamuddin shrine, traditionally on Thursday evenings.

Bengaluru answers with the southern tradition. Carnatic music is heard at the sabhas and Chowdiah Memorial Hall, with most concerts around the Ramanavami season, and Ranga Shankara stages theatre in Kannada, English and Hindi. Its rock and indie gig scene is livelier than Delhi's.

Neither city is calm, but Bengaluru is the better place for wellness. Ayurvedic clinics and drop-in yoga schools are spread across the city. Residential retreats on the rural outskirts let you spend a week or more in treatment without travelling far.

In Delhi, relief comes mostly from hotel spas and a few centres in South Delhi, and the winter air is heavy. Travellers who want a proper retreat usually move on to Rishikesh or Kerala. In both cities the quiet moments are early mornings in the old gardens.