Bogota or Quito?

Neither city has any beach life, and in both the sea means a flight or a very long drive. Bogota's nearest warm water is in the lowland towns down the western slope, where people go for hotel pools and water parks. Quito's equivalent is the warm municipal pools in the valleys below town. In practice, travellers add a separate stay on the Caribbean coast from Bogota, or on the Pacific coast or the Galápagos from Quito.

Both cities eat hearty highland food, but Bogota has more depth. Beyond ajiaco and hot chocolate with cheese, chefs in Chapinero, Zona G and Usaquén cook modern menus with ingredients from every region of Colombia, and specialty coffee and craft beer are easy to find. Paloquemao market is a lesson in tropical fruit.

Quito's best eating is at the simple end: locro de papa, roast hornado and set almuerzo lunches in the food courts of the Mercado Central. Ecuadorian cacao is a real treat. Past that, the choice narrows quickly.

Quito has the richer old town. Its historic centre was one of the first places named a World Heritage site, and it is a large, little-altered grid of convents, plazas and churches such as La Compañía, which is covered almost entirely in gold leaf. Casa del Alabado and the Guayasamín chapel back this up with strong collections.

Bogota's La Candelaria is smaller, and the city around it is mostly modern. Its strength is museums: the Museo del Oro is among the great pre-Columbian collections anywhere, the Botero Museum is close by, and the street art along Calle 26 adds a contemporary side that Quito lacks.

Bogota is the place to go out. From Thursday to Saturday there are large clubs, a strong LGBTQ scene in Chapinero, serious salsa dancing and underground electronic nights, spread across several districts with different moods.

Quito's going out is concentrated around Plaza Foch in La Mariscal, with bars and backpacker hangouts that fill up at weekends. La Floresta adds quieter cocktail and craft-beer bars. Midweek it is fairly quiet. In both cities you take a taxi between areas after dark.

Quito is the stronger base for the outdoors because it sits on a volcano. The TelefériQo lifts you to about 4,000m for the hike up Rucu Pichincha, Cotopaxi's snow cone is about two hours south along the Avenue of the Volcanoes, and the road west drops into the cloud forest at Mindo with its hummingbirds and waterfalls.

Bogota's mountain scenery is gentler but still distinctive: the climb to Monserrate, the misty páramo of Chingaza and Sumapaz with a guide, and the rock climbing on the cliffs at Suesca. Cyclists will find more to do in Bogota.

The two cities offer a similar number of day trips, but of different kinds. Bogota's best outings are underground and legendary: the salt cathedral at Zipaquirá, the smaller mine at Nemocón and the El Dorado lake at Guatavita. Its finest colonial town, Villa de Leyva, really needs a night.

Quito's trips lean towards markets and landscape: the large Indigenous market at Otavalo, the equator line at Mitad del Mundo, a day in the cloud forest around Mindo or a soak at Papallacta. Leaving Bogota through its traffic can stretch any trip.

Bogota keeps children busier. Maloka is a large hands-on science museum, Salitre Mágico and Mundo Aventura are proper amusement parks, and the Sunday Ciclovía lets families ride car-free roads. Long distances and heavy traffic are the catch.

Quito has some memorable moments, such as standing astride the equator, riding the cable car and visiting the Yaku water museum, but the list is shorter. Its higher altitude and the steep old town make days harder on small children, which is why families often treat it as a stopover.

Quito is the easier city to move around. The historic centre is compact enough to explore on foot, if breathlessly, and a metro line runs the length of the narrow valley, with bus corridors to back it up.

In Bogota, La Candelaria and the northern districts are far apart and joined by some of the region's worst traffic. The TransMilenio buses are crowded and confusing at first, so most visitors rely on taxis and ride-hailing. Both cities share the same pickpocket warnings on public transport.

Bogota offers more to buy. Emerald dealers along Avenida Jiménez are a speciality for buyers who know stones, Usaquén's Sunday flea market gathers crafts from across Colombia, and Zona G and Chapinero have local designers and good leather.

Quito's appeal is a few very Ecuadorian things: toquilla-straw Panama hats, bean-to-bar chocolate, alpaca and tagua carvings, sold together at the La Mariscal artisan market. Its malls hold little for visitors, and keen craft buyers save their money for Otavalo.

Both are inexpensive for visitors, and day-to-day costs are similar. In Bogota the bargain is big-city comfort: good hotels in the north, cheap taxis across a large city and some of the cheapest major museums anywhere. Quito's best value is in boutique hotels in old colonial houses and market food. Costs can mount on the guided volcano and cloud-forest excursions that most visitors take, and especially on a Galápagos trip booked from Quito.

Bogota is Colombia's stage capital, and the gap is wide. The gilded Teatro Colón and the Teatro Mayor host opera, ballet and visiting orchestras, the Filarmónica plays around the city, and the Ibero-American Theatre Festival and the free Rock al Parque festival draw huge crowds in their seasons.

Quito's programme centres on the Teatro Nacional Sucre and the national symphony. Its most distinctive offering is Andean folk ballet in full costume, plus the odd baroque concert in an old-town church. It makes a good evening out, but not a reason to choose the city.

Quito has the better escape. The thermal pools at Papallacta, set among misty páramo hills about an hour and a half away, are a real spa destination, and there are simpler pools such as El Tingo in the valleys nearby.

Bogota has hot springs at Choachí and Tabio, each about an hour away, but they are local weekend spots rather than a draw. Within either city, relaxing comes down to hotel spas, and the noise and traffic are similar in both.