Bogota or Santa Marta?

On beaches, Santa Marta wins outright. Bogota sits on a cool plateau at about 2,600m. The nearest swimming is in hotel pools and water parks in the warmer towns down the mountainside, a long drive away, and the sea means a flight.

Santa Marta has warm sea all year. El Rodadero has calm water and grey sand for easy days, coves such as Bahía Concha are a short boat or taxi ride away, and the golden beaches of Tayrona reward anyone willing to walk. Swim at the sheltered spots there, because Arrecifes and several others have dangerous currents.

Bogota offers much more to eat. Highland dishes such as ajiaco, tamales and hot chocolate with cheese are hearty rather than famous. The draw is Paloquemao market's tropical fruit and the chefs of Zona G, Chapinero and Usaquén cooking with produce from across the country, along with specialty coffee and craft beer.

Santa Marta keeps it simple: fried fish with coconut rice and patacones, seafood soups and arepas de huevo, all good and cheap. Fine dining is scarce, and there is only a short list of places for dinner around Parque de los Novios.

For sightseeing, Bogota is the clear choice. La Candelaria and the Plaza de Bolívar, the Museo del Oro's huge collection of pre-Columbian gold, the Botero Museum, the National Museum in its former prison and the street art along Calle 26 fill several days.

Santa Marta has the older colonial roots, as Colombia's oldest surviving Spanish city, but far fewer sights. It has a whitewashed cathedral, a small Tairona gold museum in the Casa de la Aduana and the hacienda where Bolívar died, all of which you can see in a day. The great Tairona site, the Lost City, needs a trek of several days.

Bogota is the better city for going out. From Thursday to Saturday you can choose between salsa bars where locals dance with real skill, the very large clubs of Chapinero, the polished bars of Zona T and an underground electronic scene. You will need a taxi home.

Santa Marta's evenings are smaller and more casual. There are pavement tables and rooftops around Parque de los Novios, vallenato and champeta in the dance bars of El Rodadero, and backpacker beach parties in Taganga. It is much livelier at weekends and in the Colombian peak seasons than on quiet weeknights.

Santa Marta has the more dramatic setting. The Sierra Nevada rises to snow peaks within sight of the Caribbean, and Tayrona combines rainforest, monkeys and boulder-strewn shore. Minca's cloud forest has some of the richest birdwatching in the Americas, and Taganga is a base for diving.

Bogota's outdoors is higher and cooler. It offers the morning climb to Monserrate, guided visits to the misty páramo of Chingaza and Sumapaz, rock climbing at Suesca and long road climbs for cyclists. It is rewarding, but less varied, and the weather is changeable.

Bogota has the better set of outings. The salt cathedral at Zipaquirá is about an hour north, and nearby are the quieter mine at Nemocón and the sacred lake of Guatavita. Sabana towns such as Chía make easy lunch trips. Villa de Leyva is three hours away and deserves a night.

Santa Marta's excursions are mostly into the countryside, and the towns within reach are modest. García Márquez's birthplace at Aracataca, the carnival city of Barranquilla and the river-mouth village of Palomino are each a fair drive away. Cartagena is too far for a day trip.

Neither city is easy with children, but the problems are different. Bogota has the attractions: the Maloka science museum, two amusement parks, Simón Bolívar park and the car-free Sunday Ciclovía. Against that, journeys are long, traffic is heavy and the altitude tires small children for the first day or two.

Santa Marta offers beach time instead, with El Rodadero's calm, shallow bay, sheltered coves such as Bahía Concha and boat trips to a small aquarium. Beyond the beach there is little made for children, the heat is fierce, and Tayrona suits older children who can manage long walks.

In both cities you will rely on taxis, but for different reasons. Bogota is long and spread out, and La Candelaria and the northern districts are half an hour or more apart in heavy traffic. TransMilenio's buses are crowded and hard to work out, though confident cyclists can use the extensive bike lanes.

Santa Marta's old centre is compact and walkable but hot. Everywhere else, from El Rodadero to Tayrona and Minca, is reached by crowded small buses, shared jeeps, taxis or hired drivers.

Bogota has much more to buy. Emerald dealers trade along Avenida Jiménez, so it pays to know your stones. Usaquén's Sunday flea market sells crafts from all over Colombia, and the north adds malls, local designers and good leather.

Santa Marta's range is narrower, but what it has comes from the region: Arhuaco mochilas, Wayuu bags and hammocks, and coffee from the Sierra Nevada farms. Beyond those, there is not enough for a shopping day.

Both cities are cheap by Western standards, but your money goes on different things. In Bogota, comfortable hotels, set lunches, taxis and the major museums cost little. The bigger bills come in the smart restaurants and cocktail bars of Zona G and Zona T.

Daily life in Santa Marta is just as cheap, but the extras add up. These include the higher entry rate for foreign visitors at Tayrona, guided Lost City treks, and beach hotels that fill and raise their prices around Christmas and Easter.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two cities. Bogota is Colombia's stage capital. It has opera and ballet at the gilded Teatro Colón, visiting orchestras at the Teatro Mayor, the Filarmónica, a large Ibero-American Theatre Festival and the free Rock al Parque, plus jazz and independent theatre in Chapinero.

Santa Marta has no regular season. Its music is informal, with vallenato and champeta in bars and drumming groups in the squares, and it is at its best around carnival time.

Neither city is restful, and neither has a bathing tradition. From Bogota, you can soak in the thermal springs at Choachí and Tabio, each about an hour away, use the day spas in the north, or spend a quiet Sunday morning in Usaquén.

From Santa Marta, rest means a few nights out of town. You can stay in Minca's cloud-forest eco-lodges, with hammocks and river pools, or at the yoga retreats and beach cabins along the coast towards Palomino.