Brisbane or Byron Bay?

Byron Bay wins easily. Its north-facing bay gives a different beach for every mood within walking distance: the point break at The Pass, the small morning-sun cove at Wategos, patrolled swimming at Main Beach and Clarkes, and long empty sand at Tallow and Belongil. The strong rips are the one caution.

Brisbane is a river city, not a beach town. In the centre you swim at the South Bank lagoon or the public pools, and Moreton Bay is calm but murky. The Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and the bay islands are excellent, but each one is a day out.

Both cities live on the same hinterland produce, macadamias and avocados, and both have a strong café and brunch culture. Brisbane has the wider table. There are polished dining rooms in Fortitude Valley and on James Street, cheap Greek and Vietnamese cooking in West End, breweries in the Newstead warehouses, and night food markets.

Byron eats well at breakfast and lunch, with farmers' markets, seafood and a lot of plant-based cooking. A few ambitious farm restaurants, some of them out at Bangalow, raise the standard. In the evening the choice narrows to what a small resort town can support.

Brisbane is well ahead. The Cultural Centre at South Bank puts the Queensland Art Gallery, the Gallery of Modern Art with its Asia-Pacific and Aboriginal collections, the State Library and the Queensland Museum side by side. Across the river are the sandstone colonial buildings and the Story Bridge, and the timber Queenslander houses of Paddington are worth a stroll.

Byron has the Cape Byron lighthouse at the mainland's most easterly point and very little else to visit. Its deepest heritage is the Arakwal Bumberlin people's bond with the cape, and you learn about it on a guided walk, not in a museum.

Brisbane gives you a proper night out. Fortitude Valley's malls fill at weekends with pubs, rooftop bars and real clubs, and you can drink after work by the river on Eagle Street. Even so, licensing rules close it well before dawn.

Byron's evenings start with sunset drinks in beachside beer gardens. They carry on in a handful of cocktail bars and backpacker-filled late venues, and most of it is done not long after midnight. It is barefoot and friendly, but there is far less choice.

Both share the subtropical rainforest of the old volcanic border country, and in both you can watch humpbacks pass in winter. Byron has the edge because its nature starts in town. The cape track runs through rainforest and over the clifftops, dolphins play in the bay, and Julian Rocks offers diving with turtles, rays and grey nurse sharks.

Brisbane's outdoors means more travelling, but there is a lot of it. Mount Coot-tha and D'Aguilar National Park are on the city's edge, and the river is good for kayaking. Lamington and Springbrook are about an hour and a half away, and you can go out to the sand dunes and shipwreck snorkelling of Moreton Island.

Neither city has much heritage within reach, so the day trips differ in mood more than in quality. From Brisbane you head to resorts and gentle hill country: the Gold Coast by train, chic Noosa, the gallery villages of Montville and Maleny, or the gardens of Toowoomba.

Byron's outings are smaller and more alternative. There is Bangalow's heritage main street, farming Mullumbimby, Nimbin with its 1970s counterculture, and the regional art gallery at Murwillumbah. Almost all of them need a car.

Brisbane is the easier base with children. In the centre you have the free South Bank lagoon and playgrounds, the hands-on science centre in the Queensland Museum, the koalas at Lone Pine and the river ferries. The Gold Coast theme parks and Australia Zoo each make a doable day out.

Byron is great for beach days, with rock pools, gentle water at Wategos and whales from the cape. Beyond that there is little built for children, the surf needs close watching, and parts of the centre are noisy at night.

Brisbane lets you manage without a car for most of a stay. The CityCat ferries are a sightseeing ride in themselves, and suburban trains and busways share one fare system, with a rail link from the airport to the Gold Coast. You only need to drive for the rainforest parks and hinterland villages.

Byron's centre is flat and walkable, and bikes suit the coastal paths. There is no train and the buses are infrequent, though, so the waterfalls and neighbouring towns are a car job, and most visitors pick one up at Ballina or Gold Coast airport.

The two are broadly level but quite different. Brisbane has range: department stores on the Queen Street Mall, heritage arcades, a short run of luxury labels on Edward Street and antique shops along Paddington's ridge road.

Byron has a look of its own, loose linen, surfwear and bohemian resort fashion. You find it in a few blocks of local labels and at the makers' studios of the Arts and Industry Estate, and you can see it all in an afternoon.

Neither is a cheap destination, but Brisbane is easier on the wallet. Public transport costs little, the big galleries and the lagoon are free, and cafés and food markets keep meals casual.

In Byron, accommodation is the big expense. It ranks among the dearest of any Australian beach town and rises further in summer and on festival weekends, when long minimum stays are common. Add resort-priced cafés and a hire car. The free beaches and walks help, but a comfortable stay costs considerably more.

Brisbane has the full formal scene. The Queensland Performing Arts Centre is home to the state's symphony orchestra, opera, ballet and theatre companies. The Powerhouse in New Farm stages comedy and cabaret, the Brisbane Festival fills September, and Fortitude Valley has a long-standing live band circuit.

Byron's music happens in pubs and beer gardens, mostly folk, roots and surf rock, alongside a small community theatre and its well-known writers' festival. For a ballet or an orchestra, Byron people drive to Brisbane.

This is Byron's other great strength. Yoga, breathwork, massage and residential retreats in the hinterland hills shape the whole rhythm of the town, from an early swim to a quiet sunset. Come in the quieter winter months, when the centre is calm.

Brisbane's version is simpler: heritage open-air pools such as the Spring Hill Baths, hotel day spas and long evenings by the river. Neither place has hot springs. For a real retreat from Brisbane, you have to travel up into the hinterland.