Buenos Aires or Punta del Este?

This is Punta del Este's category by a long way. The peninsula gives it two kinds of beach side by side: the sheltered, shallow Playa Mansa for easy swimming and the open-Atlantic Playa Brava for surf. Beyond them, wide sandy stretches run past La Barra and Manantiales towards José Ignacio. The water stays bracing even in summer, but it is a real beach resort.

Buenos Aires faces the brown, silty Rio de la Plata, which is not fit for swimming. The Costanera lawns are for lying in the sun, and a dip means a hotel or club pool. If you want both, the capital and Punta del Este sit across the estuary from each other and combine well in one trip.

Both kitchens are built on meat over fire, but Buenos Aires has much more to eat. Its parrillas sit alongside a deep Italian strand of thick-crust pizza, fresh pasta and excellent ice cream, along with choripán from street stalls, dulce de leche pastries and grand coffee houses where you can sit for hours. Palermo adds ambitious modern cooking and wine bars, and all of it runs year-round.

Punta del Este's strengths are seafood from the port, chivitos and wood-fired lamb, plus winery lunches among the Albariño and Tannat vineyards around Garzón. The best tables in La Barra and José Ignacio are seasonal, so outside summer the choice shrinks.

Buenos Aires gives you days of sightseeing. Avenida de Mayo runs from the Casa Rosada to Congress, Recoleta has its cemetery and Belle Époque streets, and San Telmo and La Boca keep the older port city alive. The Bellas Artes and MALBA hold major collections of European and Latin American art.

Punta del Este is a 20th-century resort with little history. Casapueblo on the cliffs at Punta Ballena is worth the trip at sunset, and the hand sculpture and lighthouse round out an easy single day.

The two keep the same late hours, with dinner after ten and clubs going until sunrise. The difference is the calendar. Buenos Aires runs like this all year, with hidden cocktail bars and rooftops in Palermo, serious electronic clubs, scruffier bars in San Telmo and tango milongas that last until the small hours.

Punta del Este has a fierce but short season, from Christmas to the end of January, built around La Barra's clubs and afternoon beach-club parties. By March it has largely gone quiet, and out of season a night out means a few bars on the peninsula.

Punta del Este has more nature on its doorstep. There are dunes, pine woods and rocky points, sea lions on Isla de Lobos, whales passing in spring, and lagoons around José Ignacio and Garzón for kayaking, kitesurfing and birdwatching. Surfers have breaks at La Barra and Manantiales, and the low hills near Piriápolis offer gentle walks, though the wind rarely lets up.

Buenos Aires sits on flat pampas. Its green space is the Bosques de Palermo and the wetland reserve at Costanera Sur, and its best escape is the boat-and-kayak maze of the Paraná Delta beyond Tigre.

Buenos Aires has the stronger list. The ferry to Colonia del Sacramento puts a UNESCO-listed Uruguayan old town within reach for the day. Tigre and the delta, gaucho country at San Antonio de Areco, the basilica at Luján and the planned city of La Plata are all easy outings.

From Punta del Este, the main excursion is Montevideo, a couple of hours away. Closer options are Piriápolis, José Ignacio, Maldonado's colonial core and the wine village of Pueblo Garzón, but Colonia and Cabo Polonio need an overnight stay.

The two are about even for children, in quite different ways. Buenos Aires has more to do: the lakes, pedal boats and planetarium in the Palermo parks, the Museo de los Niños for a rainy day, and Temaikèn and Tigre's amusement park further out. It also involves long distances, heavy traffic and broken pavements.

Punta del Este is the simpler beach stay, with shallow water on the Mansa side and safe, green residential streets. Beyond sea lion boat trips and the arboretum, there is little built for children.

Buenos Aires is far easier without a car. The Subte covers the centre and Palermo, colectivo buses reach everywhere day and night on one card, and taxis are plentiful. The catch is the size of the city, since its main neighbourhoods are a long walk apart.

In Punta del Este only the peninsula is walkable, along with the seaside path on the coast road. Local buses reach Maldonado and La Barra, but anyone staying further east or heading to José Ignacio, the wineries or the beach clubs will usually hire a car or take taxis, and summer traffic slows the coast road.

Buenos Aires is the better place to shop. Leather jackets, bags and shoes from the workshops of Villa Crespo are the classic buy. Palermo Soho is good for independent Argentine designers, and the Sunday antiques fair on Calle Defensa in San Telmo and the painted domes of Galerías Pacífico add character.

Punta del Este has chain stores on Avenida Gorlero, a mall, summer-only designer boutiques and linen and homeware shops in La Barra and José Ignacio, plus a craft market on Plaza Artigas. Much of it closes when the season ends.

Buenos Aires costs far less. Public transport is very cheap, neighbourhood parrillas and wine are good value, and hotels undercut a European capital, though Palermo and Puerto Madero can charge European prices. Argentina's currency swings are worth checking before you travel.

Punta del Este is the playground of wealthy South Americans in an already expensive country, and in January rooms, dinners and beach-club loungers are priced to match. December, March and the shoulder months bring much lower rates, but fewer places are open.

Buenos Aires has a world-class stage. The Teatro Colón holds a full season of opera, ballet and symphony, Avenida Corrientes is lined with theatres, and the independent theatre scene is huge. Tango, at its best in the neighbourhood milongas with live orchestras, is reason enough to come.

Punta del Este has a long-established January jazz festival on a country estate, summer chamber concerts around José Ignacio and casino shows, but no regular season at all.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both, wellness comes down to hotel and day spas. The difference is the pace. Buenos Aires is loud and intense, and its rest lies in the long café sit and the after-dinner sobremesa, along with very quiet Sunday mornings.

Punta del Este offers real calm outside the January crush, with pine-shaded streets, empty beaches and the slow lagoon country around José Ignacio in the shoulder months.