Busan or Tainan?

Busan has real beaches inside the city: the broad arc of sand at Haeundae, Gwangalli beneath the lit-up bridge and the quieter Songjeong, where beginners learn to surf. All of them are a metro or bus ride away. The swimming season is short, roughly July to early September, and Haeundae is packed in those weeks.

Tainan's coast west of Anping is grey sand, lagoons and sandbars. The Golden Coast and Yuguang Island are better for an evening walk than a swim, because the currents are strong and bathing is often banned. The sea there stays warm for longer, but a hotel pool is the realistic place to swim.

Both cities are worth eating your way through, but Tainan is the one people travel to for its food alone. Its snacks run from beef soup and milkfish porridge at breakfast to danzai noodles, coffin bread and shaved ice. Many come from stalls that have made one dish for generations, and the city is best enjoyed on a slow day of grazing around the temples and night markets.

Busan's strength is narrower and comes from the sea: live seafood chosen at Jagalchi and eaten upstairs, milky dwaeji gukbap at any hour, icy milmyeon and fishcake on skewers. Neither city offers much international or high-end dining.

Tainan packs more history into a small area. Two centuries as Taiwan's capital left the Confucius Temple, Chihkan Tower, the Anping forts and hundreds of temples full of incense. Japanese-era buildings and the European paintings of the Chimei Museum add to them, and the city suits days of wandering from one courtyard to the next.

Busan grew quickly after the Korean War and has little old townscape, so its sights are scattered highlights. These include Beomeosa in the hills, Haedong Yonggungsa on the rocks above the sea, the painted lanes of Gamcheon and the UN Memorial Cemetery. Two or three days is enough to see them.

Busan offers a proper night out. Seomyeon's blocks of pubs and its few clubs stay busy into the early hours, and the beachfront bars at Gwangalli look across at the bridge. The Korean habit of rounds of soju followed by karaoke keeps the night going, especially in summer.

In Tainan the evening is about dinner and the night markets, perhaps followed by a quiet cocktail or whisky in a townhouse bar near Shennong Street. Most of the city is asleep by midnight, and anyone who wants clubs takes the train to Kaohsiung.

Busan has both mountains and sea within reach of the metro. You can hike past the fortress walls on Geumjeongsan or climb Jangsan for views over the harbour, then follow the Galmaetgil trail along the Igidae cliffs and around the Taejongdae headland. The high ridges of the Yeongnam Alps are about an hour inland.

Tainan's outdoors is flat and watery: boat rides through the mangroves at Sicao, salt pans, and black-faced spoonbills spending the winter at Qigu. It is gentle and interesting, but there are no real mountains within easy reach, and the summer heat limits time outside to the early morning.

Busan has the stronger excursion in Gyeongju, the ancient Silla capital, with its royal tombs, Bulguksa and Seokguram, about half an hour away by fast train. Tongdosa, the printing blocks at Haeinsa, the cherry blossom at Jinhae and even a ferry to Tsushima in Japan add range.

Tainan's best outing is Kaohsiung, under an hour away, with Foguangshan and the umbrella-making town of Meinong beyond it. Chiayi is the gateway to the Alishan forest railway, and the old streets of Yanshui and Xinhua are closer still. These are good options, but none quite matches Gyeongju.

Busan is made for a family summer. It has beaches inside the city, an aquarium on the Haeundae seafront, a theme park and luge track at Gijang, and the slow sky-capsule rail along the coast. The effort comes from the hills, the steps and the long distances, and late spring or early autumn is kinder than August.

Tainan is safe and warm towards children, and the night-market games, the Anping forts and the Tree House can fill a few days. Little is built for children, though. Pavements crowded with scooters and the heat make it harder going, and the zoo and theme park are in Kaohsiung.

Busan's metro, with English signs and a single tap card, links Nampo-dong, Seomyeon and Haeundae, so nobody needs a car. The catch is the length of the city, with nearly an hour between its far ends.

Tainan has no metro, the buses are slow, and the high-speed rail station sits well outside town. You can walk the old core, weaving between parked scooters, but Anping and the Chimei Museum mean a taxi. Most visitors rely on ride-hailing and the bike-share.

Busan is the place for a big shopping day. Centum City has enormous department stores, Seomyeon has long underground arcades of cheap fashion, and Korean skincare is sold on every main street. The market lanes of Gukje cover the rest.

Tainan is smaller in scale and more personal. The townhouse shops around Shennong and Zhengxing streets sell independent design, ceramics, tea and indigo-dyed cloth, and the 1930s Hayashi Department Store is a sight in itself. It is good for a thoughtful souvenir, much less so for fashion or volume.

Busan is the more expensive of the two, though transport is where it saves you money. The metro and buses reach most sights cheaply, and the temples, markets and coastal paths cost almost nothing to visit. The costs climb with rooms, especially on the Haeundae and Gwangalli seafronts in July and August, and with imported drinks. Staying in Seomyeon or near the station outside high summer keeps a trip reasonably priced.

In Tainan it works the other way round. Guesthouses and hotels cost clearly less than in Taipei, and eating at stalls and night markets barely dents the budget. Getting around is what Busan does more cheaply: with no metro, taxis and ride-hailing add up over a stay. The townhouse cocktail bars and the few upmarket restaurants charge Western prices, so the savings come from eating and sleeping simply.

Neither city is worth travelling to for the stage, but Busan has more formal evenings. There are orchestral and chamber concerts at Busan Concert Hall, traditional Korean music at the Busan Cultural Center and touring musicals at Munhyeon. The Busan Cinema Center is the main home of the city's film festival every autumn.

Tainan's most memorable performances happen on the street. On festival days, Taiwanese opera and glove puppetry are staged in front of the temples, and processions bring drum troupes and the Eight Generals. For orchestra, opera or dance, the city relies on Kaohsiung.

Busan is one of the better cities for a long soak. Dongnae has been a spa district since the Silla era, Haeundae has its own springs, and the spa complex in Centum City adds themed saunas and overnight jjimjilbang halls. Temple stays in the hills offer a quieter kind of rest.

Tainan's hot springs are at Guanziling, an unusual grey mud spring about an hour away each way. In town the choice is foot reflexology, massage and slow afternoons in tea rooms, while scooter noise and heat work against real rest.