Cebu or Kota Kinabalu?

Kota Kinabalu makes beach days simpler. The Tunku Abdul Rahman islands, Manukan, Sapi and Mamutik among them, are a short speedboat ride from a jetty in the centre, with white sand and coral near the shore. The beaches are small and busy by late morning, and the resorts at Tanjung Aru and Dalit Bay offer a quieter stay.

From Cebu City you first have to cross to Mactan, often slowly, and most of the sand there sits behind resort day passes. Outrigger trips to Nalusuan, Hilutungan and Pandanon reward you with sandbars and snorkelling, but Cebu's best beaches at Moalboal, Malapascua and Bantayan are three hours or more away.

The two eat at much the same level, cheaply and casually at plastic tables, but the emphasis differs. Cebu is pork country. Lechon is the dish people travel for, with puso, ngohiong and evening skewer grills around it, and the seafood comes mostly from the sutukil places on Mactan.

Kota Kinabalu looks to the sea, with live-tank seafood halls and the charcoal grills of the waterfront night market. It also has a noodle culture of its own in the kopitiams, plus Kadazan dishes such as hinava. Neither city has much fine dining beyond the big hotels.

Cebu has more history to show. As the oldest Spanish settlement in the Philippines, it keeps a compact old downtown with Magellan's Cross, the Basilica del Santo Niño, Fort San Pedro and the ancestral houses of Parian, enough for a full day.

Kota Kinabalu lost most of its old town in 1945. The Sabah Museum, the two mosques and the Atkinson Clock Tower fill half a day, and Borneo's indigenous cultures are better met in the villages outside the city.

Cebu gives you more to do after dinner. IT Park's open-air bars and beer gardens stay busy into the small hours, Mango Avenue has the older clubs, and the Sinulog in January turns the city into a street party. Kota Kinabalu's evenings are shorter: a seafood dinner, a sunset drink on the waterfront and a few live-band bars at weekends, in a town that goes to bed early for its boats and mountain trips.

This is where Kota Kinabalu pulls well ahead. Mount Kinabalu, Borneo's highest peak, is about two hours inland, with a two-day summit climb and one of the richest botanical parks on earth. Closer in there is rafting on the Kiulu and Padas, the Crocker Range, and dusk river cruises to see proboscis monkeys and fireflies.

Cebu's outdoors are good but more scattered. The Busay hills give cool views above the city and Mactan has reef diving, while canyoneering at Kawasan Falls, the sardine shoals off Moalboal and the whale sharks at Oslob are about three hours south and work best with a night away.

Cebu has more places to go for the day. The fast ferry to Bohol makes a full outing, and the road south passes the colonial town of Carcar and a string of Spanish-era coral-stone churches. Lapu-Lapu's shrine and Olango are close at hand, though traffic stretches every journey.

From Kota Kinabalu, excursions head mostly into the landscape rather than to other towns. Its best outings are the Sunday market at Kota Belud and the slow colonial railway south to Papar and Beaufort, and the tribal villages near town feel staged.

Kota Kinabalu is the easier town with children. The island beaches have shallow water a short boat ride away, Lok Kawi Wildlife Park has orangutans and pygmy elephants, and the city has a relaxed pace, though pavements are poor and the mountain drives are long and winding.

Cebu welcomes children just as warmly but works best from a Mactan resort with a snorkelling boat day. The city itself is hard going, with heavy traffic and few pavements, and Cebu Ocean Park and the malls are the main escapes from the heat.

Neither city has a metro, and in both you will rely on cheap taxis and ride-hailing apps. Kota Kinabalu is the easier of the two, because its waterfront core, Gaya Street, the markets and the island jetty are all within walking distance of one another.

Cebu's gridlock is worse, especially on the bridges to Mactan and the airport. Its walkable patches, downtown, IT Park and Ayala, are cut off from each other by stressful roads.

Shopping in Cebu mostly means vast air-conditioned malls around Ayala Center, SM City and the seafront SM Seaside, but its local side is what puts it ahead. Carbon Market is the city's oldest working market and the Taboan stalls sell dried fish and squid. On Mactan, family workshops build guitars and ukuleles from local wood, which makes a more unusual thing to carry home.

Kota Kinabalu gives you less to fill a day of browsing. Its highlights are the Sunday street market on Gaya Street, with orchids, rattan and batik, and the waterfront handicraft market for pearls, shell work and Borneo beadwork. Neither city has much of a designer or boutique scene.

Both are cheap day to day, and in both the money goes on extras rather than meals and taxis. In Cebu the costs jump with Mactan resorts, private boats and trips south. In Kota Kinabalu they come from the Kinabalu climb with its permits, guides and hut, plus diving, rafting and marine park fees, so your bill depends on which of these you book.

Neither city is a place for theatre or concerts, but Cebu has the bigger spectacle: in January the Sinulog fills the streets with costumed dance contingents, and its bar singers are often excellent. In Kota Kinabalu the traditional dances are mostly staged for visitors, and the Kaamatan harvest festival in Penampang is the real chance to hear gong ensembles and bamboo bands played for local people.

Cebu is the better bet for massage. Hilot and neighbourhood massage houses are part of everyday life, and the Mactan resorts have full spas and quiet pool decks, even if the city itself is loud and tiring.

Kota Kinabalu has a slower pace, cheap foot reflexology and resort spas at Tanjung Aru and Dalit Bay. The open-air sulphur tubs of Poring Hot Springs are its one distinctive soak, but they are a long drive away and best kept for after the climb.