Chennai or Mumbai?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Chennai comes closer. Marina Beach and Elliot's Beach are made for evening strolls and snacks rather than swimming, yet the East Coast Road puts resort beaches near Kovalam and Mahabalipuram within reach by car, where a careful swim is sometimes possible.

Mumbai's Juhu and Girgaum Chowpatty are sunset promenades over murky water, and the nearest clean sea is across the harbour at Alibaug, which takes most of a day. In both cities the realistic swim is in the hotel pool.

Mumbai is the stronger food city, though Chennai has the edge for one cuisine. Chennai serves Tamil cooking at its source: idli, dosa and filter coffee in the tiffin halls of Mylapore and T. Nagar, rice meals on a banana leaf refilled until you stop them, and fiery Chettinad chicken. Alcohol and cooking from outside India play only a small part.

Mumbai's everyday food is just as good and has far more range. You can fill a trip with vada pav from the station carts, bhel puri on Chowpatty, bun maska in the Irani cafés of Fort and Colaba, Konkani crab curries, Parsi dhansak and, during Ramadan, the night grills of Mohammed Ali Road. Bandra and Lower Parel add modern restaurants of a kind Chennai has no real match for.

Mumbai has the stronger set of sights, led by the Gothic extravagance of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and the Victorian and Art Deco facades facing each other across the Oval Maidan. With the Gateway of India and the former Prince of Wales Museum close by, the Fort area gives a walkable morning of landmarks.

Chennai's appeal is more devotional and more scattered. The Kapaleeshwarar and Parthasarathy temples are busy places of worship rather than monuments, the Egmore museum's Chola bronzes are world-class, and Fort St George recalls British Madras, but reaching them means a lot of time in traffic.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Chennai's drinking is tightly regulated and largely confined to hotel bars and a few pubs in Nungambakkam and Alwarpet, so evenings mean beach walks and late dinners.

Mumbai has a proper going-out scene in the cocktail bars and clubs of Bandra, Khar and the Lower Parel mill compounds, plus the older bar strip in Colaba. It still closes around 1am and drinks are heavily taxed, but a dressy weekend night out is easy to find.

Mumbai has more real outdoors. Sanjay Gandhi National Park brings forest trails, leopards and the Kanheri caves inside the city limits, and the Western Ghats, about two hours inland, offer hill forts, Matheran and green monsoon hikes.

Chennai sits on a flat coastal plain with no hills, so its nature is about birds and the shore: blackbuck in Guindy, winter pelicans and storks at Vedanthangal and Pulicat, and turtle walks on the beaches. Both cities draw flamingos in winter.

Chennai has the better pair of outings. Mahabalipuram's Pallava shore temple and rock reliefs are about an hour down the coast, Kanchipuram's great temples and silk looms about two hours inland, and DakshinaChitra makes an easy half day. Pondicherry is possible with an overnight stay.

Mumbai's highlight is the boat to the Shiva carvings of Elephanta, with the Buddhist caves at Karla and Bhaja further out. After that the slow roads out of the city and the distance to Ajanta and Ellora limit most visitors to one or two trips.

For families the two cities are much alike: children are warmly welcomed, but heat, traffic and poor pavements wear them out, and a car with a driver plus a hotel pool make both easier. Chennai's best outing is the large, green zoo at Vandalur, with pony rides and balloons on Elliot's Beach in the evening.

Mumbai has the Nehru Science Centre, a useful indoor option in monsoon rain, and the ferries from the Gateway of India, which children enjoy.

Getting around is hard work in both cities, but in different ways. Chennai sprawls, and apart from the lanes around the Kapaleeshwarar Temple it is not a walking city. Its clean metro covers the airport and Central station, and cheap autos and app cabs do the rest.

Mumbai is long and narrow. The Fort, Kala Ghoda and Colaba area is pleasant on foot, and the suburban railway is the quickest way north if you avoid the crushing rush hours. Road traffic can turn a short trip into an hour.

Mumbai offers the wider range. Crawford Market, the gold lanes of Zaveri Bazaar and the antiques and film posters of Chor Bazaar sit alongside the stalls of Colaba Causeway and the designer and handloom boutiques of Kala Ghoda and Bandra.

Chennai is narrower but excellent in its field. The sari emporia of T. Nagar and the Kanchipuram silks of the old silk houses are among the best anywhere, and Mylapore adds brass lamps and temple jewellery. Fashion beyond Indian textiles is thin.

Day to day, both cities are cheap for food and transport, so the difference comes down to where you sleep. In Chennai simple hotels and guesthouses stay inexpensive, and only the business hotels push costs up.

In Mumbai comfortable rooms in the south of the city cost far more, decent budget options are scarce, and taxed cocktails in the smart bars add up quickly. A comfortable stay in Mumbai ends up costing more than the same stay in Chennai.

Chennai is the stronger choice for live performance, at least for Indian classical forms. The Margazhi season fills the Music Academy and the sabhas of Mylapore and T. Nagar with Carnatic concerts and Bharatanatyam, and Kalakshetra stages dance through the year.

Mumbai's scene is broader in genre. The National Centre for the Performing Arts hosts the Symphony Orchestra of India, jazz and Hindustani music, and the Prithvi Theatre anchors Hindi and English drama, though much of it is aimed at residents.

Neither city is restful, but Chennai has a little more to offer. Its yoga heritage shows in the lineage studios of Mylapore and Adyar, and the shaded grounds of the Theosophical Society and the resorts along the East Coast Road give real quiet without a long journey.

In Mumbai, relaxation mostly means luxury hotel spas or a dawn walk on Marine Drive or by the Banganga Tank. A proper retreat means heading out to Lonavala.