Chiang Mai or Da Lat?

Neither city is a beach destination, since both sit in the mountains far from the sea. The difference is in what you do instead. Chiang Mai has places where you can actually swim, such as the Huay Tung Tao reservoir, quarry lakes and waterfall pools, while Da Lat's lakes are only for pedal boats, though the coast at Nha Trang or Ninh Chu is a road trip away rather than the flight Chiang Mai needs.

Chiang Mai is the stronger place to eat. Northern Thai cooking has a character of its own, with khao soi, herby sai ua sausage, nam prik noom and sticky rice, and you can eat it at every meal at Warorot market, the Chang Phueak Gate stalls and the weekend walking streets.

Da Lat's food is simpler and built around produce: grilled rice paper, bánh căn and hotpot with wild greens at the evening market, and strawberries and artichokes from the valleys. Both are coffee towns with beans grown on nearby slopes, so the café habit is just as strong in each, though neither has much international range.

Chiang Mai has much more to see. Inside its moat are dozens of temples, from the ruined chedi of Wat Chedi Luang to the Lanna wooden halls of Wat Phra Singh, and Doi Suthep looks down from the mountain above, so the old northern kingdom is present on almost every lane.

Da Lat's heritage is younger and quirkier: a French hill station of villas in the pines, an Art Deco railway station and Bao Dai's Summer Palace, plus oddities such as the Crazy House and the porcelain-mosaic Linh Phuoc pagoda. You can see either city in two or three days, but Chiang Mai fills them more richly.

Chiang Mai has a real, if gentle, night scene: cocktail and craft beer bars in Nimmanhaemin, backpacker terraces around Tha Phae Gate and the louder beer-bar strip on Loi Kroh Road, mostly winding down around midnight. Da Lat is quieter still, with the night market, a handful of backpacker bars and some karaoke, and streets that empty well before midnight once the cold sets in. Neither city is for clubbing.

For the outdoors the two are evenly matched, and what differs is the climate and the style. Chiang Mai is tropical: Doi Suthep-Pui begins at the edge of the city, Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest peak, has cloud forest and birdlife, and the valleys offer rafting, ziplines and elephant sanctuaries.

Da Lat is cool pine country at around 1,500m, with quiet trekking on Langbiang and in Bidoup-Nui Ba, and canyoning and abseiling at Datanla. In Chiang Mai the months to avoid are the hazy burning season from February to April, while in Da Lat it is the wet summer that turns the trails to mud.

Chiang Mai has far more towns within a day's reach. Lamphun's gilded chedi is half an hour away, Lampang's carriages and walled temple about an hour and a half, and craft villages such as Bo Sang make an easy half day. Da Lat is cut off by its mountains, so Phan Rang's Cham towers, two and a half hours down the Ngoan Muc pass, are the only real town outing, and otherwise you are visiting K'Ho villages and farms.

The two are close for families, but they entertain children in different ways. Chiang Mai leans on animals and adventure, with elephant sanctuaries, the zoo, the Night Safari, quarry swimming and ziplines, though you need to plan around the heat and the burning season.

Da Lat is built for Vietnamese family trips: strawberry picking, paddle boats, the mountain coaster at Datanla and the cable car to Tuyen Lam Lake, all in mild air. Both have broken pavements and heavy scooter traffic, and Da Lat's kitsch photo stops amuse small children more than teenagers.

Neither city has a metro, but Chiang Mai is easier to get around. Its square old city is level enough to walk, and red songthaew trucks, tuk-tuks and ride-hailing cover the rest. Da Lat's centre around Xuan Huong Lake is hilly, and its sights are spread over steep roads with no public transport a visitor would use, so you need taxis, apps or a hired motorbike driver for almost everything.

Chiang Mai is much better for shopping, especially for handmade things. The Sunday Walking Street, the Saturday market on Wualai Road and the nightly Night Bazaar sell textiles, silver, carved wood and hill-tribe embroidery, and the umbrella and weaving villages are close by.

In Da Lat, shopping is mostly edible: candied fruit, strawberry jam, artichoke tea and coffee beans from the central market, plus wool hats and embroidered silk pictures. Come home from Chiang Mai with crafts, and from Da Lat with food.

Both are very cheap, and Da Lat is a shade cheaper still, with pine-view guesthouses, night-market dinners and taxis costing very little and only small fees at the sights. The catch is Lunar New Year and the long national breaks, when domestic visitors fill the rooms and push prices up. In Chiang Mai the everyday basics are just as easy on the wallet, and what adds up is organised outings such as sanctuaries, treks and cooking classes, along with hill resorts that charge international rates.

Neither city has formal stages, but Chiang Mai has more to fill an evening: nightly jazz and blues jams near the north gate, bands in Nimmanhaemin, khantoke dinners with Lanna dance, and Muay Thai fight nights. Da Lat's music is quieter and very much its own, with Vietnamese ballads, many of them written about the city, sung in small cafés and occasional Central Highlands gong performances.

Chiang Mai is the place to properly slow down. Thai massage is part of daily life and is taught at long-established schools, temples such as Wat Umong and Wat Suan Dok run meditation retreats, and the San Kamphaeng hot springs are under an hour away.

Da Lat's calm comes from its setting rather than its facilities: cool mornings, mist on the lakes and long hours over coffee, with simple massage in town and a few spa resorts in the pines. Weekend crowds fill the centre, so the quiet is best found by staying out among the trees.