Chiang Mai or Yangon?

Neither city has a beach, and in both a swim during the stay usually means a pool. What differs is the water nearby. In Chiang Mai, locals swim in Huay Tung Tao reservoir, quarry lakes and waterfall pools. Yangon's silty river is not for swimming at all.

For sand, travellers in Chiang Mai usually fly south to the Thai islands. From Yangon, the Bay of Bengal beaches at Chaung Tha and Ngwe Saung are a long drive away and need a separate trip of several nights.

Chiang Mai is the stronger place to eat. Its regional cooking has dishes of its own, such as khao soi, herby sai ua sausage and nam prik noom, served cheaply at Warorot market and the Chang Phueak Gate stalls. Coffee grown in the surrounding hills supports a café culture with real depth.

Yangon's food is just as distinctive but rougher round the edges: tea shops with mohinga and palata, laphet thoke, and the Indian and Chinese quarters adding biryani, dim sum and the evening skewers of 19th Street. Polished restaurants are scarce, and there is nothing like Chiang Mai's café scene.

The two are close on culture, but their sights are built differently. Chiang Mai spreads its interest across dozens of temples inside the moated old city, Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Phra Singh among them, best seen on slow walks, with Doi Suthep's temple looking down over the valley.

Yangon gathers its pull around one overwhelming monument, the gilded Shwedagon at dusk. It also has something Chiang Mai lacks: a whole colonial downtown of weathered government buildings, banks and churches around the Sule Pagoda. Museums are modest in both cities.

Neither is a clubbing city, but Chiang Mai gives you more to do in the evening. It has cocktail and craft beer bars in Nimmanhaemin, backpacker bars and rooftops around Tha Phae Gate, and the louder strip on Loi Kroh Road, with most places open until about midnight. Yangon goes quiet much earlier, and a night out mostly means draught beer and football at a beer station or skewers on 19th Street.

This is the widest gap between the two. Chiang Mai has mountains on its doorstep: Doi Suthep-Pui National Park starts at the western edge of town, Doi Inthanon rises to about 2,565m within easy reach, and the Mae Taeng and Mae Rim valleys offer rafting, treks to hill villages and mountain biking.

Yangon sits on flat delta land with no hills or trails nearby. Being outdoors there means walks by Kandawgyi and Inya lakes, the old park at Hlawga and a ferry ride for a view of river life.

Chiang Mai has a little more within easy reach. Lamphun's gilded chedi is half an hour away, Lampang has horse-drawn carriages and teak mansions, and the craft villages and hills make easy half days. Yangon's best day out is Bago, two hours north, with its great pagoda and reclining Buddha, and the pottery town of Twante lies across the river.

Each city keeps its most famous excursions for an overnight trip. From Chiang Mai that means Chiang Rai and Pai, and from Yangon it means the Golden Rock.

Chiang Mai is far easier with children. Elephant sanctuaries, the zoo on Doi Suthep, the Night Safari, ziplines and quarry swimming parks can fill several days. Broken pavements and the hazy burning season need planning around.

Yangon has the same broken pavements and heavy traffic, plus relentless heat. Beyond an old zoo, a small amusement park and the lawns of People's Park, little is made for children, so it suits older ones who enjoy temples and markets.

Neither city has a metro, and in both a walkable centre gives way to taxis and ride-hailing. Chiang Mai is somewhat easier: red songthaew pickups can be flagged down anywhere, Nimmanhaemin is a short ride away, and scooters or hired drivers handle the hills. Yangon's downtown grid can be walked and is calmer because motorbikes are kept out, but traffic beyond it is heavy, and the Circular Railway is a sightseeing loop rather than a way across town.

Chiang Mai is the better place to shop, above all for handmade things. There is the Sunday Walking Street, the Saturday market on Wualai Road and the Night Bazaar every evening, along with paper umbrellas from Bo Sang, weaving from San Kamphaeng and small design studios in Nimmanhaemin.

Yangon's shopping centres on one place, Bogyoke Aung San Market, for lacquerware, longyi, puppets and gems that need careful buying. Neither city is the place for fashion labels.

Both are cheap, and Chiang Mai is cheaper still. Guesthouses in old teak buildings are inexpensive, food and transport cost very little, and massages are cheap enough to have every day. Yangon's tea shops and taxis cost little too, but good international-standard hotels cost more than the rest of a stay would suggest, and the Shwedagon charges foreigners for entry.

Formal stage life is thin in both cities, but Chiang Mai has more on in the evenings. There are nightly jazz and blues jam sessions near the old city's north gate, bands in Nimmanhaemin, khantoke dinners with Lanna dance, and Muay Thai fight nights. Yangon offers less: mainly marionette shows and classical dance dinners at the barge-shaped Karaweik Palace. Its zat pwe theatre comes with pagoda festivals and is hard for a visitor to find.

Chiang Mai makes slowing down easy. There is massage on almost every lane, long-established schools where you can learn it, spas in teak houses, meditation at the forest temple of Wat Umong and hot spring pools at San Kamphaeng.

Yangon has less on offer, though what it has is serious: firm Burmese massage and vipassana centres such as Mahasi, where visitors can practise for days or weeks. Outside them the city is hot and congested, so calm comes in moments, at the Shwedagon early in the morning or beside Inya Lake in the evening.