Chongqing or Yangshuo?

Neither place has a beach, and both are a long way from the sea. Yangshuo comes out a little ahead because you can actually swim there: the gravel banks of the Yulong and the calm reaches of the Li are warm and inviting at the end of a hot rafting day. Chongqing's Yangtze and Jialing are fast working rivers, so cooling off there means a hotel pool or a hot-spring resort.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Chongqing is a destination for eating in itself, with beef-tallow hotpot, fiery xiaomian at breakfast, chicken buried in dried chillies and chuanchuan skewers, served everywhere from pavement stalls to vast halls and often late into the night.

Yangshuo has a short list worth trying, mainly beer fish, the stuffed snails and vegetables and Guilin rice noodles, and the side-street and village kitchens beat the tourist menus on West Street. Spice-shy travellers may find Yangshuo easier, but the range is far smaller.

Chongqing gives you more to see, even if it is a city of views more than heritage. The stacked towers, the monorail through buildings, the Three Gorges Museum, the Huguang Guild Hall and the Second World War sites such as the Stilwell Museum fill two or three days.

Yangshuo has no significant museums, and its centre is mostly rebuilt. What history there is lies in the brick villages along the Yulong, the Ming-era Dragon Bridge and the ancient banyan, which are pleasant stops on a bike ride rather than sights in their own right.

Chongqing's nights are longer and more varied. They take in the lit-up peninsula seen from the cable car, hotpot after midnight, the Chinese-style clubs of Jiujie and scattered craft-beer and cocktail bars, almost all among locals.

Yangshuo's night is essentially West Street, where bars with stage dancers and loud music draw rowdy domestic crowds past midnight. Step out to the villages and it goes completely dark and quiet, which some visitors will count as a plus.

Yangshuo is built for the outdoors in a way Chongqing is not. The limestone peaks rise straight from rice fields at the edge of town, and rafting the Yulong, walking the Li from Yangdi to Xingping, cycling flat lanes and climbing hundreds of bolted routes all start from your door.

Chongqing has real landscape too, with Nanshan's forest paths across the Yangtze, Jinyun Mountain and the karst bridges and sinkholes of Wulong a long day away. Haze, fog and fierce summer heat limit it, though, and the big scenery needs a trip out.

Chongqing has the stronger list of outings. Chengdu, with its pandas and teahouses, is about an hour by high-speed train, the Dazu Rock Carvings are among China's finest Buddhist cliff sculpture, and the Three Gorges cruises start in the city.

Yangshuo's day trips are small old towns, including Xingping, the fan workshops of Fuli, Daxu and the well-preserved Ming and Qing town of Huangyao. Guilin and the Reed Flute Cave are about an hour away. It is a pleasant circuit, but nothing on it compares with Dazu.

Chongqing has a slight edge for families because it has places built for children: pandas at the zoo, a large science museum in Jiangbei, theme parks and the thrill of the cable car and monorail. The catch is a city of stairs where pushchairs struggle.

Yangshuo suits older, outdoorsy children best, with gentle bamboo rafts, mud-pool caves and bike rides through villages. There is no zoo or play museum, though, and the busy country roads make cycling with little ones a careful business.

Chongqing is far easier to get around without your own wheels. Metro and monorail lines with English signs reach almost everywhere, cable cars and escalators help with the slopes, and taxis are cheap. What wears you down is the terrain and the confusing levels, not the transport.

Yangshuo's centre is walkable, but the scenery lies in the countryside. Most visitors hire a bicycle or e-scooter, and otherwise rely on minibuses or a driver. Signs are mostly in Chinese and the high-speed station is a drive out of town.

Chongqing is a real shopping city, with department stores and international brands along the pedestrian streets around Jiefangbei and a second mall district at Guanyinqiao. Packs of hotpot base and Sichuan pepper make the best local gifts.

Yangshuo offers little beyond souvenir stalls on West Street, much of it mass-produced. The exception is the hand-painted silk and paper fans from the workshops in Fuli.

Both are cheap places to spend a few days, but the money goes in different ways. In Chongqing, meals, metro rides and even upscale hotels are low-cost, and the extras that add up are Yangtze cruises, cable cars and paid viewpoints.

In Yangshuo, guesthouses, noodle breakfasts and bike hire cost very little, but the ticketed experiences such as Li River cruises, rafts, caves and the night show are priced for tourists. Room rates there also jump sharply during Golden Week and the Spring Festival.

Neither is a place to plan a trip around performance, though Chongqing has more to offer. You can see Sichuan opera with its face-changing and fire-spitting, and the glass Chongqing Grand Theatre hosts ballet, touring productions and the city's symphony orchestra.

Yangshuo has one big event: Zhang Yimou's outdoor show on the Li River, with hundreds of performers lit against floodlit peaks. It is memorable as a spectacle, but beyond it there are only tour-group dance shows and cover bands.

Chongqing has the stronger tradition of relaxation, with centuries-old hot springs at Beiwenquan, Nanwenquan and Dongquan, where you can soak in outdoor pools in wooded valleys. In town there are late-opening foot-massage parlours, a common way to finish a hotpot evening. You have to leave the noisy, steep centre to find real calm.

Yangshuo has few spas and no bathing culture, so rest there comes from the setting. A guesthouse in the Yulong valley, tai chi in the morning and evenings on a terrace over rice fields can be deeply restful, as long as you stay away from West Street.