Colombo or Kochi?

Neither city is a beach resort, but Colombo puts usable sand much closer. Mount Lavinia is a broad beach within the city, and Negombo offers a longer hotel strip an hour north. The calm season on the west coast runs from about December to April.

In Kochi, the shore at Fort Kochi is for watching the fishing nets, not for swimming. The nearest proper beach is Cherai on Vypeen island, a palm-lined strip with a lagoon behind it, about an hour away by road. At both cities, open surf and monsoon currents make the sea unsafe for part of the year.

The two eat equally well, and both cooking traditions rest on rice, coconut and seafood. Colombo has hoppers in the evening, the clatter of kottu after dark, lamprais from the Dutch Burgher kitchen, and short eats in the bakeries. It is also easier to have a drink with dinner, whether arrack, toddy or a cocktail.

Kochi's Kerala cooking leans on curry leaf, black pepper and tamarind. Breakfast is appam with stew, lunch is a banana-leaf meal, and pearl spot fish comes fried in a leaf wrap. The Syrian Christian beef fry and duck roast are specialities of the city. The toddy shops by the backwaters are the main exception to the state's tight limits on alcohol.

Kochi has more to see, and it is all close together. St Francis Church, Santa Cruz Basilica, the tiled Paradesi Synagogue and the murals of Mattancherry Palace are all within a short walk in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry. When the Biennale is held, it fills the old spice warehouses with contemporary art.

Colombo is a port city where the sights are more scattered. Its strength is the National Museum, a larger collection than anything in Kochi, along with the striped Jami Ul-Alfar mosque in Pettah and Bawa's Seema Malaka on Beira Lake. It fills a day or two, while Kochi rewards two or three unhurried days.

Colombo has the only real night out of the two, though it is limited. Rooftop lounges look over the ocean, a few clubs in Colombo 3 and around Galle Face fill up at weekends, and the casinos stay open late. Bars close on Poya full-moon days.

Kochi barely has a night scene. Kerala's alcohol rules leave a few hotel bars and licensed lounges in Ernakulam, so an evening there means a waterfront sunset, a long dinner and bed.

Kochi is built on water, which gives it much more to do outdoors. Kayaks and country boats travel the canals of Kumbalangi and the villages around Vembanad Lake, and Mangalavanam's mangroves sit inside the city. The Thattekad bird sanctuary and Athirappilly falls are both about an hour and a half away.

Colombo is flat and built up. Its green space comes down to Viharamahadevi Park, the wetland parks at Diyasaru and Beddagana for birdwatching, and boat trips on the Muthurajawela marsh. The rainforest and tea hills are a long drive away.

Colombo's day trips centre on one standout, while Kochi spreads its outings across several smaller places. The standout is Galle, a walled Dutch fort town about two hours south by expressway or the coastal railway. The Bawa gardens near Bentota and the mask carvers of Ambalangoda are on the way, and Negombo's canal and fish markets make a shorter outing to the north.

Kochi has nothing as famous as Galle, but it has more modest trips within a couple of hours. A day on the backwaters starts from Alappuzha. The Muziris sites around Kodungallur trace a port that once traded with Rome, and Thrissur is built around the great Vadakkunnathan temple. The roads are congested, so allow more time than the distance suggests.

Both cities welcome children warmly, but neither has much built for them. Heat, missing pavements and heavy traffic affect both. In Colombo, the outings are the Dehiwala zoo, kites on Galle Face Green in the evening and a train ride along the coast. The sea at the city beaches is often too rough for small children.

Kochi's strengths are its slow old quarter, ferry rides and watching the fishing nets being hauled in, plus a water park on the city's eastern edge. Parents should take extra care with food and water there.

Kochi is easier to get around. Ferries and the water metro link Fort Kochi with Ernakulam, a metro line runs through the commercial side, and the flat old quarter is easy to walk or cycle.

Colombo has no metro. Visitors rely on tuk-tuks and cars booked by app, which get stuck on Galle Road at peak hours. The coastal railway is the pleasant exception, and walking only works in a few areas such as Galle Face and Beira Lake.

The two are level for shopping, but you would buy different things in each. Colombo pairs the dense trade streets of Pettah with design-led stores in Colombo 3 and 7. These sell handloom cotton, batik and Sri Lankan fashion, some of them from old colonial villas. Tea and gems are the classic purchases.

Kochi's best buys are older and earthier. Jew Town's warehouses are full of antiques and reproductions, merchants sell pepper and cardamom by the sack, and kasavu handloom is the craft to look for. For international brands, Kochi's large mall outdoes anything in Colombo.

Both are inexpensive, but Kochi goes further. Fort Kochi homestays, banana-leaf meals and ferry crossings cost very little, and most sights are free or nearly so. The big costs are heritage hotels, private houseboats and long Ayurveda courses, all of them optional.

Colombo is the priciest place in Sri Lanka. The seafront hotels, rooftop bars and upscale seafood restaurants charge close to international rates, though eating where the locals eat keeps costs down.

Kochi has the more reliable evening of performance. Small Fort Kochi theatres stage shortened Kathakali every night, and you can arrive early to watch the make-up being applied. Mohiniyattam dance and Kalaripayattu martial art often appear on the same bill.

Colombo has bigger stages, the lotus-shaped Nelum Pokuna and the Lionel Wendt, and an orchestra that gives occasional concerts. Even so, its programme is thin. Kandyan dance is easiest to catch at festivals and shows put on for visitors.

Ayurveda is practised in both, but Kochi is the place to take it seriously. Kerala is its home, and clinics and heritage hotels run doctor-led courses lasting one to three weeks. Fort Kochi's shaded courtyards make the setting calm.

Colombo offers good single treatments, such as shirodhara or a herbal steam bath, along with conventional hotel spas. The city itself is noisy, though, and long programmes mean moving down the coast to Beruwala or Bentota.