Colombo or Phuket?

Colombo's seafront is for walking rather than swimming. Galle Face Green is a promenade, Mount Lavinia is the only usable sand inside the city, and the open surf has strong currents. A real beach day means going to Negombo in the north or moving south to Bentota.

Phuket is built around its beaches: busy Patong, calmer Kata and Karon, Nai Harn between its green headlands and the long empty sand of Mai Khao, with boats out to clearer island water. The same rule applies on both western shores. Swim in the dry months, and respect the monsoon swells, which make both coasts dangerous.

Both cities eat well, but in different directions. Colombo's table is Sri Lankan: rice and curry spreads, hoppers, late-night kottu and the Burgher lamprais, plus biryani and dosa from the Muslim and Tamil quarters. Good eating is spread right across the city.

Phuket's most distinctive cooking is Hokkien and Peranakan: yellow Hokkien noodles, peppery moo hong and morning dim sum. It is concentrated in Phuket Town, while the beaches rely on resort dining, seafood sold by weight and night markets, so the best of it means a trip into town.

Colombo has more to look at. The National Museum holds the country's finest royal regalia and sculpture. Fort and Pettah mix Dutch and British buildings with the striped Jami Ul-Alfar mosque, Hindu kovils and Wolvendaal Church, and Gangaramaya and Bawa's Seema Malaka on Beira Lake add temples.

Phuket's history is mostly one old quarter: the Sino-Portuguese shophouses and clan houses of Phuket Town from the tin-mining era, plus Wat Chalong and the Big Buddha. Each is a day or two of sightseeing, but Colombo's covers a wider mix of faiths and periods.

Phuket has the bigger night out by some distance. Bangla Road in Patong fills every evening with beer bars and clubs that run until dawn, loud and often rowdy, and Bang Tao and Kamala add stylish beach clubs at sunset.

Colombo's evenings are quieter and more contained. There are hotel bars, sea-view rooftops and a handful of clubs in Colombo 3 that fill at weekends, little street life after dark, and dry Poya days each month. An arrack cocktail at sunset is the local pleasure, rather than a party until dawn.

Phuket is a proper outdoor base. You can sea-kayak among the limestone towers and lagoons of Phang Nga Bay, and in the dry season boats run to the Similans for some of Thailand's best diving. Khao Phra Thaeo adds rainforest trails, waterfalls and a gibbon project.

Colombo's green space is urban: Beira Lake, Viharamahadevi Park, wetland parks good for birdwatching and boat trips into the Muthurajawela marsh. Sri Lanka's rainforest, tea hills and whales are all a long drive or an overnight stay away.

Colombo's day trips lead into history. Galle's ramparted Dutch fort town is about two hours south by expressway or the coastal railway, and the route passes the Bawa gardens near Bentota, the mask carvers of Ambalangoda and Kalutara's white stupa. Negombo, an hour north, adds a Dutch canal and fish markets. Kandy is better saved for an overnight stop.

From Phuket, a day out usually means another island. Ferries and longtails run to busy Phi Phi Don, about two hours away, or to the quieter fishing villages of the Koh Yao islands in Phang Nga Bay. By road you can reach Khao Lak and Phang Nga town, or Krabi and Ao Nang in two to three hours. There are few old towns within reach, though, so these trips are about beaches rather than history.

Phuket is the easier choice with children, as long as you base yourself in one resort. Kata, Karon and Nai Harn have gentle dry-season shallows, and many resorts have kids' clubs and big pools. Days out include water parks, the aquarium at Cape Panwa and short snorkelling trips.

Colombo welcomes children warmly but has little made for them: the zoo at Dehiwala, kites on Galle Face Green and a train ride along the coast. Heat, traffic and broken pavements rule out pushchairs, so most families stay a night or two and then move on.

Neither is easy, but Colombo is simpler. App-booked tuk-tuks and cars are quick to find and cheap, the coastal railway runs to Mount Lavinia and further south, and you can walk around Galle Face, Beira Lake and parts of Fort.

Phuket spreads across a hilly island, with its beaches strung along one winding road. The airport bus runs infrequently and stops early, and songthaews don't link one beach to another. Taxis charge high fixed fares, and scooters on those steep roads are a real risk.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the interest lies in different places. Colombo's Pettah is a dense bazaar where each street keeps to one trade, and it is worth walking for its own sake. Colombo 3 and 7 add handloom, batik and design stores, with tea, spices and gems to take home.

Phuket has more malls and international brands, plus tailors and pearl shops in the beach towns. Its best browsing is in the galleries and the Sunday walking-street market of Phuket Town's old quarter.

Colombo stretches a budget further. Local meals, tuk-tuks and train fares cost very little, and mid-range hotels are cheap by European standards, though seafront hotels and imported drinks come close to international rates.

Phuket is good value by Western standards but expensive for Thailand. Street food and massages are cheap, while beachfront resorts and, above all, taxis push daily spending up, and room rates rise sharply in peak season.

Colombo has more of a stage life, though it is small. Nelum Pokuna and the Lionel Wendt host concerts, dance and local drama, and the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka plays several times a year. Kandyan dance, with its drumming and acrobatic leaps, is the tradition worth seeking out.

Phuket offers ladyboy cabaret, staged cultural shows for tour groups and bands in beach bars, and Muay Thai bouts are its liveliest night out. Neither city is worth visiting for performance, but Colombo gives you more to choose from.

Phuket is the one to choose for a restorative trip. Thai massage ranges from beach-road shopfronts to spa pavilions in the jungle, and dedicated retreats offer yoga, detox and meditation. The Muay Thai and fitness camps in Chalong draw people for weeks at a time. Quiet bases at Mai Khao, Nai Harn or on the east coast make slowing down easy.

Colombo's strength is Ayurveda, a genuine local medicine, with oil massage and shirodhara at clinics across the city. The city itself is hot and noisy, though, and longer programmes mean moving to the residential retreats at Beruwala or Bentota.