Da Lat or Da Nang?

This is no contest. Da Lat is a mountain town about 1,500m up, its lakes are not for swimming, and the nearest sand, at Ninh Chu Bay or Nha Trang, is hours away down winding passes.

Da Nang is built along its beach. My Khe and Non Nuoc are wide and pale, the water is warm through the summer, and quieter stretches lie south towards An Bang near Hoi An. The catch is the autumn monsoon, when red flags often keep people out of the water.

Da Nang eats better and with more variety. Central Vietnamese cooking is spicy and robust, Mi Quang and banh xeo fill the food halls of Han and Con markets, and the seafood grilled to order behind the beach is worth the trip on its own.

Da Lat's food is gentler and shaped by its farms and cold nights: grilled rice paper and bánh căn at the evening market, hotpot with wild greens, strawberries and artichoke tea. Its real strength is arabica grown on the nearby slopes and drunk on terraces over the pines. Neither city offers much beyond Vietnamese cooking.

Both are light on culture, and two days or so covers each. In Da Lat the town itself is the sight: French villas among the pines, the Art Deco railway station, Bao Dai's Summer Palace, and odd modern creations such as the Crazy House and the porcelain-mosaic Linh Phuoc pagoda.

Da Nang has fewer buildings worth seeing but the stronger single collection, the Museum of Cham Sculpture, along with the cave shrines of the Marble Mountains. Its region's great heritage lies outside the city.

Da Nang has far more going on after dark. There are rooftop bars along the Han River, open-air beer halls serving grilled shellfish, and the craft beer and cocktail bars of An Thuong, which together make a relaxed but proper night out, with a few clubs for weekends.

A Da Lat evening is a night market, a café and bed. There are a handful of backpacker bars, one of them famously maze-like, and the streets are quiet long before midnight. The mountain cold helps send everyone home.

Both have fine landscapes, of very different kinds. Da Lat is highland country, with pine hills, lakes, Langbiang mountain and the montane forest of Bidoup-Nui Ba. Canyoning at Datanla, mountain biking and multi-day treks all happen in mild air.

Da Nang mixes mountains and sea: the forested Son Tra headland with its douc langurs, the ride over the Hai Van Pass, Bach Ma's rainforest trails, and snorkelling off the Cham Islands. Its summer heat makes long hikes harder work than in Da Lat.

Da Nang is far ahead here. Hoi An's lantern-lit old town is under an hour south and many visitors go more than once. The Cham temples of My Son are an easy outing, and Hue's citadel and royal tombs make a long but full day over the Hai Van Pass.

Da Lat's mountains cut it off. Apart from the K'Ho villages and the coffee and silk farms near town, the one real excursion is the drive down to Phan Rang for the Cham towers and pottery villages.

Da Nang suits families better, mainly because of the beach and the resorts along it with pools and children's clubs. On top of that there are the cable car to Ba Na Hills, a riverside Ferris wheel and water parks. Summer heat and the autumn rains are the drawbacks.

Da Lat is a favourite with Vietnamese families for strawberry picking, paddle boats, the mountain coaster at Datanla and the cable car to Tuyen Lam Lake, and the cool air is easy on small children. Steep streets and attractions spread across the hills make it harder going, and teenagers soon tire of the photo stops.

Neither city has public transport a visitor would use, so both run on ride-hailing apps, taxis and scooters. Da Nang is the easier of the two: the land is flat, the river centre and the beach are a short ride apart, and Hoi An is straight down the coastal road.

Da Lat's centre around Xuan Huong Lake is walkable but hilly. Almost everything else, from waterfalls to pagodas, is scattered along steep hill roads that turn slick in the rain.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Da Nang offers more. Han and Con markets sell coffee, dried seafood and fabrics, the stone carvers of Non Nuoc are near the Marble Mountains, there are several modern malls, and Hoi An's tailors are close by.

In Da Lat the best buys are things to eat and drink: jams, dried fruit, artichoke tea and coffee beans from the central market. The night market adds wool hats and scarves for the chilly evenings.

Both are very cheap by Western standards, and Da Lat is a little cheaper still. Guesthouses with pine views, night-market dinners and small entrance fees keep a stay modest, though rooms fill up and cost more over Lunar New Year and the national breaks.

Street food, app taxis and massages in Da Nang cost little too, but there are more ways to spend: resorts on the beach and Son Tra that charge international rates, Ba Na Hills, and the Western-style bars near the sand.

Neither city is worth planning around for performances. Da Lat's offering is small and personal: cafés where local singers perform ballads, many of them written about the town, and occasional Central Highlands gong music.

Da Nang leans towards spectacle. Tuong classical theatre is staged irregularly, there are cover bands near the beach, the summer fireworks festival lights up the Han River, and Hoi An has evening folk singing and staged river shows.

Da Nang is the better place for treatments. Massage parlours line the streets near the beach, resorts on Son Tra have treatment villas over the sea, and about 30km out there is a hot springs park with mineral pools and mud baths.

Da Lat offers calm rather than treatments: misty mornings, long coffees and a slow pace, with cheap massage in town and a few spa resorts in the pines. Its centre gets crowded at weekends and during national travel peaks, so the real quiet is out among the trees.