Da Lat or Hoi An?

Da Lat has no beach at all. It sits on a plateau, and the nearest sand, at Ninh Chu Bay or Nha Trang, is a slow drive away down winding passes, too far to go there and back in an afternoon. Its lakes are for pedal boats, not swimming.

Hoi An has the coast on its doorstep. An Bang is about 5km away through rice fields, and the sand runs almost unbroken north towards Da Nang, so quieter stretches are easy to find. Swimming is easy from spring to late summer. In autumn the monsoon brings heavy surf and the beach is for walking only.

Hoi An has a cuisine of its own, and Da Lat does not. Cao lau, white rose dumplings, Hoi An chicken rice and the town's well-stuffed banh mi are worth travelling for. Cooking classes that start at the river market or the Tra Que vegetable gardens are a good way into them.

Da Lat's food is about the highlands themselves: produce from the farm valleys, grilled rice paper and bánh căn at the night market, and hotpot with wild greens on cold evenings. Its strongest point is coffee, arabica grown on nearby slopes and drunk on terraces above the pines. Neither town offers much fine dining or international food.

Hoi An's old town is a complete historic port. Wooden merchant houses, the covered Japanese Bridge and the Chinese assembly halls show centuries of trade on the Thu Bon river, and the streets are at their best by lantern light.

Da Lat's heritage is newer and more scattered. It is a French hill station of colonial villas, a cathedral, an Art Deco railway station and Bao Dai's Summer Palace. Its most memorable sights are the eccentric ones: the Crazy House and the porcelain-mosaic Linh Phuoc pagoda. It makes a fun stop, but it has less depth than Hoi An.

Both towns go quiet early, and neither has a real club. Hoi An has a little more going on after dark. You can float a candle on the river, and the backpacker bars on An Hoi islet and the beach bars at An Bang stay open a bit later. If you want a big night, Da Nang is close.

Da Lat's evenings centre on the night market, a café and an early night against the cold. There are a few backpacker bars, including one famous for its maze of rooms, and little else.

Da Lat has the more dramatic and active landscape. Pine hills, lakes and waterfalls surround the town, Langbiang mountain rises just to the north, and the montane forest of Bidoup-Nui Ba lies beyond it. Canyoning, abseiling, downhill biking and village treks are all well organised.

Hoi An's nature is gentler and closer to the water. You can cycle through paddy fields, take a basket boat through the nipa palm channels of Cam Thanh, or snorkel over the Cham Islands reef. For something wilder, Son Tra and the Hai Van Pass are about an hour and a half away.

Hoi An has far more within an easy day. The temple ruins of My Son are about an hour inland. Da Nang, with the Museum of Cham Sculpture and the Marble Mountains on the way, makes a second good outing.

Da Lat is cut off by its mountains. Most excursions stay in the nearby hills: K'Ho villages, coffee farms and silk workshops. The one big trip is down the Ngoan Muc pass to the Cham towers and craft villages near Phan Rang, which makes a long day.

Hoi An is the easier of the two with children. The old town is compact and partly car-free. Lantern making, basket boats and bike rides through the paddies keep children busy, and the beach is gentle for young swimmers in the calm season. Midday heat and the autumn storms are the drawbacks.

Da Lat is built for Vietnamese family trips, with strawberry picking, a mountain coaster down to Datanla falls, a cable car over the pines and cool weather. But the streets are steep, most attractions need a taxi, and teenagers may find the many photo stops twee.

In Hoi An, flat ground and a bicycle get you almost everywhere. The old town is closed to motor traffic for much of the day, and the beach, rice fields and villages are all an easy ride away. You only need taxis or a driver for Da Nang, the airport and My Son.

Da Lat is harder to get around. The centre by Xuan Huong Lake is walkable but hilly, and its pavements are taken over by parked scooters. Most of the sights are spread across the hills, so taxis, ride-hailing apps or a hired motorbike driver are part of every day.

Hoi An is a real shopping stop because of its tailors. You can have a suit, coat or pair of shoes made to measure, with silk lanterns, ceramics and carvings around them, though many shops sell the same things.

In Da Lat, shopping mostly means things to eat and drink: candied fruit, strawberry jam, artichoke tea and local coffee beans from the central market. Its other speciality is the woollen hats and second-hand jackets sold at the night market for the cold evenings.

Both are very cheap, but Da Lat makes a budget go further. Guesthouses overlooking the pines, night-market dinners and scooter hire all cost very little, and most sights charge only a small entry fee. Rooms fill up and get more expensive only when domestic visitors arrive for Lunar New Year and the long national breaks around Reunification Day and National Day.

Hoi An comes with a few extra costs. The old town charges an entry fee for its heritage sites, the riverfront restaurants charge more for less, and some beach resorts cost as much as resorts anywhere. Family homestays, street food and free hotel bicycles still keep a comfortable stay cheap.

Neither town has a theatre or concert season, so the difference is in the type of show. Hoi An stages short shows for visitors: the sung card game bai choi in the old town, folk music and dance at a traditional arts house, and a large outdoor history show on a river island.

Da Lat's music is more intimate. It is mostly acoustic evenings in small cafés where local singers perform ballads about the city, with occasional gong music from the Central Highlands.

Hoi An is better set up for a restful stay. There are spas at every price, from simple foot-massage parlours to resort treatment centres, yoga classes are easy to find, and resorts among the paddies or by the sea are made for lazy days.

Da Lat offers a different kind of rest: cool air, mist over the lakes and long mornings over coffee. Massage in town is cheap, but only a few villa resorts in the pines have proper spas. Neither town has hot springs or a bathing tradition.