Da Lat or Phnom Penh?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both are about three hours from the sea. From Da Lat the road winds down mountain passes to Ninh Chu Bay or Nha Trang. From Phnom Penh it runs across the plains to Kep and Kampot, and the islands need an overnight stay.

The real difference is how much you will miss swimming. In Da Lat's cool air you hardly will, and the lakes are for pedal boats, not bathing. In Phnom Penh's heat a hotel or rooftop pool is close to essential, so it is worth booking one.

Da Lat's cooking comes from the farms in the valleys around it. The main meal for most visitors is the evening market by the central steps, with grilled rice paper, bánh căn and hot soy milk, followed by hotpot with wild greens. Coffee from the arabica grown on the nearby slopes, drunk on terraces above the pines, fills much of the day.

Phnom Penh offers more variety. Khmer dishes such as fish amok, lok lak and sour soups are eaten at the counters in the Russian Market and Central Market. Kuy teav noodle soup at breakfast and good baguettes left by the French add more. There are also restaurants that rework Khmer cooking for fine dining and NGO training restaurants, a top end that Da Lat does not have.

Da Lat's sights are mostly about atmosphere: colonial villas among the pines, the Art Deco railway station, Bao Dai's Summer Palace, and the odd Crazy House and the porcelain-covered Linh Phuoc pagoda. Its museums are small.

Phnom Penh has far more weight. The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda stand beside a National Museum with superb Angkorian sculpture. Tuol Sleng and the Choeung Ek killing fields deal directly with the Khmer Rouge years. Both cities take two or three days, but Phnom Penh's days teach you much more about the country.

The two are far apart here. A Da Lat evening is the night market, a café and an early night against the cold. Its one well-known late stop is a maze-like backpacker bar near the centre, and the streets are quiet before midnight.

Phnom Penh has a small scene that runs late. Sundowners on rooftops above the Tonle Sap lead on to the cocktail and craft bars of Bassac Lane, and the clubs around Street 51 stay open into the early morning. Keep your bag on the side away from the road, as thieves on motorbikes are a known risk.

This is Da Lat's biggest advantage, and the reason most people go there. Pine hills, lakes and waterfalls surround the town. Langbiang rises to 2,167m just to the north, and Bidoup-Nui Ba holds montane forest and quiet trails. Canyoning, abseiling and downhill bike rides through coffee farms are easy to arrange.

Phnom Penh's landscape is river and floodplain. You enjoy it from the promenade, on a sunset boat or cycling around Koh Dach island. The nearest pine-covered upland is Kirirom, about two and a half hours away, while Da Lat has that kind of country at its edge.

Phnom Penh has more choice. Oudong's stupa-covered ridge is about an hour north, Tonle Bati and the hilltop temple of Phnom Chisor lie to the south, and Kampong Chhnang has its pottery and floating villages. None of them is a major destination, but together they fill several quiet days.

The mountains cut Da Lat off from other towns, so most outings stay in the hills: K'Ho villages near Langbiang, and coffee and silk farms. The one strong outing further afield is the drive down the Ngoan Muc pass to the Cham towers at Phan Rang.

Da Lat is the easier city for children, and it has long been a favourite vacation spot for Vietnamese families. Picking strawberries, riding the mountain coaster down to Datanla falls, the cable car over the pines and pedal boats in the Valley of Love all work well for young children. The mild air helps too. The steep streets, the scooters and the need for taxis are the main downsides.

Children get a warm welcome in Phnom Penh, but the city is hard work with them. The heat never lets up, pavements are few and the main sights are not places for children. Days tend to centre on the hotel pool, the Phnom Tamao rescue centre, river cruises and the malls.

Neither city has public transport a visitor would use, and both rely on drivers. Phnom Penh is somewhat easier because the Royal Palace, National Museum and riverfront are close together, and ride-hailing tuk-tuks remove most of the haggling. Walking is still slow on broken pavements, and crossing roads takes nerve.

In Da Lat, the centre around Xuan Huong Lake is hilly but walkable. Almost everything else, from the waterfalls to the pagodas and farms, is spread across the hills. That means taxis, a hired scooter or a motorbike driver for the day, on roads that turn slippery after rain.

Phnom Penh has more to bring home. The Russian Market's covered stalls sell silk, silver, carvings and clothing from the local factories, and Central Market sits under its Art Deco dome. The boutiques and fair-trade shops around Street 240 sell good Cambodian textiles and cooperative crafts.

Da Lat's shopping is mostly things to eat. Candied fruit, strawberry jam, artichoke tea and local coffee beans fill the stalls around the central market, alongside wool hats for the cold evenings and some embroidered silk pictures.

Both are cheap, and Da Lat is cheaper. Guesthouses with views over the pines, night-market dinners and scooter hire all cost very little. The exception is Tet and the long national breaks, when domestic visitors fill the rooms and prices rise.

Phnom Penh is still a bargain if you eat Khmer food and stay in local guesthouses, and its boutique hotels with pools are good value. Wine, Western restaurants and international hotels cost about what they would at home, so your bill depends on how you choose to spend.

Phnom Penh has a performance worth planning an evening around: classical Khmer dance. The Royal University of Fine Arts rebuilt the repertoire after the Khmer Rouge years, and it is staged near the National Museum with masked dance and shadow puppetry. The Chaktomuk Theatre hosts larger occasions.

Da Lat's music is small and personal. Local singers perform Vietnamese ballads in small cafés, many of them songs about the town itself. There is occasional Central Highlands gong music, and outdoor shows during the Flower Festival.

The two are broadly level, but they relax you in different ways. In Da Lat the calm comes from the setting: mist over the lakes, cool mornings over coffee, and villa resorts with spas out among the pines, away from the busy centre at weekends and during Tet.

Phnom Penh has more massage on offer, with Khmer and foot massage on almost every street and blind-masseur centres and NGO spas that train local staff. Garden pools in leafy villa hotels give you quiet, but the heat, dust and traffic are never far away.