Da Nang or Hue?

The beach is Da Nang's great strength. One long beach runs the length of the city, wide and pale at My Khe and Non Nuoc, so you can swim at dawn and eat grilled seafood behind the sand at night. The Son Tra coves and the quieter Hoi An beaches add variety.

Hue is a river city, and going to the beach means a trip out. Thuan An is a plain local strip about 15km away, and the much prettier Lang Co is over an hour by road. The autumn monsoon closes the sea in both cities, so the difference matters most from spring to late summer.

Both cities cook the spicy, robust food of central Vietnam, and you will eat equally well in either. The difference is in the dishes. Da Nang's signatures are mi Quang turmeric noodles and pork rolled at the table with herbs, and its real draw is fish and shellfish picked from tanks on the beach road and cooked to order.

Hue's cooking comes from the royal kitchens. It runs to bun bo Hue and plates of small rice cakes such as banh beo and banh nam, and its many pagodas have given it a strong vegetarian tradition. Da Nang has a little more international choice, though there is not much in either city.

Hue is the reason many travellers come to this stretch of coast. The moated citadel holds the Imperial City, with its throne hall and grounds still scarred by the fighting of 1968. Upriver, the tombs of Tu Duc, Minh Mang and Khai Dinh each have their own character, and together they need two or three full days.

Da Nang's own list is short: the outstanding Museum of Cham Sculpture, the cave shrines of the Marble Mountains, the pink cathedral and the Lady Buddha on Son Tra. Most visitors cover it in two days.

Neither city is worth choosing for its nightlife, but Da Nang offers more range. It has rooftop bars over the Han River, big open-air beer halls, the craft beer and cocktail bars of An Thuong and a few clubs that fill up at weekends. Hue goes to bed early. Its evenings come down to a few loud backpacker bars on the south bank, street-side beer over ice and the night market by the Truong Tien bridge.

Da Nang has the more dramatic scenery close at hand. The forested Son Tra peninsula, home to the rare red-shanked douc langur, is on the city's edge, and the Ba Na Hills rise to nearly 1,500m by cable car. Snorkelling off the Cham Islands and surf at My Khe in the cooler months add time on the water.

Hue's countryside is gentler and best seen by bicycle, past rice fields, villages and the pine hills around the tombs. The huge Tam Giang lagoon, with its fish traps and stilt huts, is its own speciality. Bach Ma National Park and the Hai Van Pass lie between the two cities and are within reach of either.

Da Nang is the better base for exploring. Hoi An's lantern-lit old town is under an hour away and easy to visit again. The Cham temple ruins of My Son make a comfortable outing, and Hue itself can be done as a long day over the Hai Van Pass.

From Hue there is less to choose from and the drives are longer. The former Demilitarised Zone, with the Vinh Moc tunnels and Khe Sanh, makes one long, sombre guided day. Hoi An is far enough that most people move on to it rather than going there and back, so nearby craft villages and the tiled Thanh Toan bridge are the easy half-day options.

Da Nang is much the easier place to bring children. The long beach leaves room to spread out, and the city adds the Golden Bridge and indoor amusement park at Ba Na Hills plus a couple of water parks. The weak points are the motorbike traffic and blocked pavements, which are hard work with a pushchair.

Hue's streets are calmer, and dragon boat rides, cyclos and cycling through villages go down well with older children. Beyond that, though, there are no zoos or play attractions. It works as a short stop on a family trip rather than a place to stay a week.

Neither city has public transport a visitor would use, so the difference comes down to size. Da Nang is spread along the coast, with the river centre, the beach and the Marble Mountains a ride apart. Most people get around by cheap app-booked car or motorbike taxi, or by hiring a scooter.

Hue's centre is small enough to walk or cycle from the south-bank hotels across the river to the Citadel, and cyclos suit its lighter traffic. The catch is the royal tombs, spread several kilometres upriver, which need a taxi, a driver, a boat or a tour.

Da Nang gives you more choice, though neither city is a place to shop for style. Han Market on the river and the bigger Con Market a short way inland sell coffee, dried seafood, fabric and everyday clothes, and the modern malls add international chains and large supermarkets. Below the Marble Mountains, the stone carvers of Non Nuoc work at every size, from a carving for your pocket to a statue taller than you. Most visitors who want tailored clothes, lanterns or leather goods head to Hoi An for them.

Hue offers less variety, but it does have crafts of its own to take home. Its conical hats are woven so finely that verses tucked between the leaves show up when you hold one to the light. Thuy Xuan incense and sesame candy are the other local buys, and the crowded Dong Ba market hall is the place to start, with tailors and a few silk shops in the hotel streets.

Both cities are very cheap, and Hue is cheaper still. Its guesthouses and good mid-range hotels cost very little, and street food, cyclos and bicycle hire barely touch a budget. The main extra costs are tickets to the Imperial City and the tombs.

Da Nang is still very good value for a beach vacation. Its beachfront and Son Tra resorts, Ba Na Hills and the western-style bars near the sand charge international prices, though it is easy to keep a stay modest.

Hue offers more, and nearly all of it comes from the royal court. Nha nhac, the court music of the Nguyen emperors, is played in the Citadel, and ca Hue singers perform on lantern-lit dragon boats on the Perfume River. The long-running Hue Festival adds more in its season.

Da Nang has little regular performance. Tuong theatre is staged now and then, mainly for locals, and the bars near the beach have cover bands. Its big moment is the summer fireworks festival over the Han River, and the staged river shows near Hoi An are also within reach.

Da Nang has far more spas and treatments. Massage parlours line the streets near the beach, resort spas on Son Tra have treatment villas over the sea, and a hot springs park with mud baths lies about 30km out. Early swims and long coffees keep the pace easy.

Hue's restfulness comes from its calm rather than its spas: pagodas, the garden houses of Kim Long, morning tai chi by the river and quiet evenings. Cheap massage is easy to find, and the Thanh Tan hot springs, about an hour away, make a day of soaking.