Dar es Salaam or Kigali?

This is the starkest difference between the two cities. Dar es Salaam sits on the warm Indian Ocean, though its own shoreline at Coco Beach is for strolling, not swimming. The real beaches are a half-hour boat ride away on Bongoyo and Mbudya, or on the long, quiet Kigamboni coast and the resort strip at Kunduchi. Plan swims around the big tides.

Kigali is landlocked. Lake Muhazi is good for a lunch by the water, and the proper lake beaches at Rubavu on Lake Kivu are an overnight trip. In town, a hotel pool is all there is.

Dar es Salaam has more to eat and more variety. Mishkaki and chipsi mayai on the street, nyama choma with cold beer, coconut fish curries, the morning auction at the Kivukoni fish market and good Indian cooking around Upanga and Kariakoo give a food lover plenty to seek out.

Kigali's own cooking is plainer: buffet lunches of beans, plantain and isombe, then goat brochettes in the evening. Its strength is highland coffee, roasted with care in the cafés of Kiyovu and Kacyiru, along with a good spread of international restaurants serving the diplomatic community.

Neither city is a major sightseeing destination, and both are covered in a couple of days. The difference is in what you see. Dar es Salaam offers Olduvai fossils at the National Museum, traditional houses at the Village Museum and a short colonial walk by the harbour, while the deeper Swahili history lies beyond the city.

Kigali's sights are fewer but carry more weight. The Genocide Memorial in Gisozi and the shell-marked parliament museum explain the country in a way few museums anywhere can, and the contemporary galleries in Kacyiru and Kimihurura are worth an afternoon.

Both cities come alive mainly at weekends. Dar es Salaam has a little more going on and a looser edge, with beer gardens and bongo flava clubs in Sinza and Mwenge and beach lounges in Masaki and Oyster Bay. The venues are spread out, though, and every move after dark is by taxi.

Kigali is calmer and more orderly. Rooftop bars look out over the lit hills, and clubs in Kimihurura and Nyarutarama play Congolese rumba and Afrobeats until late on Fridays and Saturdays. It suits anyone who wants a good night out without the rowdiness.

Kigali has the better outdoors. Its green ridges make walking a pleasure, Mount Kigali and the Nyandungu wetland are on the edge of town, and Akagera's lions, rhinos and hippos are close enough for a long day out. The gorilla volcanoes are a similar distance away, though most trekkers stay the night.

Dar es Salaam's nature is mostly on the water: snorkelling the reefs of the marine reserve, sailing a dhow past the mangroves and kitesurfing on the trade winds. On land the city is flat and suburban, and a safari means a separate journey.

Dar es Salaam has two outings of real weight. The fast ferry reaches Stone Town on Zanzibar in about two hours, and Bagamoyo, with its old fort, mission buildings and the Kaole ruins, is a similar drive up the coast.

From Kigali, the essential trip is to the memorial churches at Nyamata and Ntarama in Bugesera, followed by the King's Palace at Nyanza with its Inyambo cattle. Beyond these, Huye and Lake Kivu are better treated as overnight stops than same-day returns.

Neither city is built for children, but they let families down in different ways. Dar es Salaam has more to keep children busy, with island boat trips, resort pools and a water park, but the heat, traffic, lack of pavements and malaria precautions make every day harder work.

Kigali has fewer attractions, with no zoo or amusement park, but it is easier day to day: clean, safe-feeling streets, a mild climate and open space at Nyandungu. Older children will love a day in Akagera.

Kigali is easier to get around. Its steep valleys stop most people walking between districts, but moto-taxis with numbered vests and spare helmets, plus metered cars, cover short distances quickly because traffic is light.

In Dar es Salaam, distances and congestion slow everything down. The rapid bus lanes mostly serve commuters, pavements disappear once you leave the harbour area, and Masaki, the museums and the beaches are far apart, so most trips mean a slow ride-hailing car.

Dar es Salaam has more to shop for. Kariakoo is a vast trading market worth seeing for its scale, the Mwenge workshops sell Makonde carvings, and Tingatinga paintings, a style born in the city, are an unusual thing to take home.

Kigali's choice is smaller but well made: agaseke baskets, imigongo panels and kitenge tailored at Kimironko, a few Rwandan designers in Kiyovu, and bags of coffee to take home. Neither city has luxury shopping.

Costs work much the same way in both cities. Local life is cheap and the polished end is priced for expatriates. In Dar es Salaam the bills that add up are beach resorts, island boat trips and dinners in Masaki. In Kigali, park fees and above all gorilla permits can take over the budget of anyone who travels beyond the city.

Both cities have little formal stage life and no opera or orchestra, so performance comes in irregular bursts. Dar es Salaam's appeal is its music, as the home of bongo flava and taarab, heard in weekend bars. Kigali's highlight is intore dance, with leaping warriors and drummers, plus festivals and big concerts at its indoor arena.

Kigali is the easier place to unwind. There is no spa tradition, but the quiet, leafy streets of Kiyovu and Nyarutarama, the mild hill air, the yoga classes and the terrace coffee all help you slow down without leaving the city.

Dar es Salaam is hot, humid and loud, and a hotel massage only goes so far. Real rest there means leaving for a resort on the Kigamboni coast, or going on to Zanzibar.