Darjeeling or Varanasi?

Neither city offers any swimming. Darjeeling's valley rivers are cold and fast, and the Ganges at Varanasi is a place of ritual bathing that is too polluted and swift for visitors.

The only practical difference is that in Varanasi a few larger hotels away from the old city have pools, which can be welcome in the heat. In cool Darjeeling you will hardly miss one.

Varanasi gives the hungry visitor more to seek out. Dawn kachori and jalebi, tamatar chaat, lassi in clay cups, winter malaiyo and paan rolled to order around Godowlia make for a memorable, almost entirely vegetarian street-food circuit, even if alcohol is scarce and the range is narrow.

Darjeeling's pleasures are different: tasting first and second flush teas around the Mall or on an estate, then momos, thukpa and sel roti in small kitchens near Chowk Bazaar. The colonial tea rooms add long breakfasts, but beyond that there is less to explore than in Varanasi.

Varanasi is in another league here. More than eighty ghats along the Ganges, cremations at Manikarnika, the golden Kashi Vishwanath temple and the maze of the old city add up to a spectacle of living ritual that can fill many days. Sarnath and the Bharat Kala Bhavan add depth, even if museums are not the point.

Darjeeling's heritage is smaller and gentler: the UNESCO-listed toy train, the old Yiga Choeling monastery at Ghoom, St Andrew's Church and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute's Everest museum. It is charming, but two or three days covers it.

Both are early-to-bed towns, for different reasons. Darjeeling empties once the cold sets in, leaving a few pubs and hotel bars with a fire, while Varanasi is a holy city where alcohol is frowned on near the ghats. Its evenings centre on the aarti and the chai-and-music cafés at Assi Ghat, which feel a little more sociable than Darjeeling's hotel bars.

Darjeeling wins by a long way. Kangchenjunga fills the sky on clear mornings, tea estates and oak and rhododendron forest begin at the edge of town, and the Singalila Ridge leads through red panda country to a panorama of four of the five highest peaks.

Varanasi's outdoors is the river itself: a sunrise boat along the ghats and a walk on the sandbank opposite. Beyond lies flat farmland, and the nearest real scenery, the Chandraprabha sanctuary, is about two hours away.

The outings are about equally rewarding but quite different in kind. From Darjeeling they lead to other hill towns such as Kurseong, lakeside Mirik and Kalimpong, pleasant but similar to the base, on slow, winding roads.

Varanasi's outings add history. Sarnath, where the Buddha first preached, is only half an hour away, and Chunar Fort and Jaunpur's fifteenth-century mosques make good half or full days.

Darjeeling is far easier with children. The toy train, the zoo's red pandas and snow leopards, the ropeway and pony rides on Chowrasta give them plenty to enjoy, though steep steps, few pavements and a winding drive up suit older children better than toddlers.

Varanasi is very hard going for families. Crowded lanes with cattle and open drains, cremations in plain view, extreme summer heat and nothing designed for children mean most families keep it to a short stay.

Both are hard work to get around, and in each the best part is on foot. In Darjeeling that is the car-free ridge of Chowrasta and the Mall, beyond which steep lanes, shared jeeps and a three-hour drive up from the plains test your patience.

In Varanasi it is the long riverside path along the ghats, with boats on the same stretch. Away from the river the old city's lanes are confusing, and the newer town means noisy traffic and bargaining with rickshaws, but at least the ground is flat.

Varanasi has the more distinguished thing to buy: Banarasi silk brocade, available straight from the weavers' quarters or from the silk houses around Godowlia. Brass ritual ware, wooden toys and musical instruments add to it, though touts and repetitive devotional stock take some navigating.

Darjeeling's best buy is tea, tasted and compared by estate and flush in shops along the Mall and Nehru Road. The Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre's carpets and thangkas are worth a visit, but the market stalls repeat one another.

Both are very cheap, and Varanasi is slightly cheaper. Its greatest sights, the ghats and the aarti, cost nothing, and guesthouses, chai and boat rides cost very little. The main temptation is silk.

In Darjeeling the daily basics are just as cheap, but private taxis for Tiger Hill, heritage hotels and rooms with a mountain view in peak season push budgets up more often.

Varanasi is one of the homes of Hindustani classical music, with its own vocal, tabla and dance traditions. Visitors can catch small recitals in music schools, all-night concerts at the Sankat Mochan festival, the Dhrupad Mela on Tulsi Ghat, the month-long Ramlila at Ramnagar and the nightly aarti on the steps.

Darjeeling has little to plan around beyond masked cham dances at monastery festivals and the odd evening of Nepali and Lepcha music.

Darjeeling is the more restful of the two. A few days in a tea-estate bungalow with mountain mornings, cool air and long walks restores you, provided you stay away from the jeeps and crowds on the Mall.

Varanasi offers yoga, meditation and Ayurvedic massage around Assi Ghat, and dawn on the river can be deeply calming. But the city is loud and emotionally intense, so rest has to be planned into the day rather than found in the place.