Doha or Muscat?

Muscat is the better choice for the sea. Its sand runs through the city at Qurum and Shatti al Qurum, the coves at Qantab, Al Bustan and Yiti have clear water below rocky headlands, and boats from Mutrah reach secluded beaches and the coral around the Daymaniyat Islands.

Doha's Gulf is shallow and still, and the most pleasant swimming is at groomed hotel beaches in West Bay and on The Pearl, with quieter public shores at Al Wakrah and Simaisma. It makes a good afternoon off between museums. Muscat's coastline is worth planning whole days around.

Both cities eat mostly from South Asia and the Levant, with Keralan and Pakistani canteens doing most of the everyday cooking, and both keep wine to the hotels. Doha has the wider range. Iranian and Syrian kitchens add to the mix, machboos and harees are easy to find on the late terraces around Souq Waqif, and the hotels of West Bay, Lusail and The Pearl have big-name international restaurants.

Muscat has the more distinctive local cooking but far fewer places serving it. Shuwa, grilled kingfish and rosewater halwa with cardamom coffee are worth seeking out, along with an early visit to the Mutrah fish market. Still, Omani food is mostly found at a handful of floor-seated restaurants, so a food-led trip runs out of options sooner.

The two are evenly matched, and each takes two or three days, but the appeal is quite different. Doha is about modern museums of real ambition: Pei's Museum of Islamic Art and Nouvel's desert-rose National Museum are architecture and collections worth the flight on their own, set in a city where Souq Waqif is a reconstruction and little old fabric survives.

Muscat has more history in place. The Grand Mosque is its showpiece, and the walled cove of Old Muscat, with Al Alam Palace between the Portuguese-era forts and Mutrah's merchants' houses facing the dhows, gives a sense of a real old port that Doha cannot match.

Neither city is for a big night out, and in both, alcohol is confined to licensed hotels. Doha has a little more on offer, with rooftop lounges over West Bay and a few hotel clubs bringing in visiting DJs. Muscat's handful of hotel nightclubs fill mostly with expatriates at the weekend.

In either city, the better reason to stay up late is the sober evening. In Doha, crowds fill Souq Waqif, Katara and the Corniche until past midnight. Mutrah's corniche is gentler, more of a stroll and a shisha café than a whole city out for the evening.

This is where the two differ most. Muscat sits against the bare Hajar mountains, which drop into the sea in cliffs and fjord-like inlets. Within easy reach are the emerald pools of Wadi Shab, the Bimmah sinkhole, the terraced gardens of Jebel Akhdar, dolphins off the marinas and turtles at the Daymaniyat reserve.

Doha stands on flat gravel desert with a largely built-up shore. Its outings come down to a four-wheel-drive run to the Inland Sea at Khor Al Adaid and a mangrove paddle at Al Thakira, with the Corniche and Aspire Park for a walk.

Muscat is a base for exploring Oman. Inland, Nizwa's round fort and Friday livestock auction, the UNESCO-listed walls of Bahla, painted Jabrin Castle and the hanging village of Misfat al Abriyeen can fill several days. Down the coast, Sur still builds wooden dhows.

From Doha the options are thin. The ruined pearling town of Al Zubarah is the one heritage site worth the drive, and most visitors see the rest of Qatar on a single desert tour.

Doha does more for children. Theme parks with roller coasters inside the malls and at Doha Oasis, large water parks and the hands-on sports museum keep them busy whatever the heat, and families stay out late on the Corniche without anyone noticing. The metro also cuts down some of the time in taxis.

Muscat is a gentler choice built around the sea, with calm hotel beaches, morning dolphin trips, snorkelling in shallow coves and the lakes of Qurum park. Away from the beach it has less for children: the aquarium and snow park in Seeb and a children's science museum, but no theme park and long stretches in the car.

Doha is much easier without a car. Three cooled, driverless metro lines run to Souq Waqif, Msheireb, the National Museum, West Bay, Katara and Lusail, and taxis fill the gaps.

Muscat has nothing comparable. It is a chain of separate districts spread over about 50km of coast, the buses are of little use for sightseeing, and most visitors hire a car on its good, well-signed roads. On foot, both cities work only in short stretches and after dark in summer.

Doha is the stronger shopping trip. Souq Waqif sells oud, frankincense, spices, falconry gear and Arabic coffee pots, the Gold Souq next door sells jewellery by weight, and the malls of Lusail and The Pearl have designer flagships and department stores, some dressed up as Venetian canals.

Muscat's Mutrah Souq is calmer and more characterful, with silverwork, curved khanjar daggers, embroidered caps and little hard selling, and Nizwa's Friday market is worth a stop if you head inland. Beyond those, its suburban malls are mostly chain stores.

Both cities cost a lot to sleep in and very little to eat in, and both charge heavily for alcohol in hotels. Muscat works out somewhat cheaper overall. Its hotels are dear but ease off in the hot months, and fuel is cheap, although a hire car or taxis have to go into the budget.

Doha's large international hotels in West Bay, Lusail and The Pearl are priced like other wealthy Gulf cities and rise further during big sporting events. Against that, its inexpensive metro and very cheap karak and canteen meals help a visitor who stays out of hotel restaurants.

Muscat has the better stage. The Royal Opera House runs a proper season from autumn to spring, with touring opera and ballet, symphony orchestras, jazz and Arab music stars in a grand hall with a strict dress code.

Doha has the venues but a patchier calendar. The Qatar Philharmonic plays at the Katara opera house, the amphitheatre there hosts concerts in the cooler months, and the National Convention Centre takes touring musicals and comedy. In both cities it is worth checking dates before you travel.

Muscat is the more restful choice. The city is low-rise, slow and uncrowded, the resort spas in the coves south of the centre offer frankincense treatments and quiet pool days, and the warm springs at Nakhal and Rustaq let you bathe as locals do beneath the forts.

Doha's hotel spas in West Bay, Lusail and The Pearl are polished, with hammam rooms and scrubs. There is also a retreat on the north coast based on Arabic and Islamic healing. However, the setting is more urban, and a spa day there is a break in a city trip rather than its purpose.