Fukuoka or Nara?

Only Fukuoka has beach days. Momochi is fine for an evening paddle, and the white sand on the Itoshima peninsula is under an hour away in July and August.

Nara is in an inland basin. The nearest sea is the industrial Osaka Bay shore, so in summer your only swim there is a pool.

Fukuoka is one of Japan's great eating cities, and Nara cannot match it. You have tonkotsu ramen in Hakata and Nagahama, stools at the yatai in Nakasu and Tenjin, mizutaki, very fresh Genkai Sea squid, and an izakaya on every block.

Nara's table is small and local: persimmon-leaf sushi, narazuke pickles, Miwa somen and sake tastings in Naramachi. It is worth trying, but food near the park is mostly quick lunches for day visitors, and a serious dinner usually means taking the train to Osaka.

This is Nara's strongest card. The Great Buddha's wooden hall, Kofuku-ji's pagoda above the park, the lantern-lined approach to Kasuga Taisha and the Buddhist sculpture in the National Museum are some of the oldest and finest things in Japan.

Fukuoka is a rebuilt modern city. Its best area is the Hakata temple quarter, with Shofukuji and Tochoji, alongside the castle walls above Ohori Park and the ancient gold seal in the City Museum. It makes a pleasant afternoon or two, but people do not travel to Fukuoka for its sights.

Fukuoka likes to drink, and it shows. Nakasu's neon is reflected in the river, Daimyo and Tenjin hide craft beer and whisky bars in their backstreets, and nights run late, although there are few clubs.

Nara goes quiet once the day visitors leave. An evening there means an izakaya near Kintetsu Nara station or a sake counter, and a real night out means Osaka and watching the time of the last train back.

Both cities have good green space, but of different kinds. Fukuoka looks to the sea: ferries to Nokonoshima's flower slopes, cycling paths on the Uminonakamichi sandbar, and rocky capes and rice terraces on Itoshima, with Mount Homan for a proper hike.

Nara's nature is woodland and quiet countryside. The deer roam the park lawns, the Kasugayama Primeval Forest sits behind them, the Yamanobe-no-michi follows the eastern foothills, and Yoshino's cherry and maple slopes are further south.

Both are excellent bases, and Nara has the edge. Kyoto and Osaka are each under an hour away, Horyu-ji is a short ride, and Asuka, Uji and the mountain temple of Hase-dera add quieter days.

Fukuoka's reach is wider but more spread out. Dazaifu and Yanagawa are close, and the shinkansen brings Kumamoto, Hiroshima and Nagasaki within a day. The hot-spring towns of Beppu and Yufuin take a long day.

Fukuoka is built for a longer stay with children. Marine World's dolphin show, the seaside playgrounds beside it, the city zoo, the Anpanman Children's Museum and the science museum fill a week, rain or shine.

In Nara, feeding the deer and squeezing through the pillar at Todai-ji are memorable, but that is most of what is aimed at children, and small ones need watching around hungry deer. Most families give it a day or two and go to Osaka for anything more.

Both cities are easy to get around, in different ways. Fukuoka runs on its subway: the airport is a few minutes from Hakata Station, and the flat centre links Hakata, Nakasu and Tenjin on short walks.

Nara is mostly done on foot from Kintetsu Nara station, with rental bicycles for the flat basin and local trains or buses for the western temples. The buses fill up at weekends and in blossom season.

Fukuoka is a real shopping city. It has the Tenjin department stores and the underground arcade beneath them, vintage and select shops in Daimyo and Imaizumi, and Canal City by Hakata Station, with Hakata-ori silk and boxed mentaiko to take home.

Nara is a place for craft rather than fashion. Look for sumi ink, calligraphy brushes, Nara-zarashi linen and Akahada pottery in Naramachi, plus sweets and deer souvenirs in the covered arcades.

Daily costs are much the same, though the savings come in different places. In Fukuoka, the cheap subway from the airport, ramen counters and free parks and temples keep spending low.

In Nara, the deer park is free and the temples charge modest fees hall by hall. The cost that adds up is train fares if you go out to Kyoto and Osaka every day, so a regional rail pass is worth checking.

Fukuoka has more to see on an ordinary evening. Hakataza stages touring kabuki and musicals, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra plays in the Acros building, and small live houses in Tenjin host jazz and bands.

Nara's performances are tied to its shrines and temples: gagaku and bugaku at Kasuga Taisha, its role in the birth of Noh, and the winter On-matsuri. Outside those occasions there is little to book.

If you want to bathe, Fukuoka is the better base. There are large hot-spring complexes on the edge of the city, and Futsukaichi Onsen, one of Kyushu's oldest spa towns, is half an hour away.

Nara has no notable hot springs, only bathhouses and a few ryokan baths. What it offers instead is quiet: the park at dawn and a tea house beside a temple garden.