Fukuoka or Tainan?

Fukuoka is the one where you can actually swim. In July and August the Itoshima peninsula, under an hour west, has clear water and white sand, and Momochi gives you an evening paddle in the city itself. The season is short, but it is real.

Tainan's coast west of Anping is a place for sunset walks over the Taiwan Strait. The water is cloudy and the currents are strong, so swimming is often banned, and a hotel pool is the practical option.

Both are cities people travel to just to eat, but they eat in different ways. Fukuoka is about tonkotsu ramen counters, riverside yatai, izakaya on every block and very fresh Genkai Sea fish, with the option of a serious sushi dinner at the top end.

Tainan is a day of grazing that starts with beef soup at breakfast and moves through danzai noodles, coffin bread and shaved ice, often at stalls that have made one dish for three generations. Its cooking is sweeter and almost all street-level, with little formal dining.

Tainan has the deeper history. Chihkan Tower and Fort Zeelandia tell the story of the Dutch, Koxinga and the Qing, the Confucius Temple and the Grand Mazu Temple anchor a dense old centre, and the Chimei Museum adds European painting.

Fukuoka was largely rebuilt and has fewer sights. The Hakata temple quarter around Shofukuji, the castle walls above Ohori Park and the gold seal in the City Museum are rewarding, but much of the region's grander heritage, Dazaifu for one, lies outside the city.

Fukuoka is the place for a night out. Nakasu's neon and yatai start the evening, then the standing bars, whisky rooms and handful of clubs in Daimyo and around Oyafuko-dori keep it going late.

Tainan's evenings centre on food, with a few quiet cocktail and craft-beer bars tucked into townhouses near Shennong Street. Most of the city is asleep by midnight, and anyone wanting more takes the train to Kaohsiung.

Fukuoka has more variety close by: running loops around Ohori Park, flower slopes on Nokonoshima, the rocky capes and rice terraces of Itoshima, and real hikes in the Sefuri hills with views over the bay.

Tainan sits on a flat coastal plain, so its outdoors means wetland rather than hills. Its standouts are the mangrove tunnels at Sicao, the salt pans of Taijiang and the winter black-faced spoonbills at Qigu. The mountains around Alishan are too far for a day.

As the shinkansen hub for Kyushu, Fukuoka is one of the best bases in Japan. Dazaifu is half an hour away, Kumamoto Castle and Hiroshima with Miyajima are about an hour, and Nagasaki's layered port history is under two hours.

Tainan has a decent range, just fewer famous names. Kaohsiung's Pier-2 and Lotus Pond, the Foguangshan Buddha Museum and Chiayi for the Alishan railway are the main ones, and the old streets of Xinhua and Yanshui are closer to home.

Fukuoka is built for easy days with children. Marine World's dolphin show, the hilltop zoo, the Anpanman museum and clean facilities everywhere mean little planning, and the summer heat is the main drawback.

Tainan is friendly to children, and night-market games and climbing around the Anping Tree House go down well. But little is made for them, scooters crowd the pavements, the heat is draining and every outing means a taxi. The theme park and big zoo are in Kaohsiung.

This is where the two differ most. Fukuoka's airport sits on the subway minutes from Hakata, the flat centre is easy to walk, and IC cards cover subway, buses and trains.

Tainan has no metro, its buses are slow and the high-speed rail station is well outside town. The old core can be walked, though scooters and steps break up the pavements, and Anping and the Chimei Museum mean a taxi, ride-hailing or the bike-share.

Fukuoka is the stronger shopping city. Tenjin's department stores sit above a long underground arcade, the side streets of Daimyo and Imaizumi have vintage and independent fashion, and Canal City covers the big brands.

Tainan's shopping is small and personal: indigo cloth, tea, ceramics and Taiwanese design in townhouse shops around Shennong Street, plus the Japanese-era Hayashi Department Store with its rooftop shrine. Anyone hoping for fashion will be disappointed.

Tainan is the cheaper city. Snacks cost very little, most temples are free and rooms are clearly cheaper than in Taipei, though taxis add up over a stay.

Fukuoka is good value for Japan, with compact business hotels, ramen and set lunches all affordable and a cheap subway. Costs climb quickly, though, for sushi dinners, design hotels and nights in Nakasu.

Neither is a big city for the stage, but Fukuoka has more of a formal programme. Kabuki tours to Hakataza, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra plays in the Acros hall, and the dawn float races of the Yamakasa in July are an unforgettable sight.

Tainan's shows are mostly street events tied to the temple calendar: Taiwanese opera and glove puppetry on stages set up for the gods, and processions with lion dances. For concerts and ballet you go to Kaohsiung.

Fukuoka has Japan's bathing culture close at hand. There are neighbourhood sento and large hot-spring complexes on the edge of the city, Futsukaichi Onsen is half an hour away, and Ohori Park and the Hakata temple gardens give the centre some quiet.

Tainan's bathing is out at Guanziling, whose rare mud springs are about an hour each way. In town you have foot-massage parlours and slow afternoons in tea rooms, but scooter noise and heat make proper rest harder.