Fukuoka or Takayama?

Fukuoka is a coastal city with beaches you can actually use in July and August. Momochi Seaside Park is good for an evening paddle, and the clearer water and white sand of Itoshima are under an hour away. The bathing season is short and jellyfish arrive towards its end.

Takayama has no beach at all. It sits in a mountain basin about two hours from Toyama Bay, so if you want to swim on the same trip, plan a separate stop by the sea.

Fukuoka is one of Japan's great food cities and Takayama is a good town for a few local specialities. Fukuoka offers Hakata tonkotsu ramen, the yatai street stalls, mentaiko, mizutaki and very fresh fish from the Genkai Sea, at every level from noodle counter to serious sushi.

Takayama's table is built around Hida beef, soy-glazed dango, market pickles and tastings at the sake breweries in the merchant quarter. These are excellent for two or three days, but the choice is narrow and dinner ends early.

Takayama has the more memorable sense of history. The dark-timbered lanes of Sanmachi Suji, the surviving Takayama Jinya government office and the thatched houses of Hida Folk Village make a whole Edo-period townscape that you can walk through in a day or two.

Fukuoka was largely rebuilt, so its history comes in pockets: the Zen temples of old Hakata, the castle walls above Ohori Park, and the ancient gold seal in the City Museum. It does have more museums, including the Asian Art Museum, but no townscape to match Takayama's.

After dark the two places are very different. Fukuoka is a city that likes to drink. Nakasu's neon and riverside stalls, the standing bars and whisky bars of Daimyo and Tenjin, and the student strip on Oyafuko-dori keep going late, though there are few clubs for dancing.

In Takayama, most people eat dinner at their ryokan and the old town is quiet by nightfall. A few izakaya near the station are good for a sake, and that is about all.

Takayama has the bigger landscapes. Within reach by bus are the Shin-Hotaka ropeway to peaks of nearly 3,000m, the riverside trails of Kamikochi and summer walking on Norikura, with skiing in winter. Getting there takes planning around bus timetables, and Kamikochi closes for the cold months.

Fukuoka's outdoors is gentler and on the coast. There are cycling paths at Uminonakamichi, flower slopes on Nokonoshima, the rocky capes of Itoshima and half-day hikes on Mount Homan. The volcanoes of Aso are a long day away.

Both towns are good bases, but Fukuoka's rail links reach further. Dazaifu is about half an hour away, Kumamoto Castle is well under an hour by shinkansen, Hiroshima and Miyajima take about an hour and Nagasaki is under two. That puts much of western Japan within a day.

Takayama has fewer trips, but the best of them are special: the UNESCO-listed gassho villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama, the canal town of Hida-Furukawa and Gero Onsen. Kanazawa works better as your next stop than as a return trip in a day.

Fukuoka is much easier with children. Marine World has a dolphin show and a seaside park next door, and there are the zoo, the Anpanman museum and the science museum for wet days, plus nursing rooms in the stations. Midsummer heat is the main thing to watch.

Takayama is safe and compact, and children usually enjoy the morning markets, the thatched houses and the festival floats. With no zoo, aquarium or theme park, though, it works best as a day or two within a longer family trip.

Both centres are small and flat enough to walk. Fukuoka also has an airport on the subway a few minutes from Hakata Station, three subway lines, a dense bus network and the shinkansen hub for Kyushu.

Takayama's old town, Jinya and markets are all within a quarter of an hour on foot from the station. Beyond the town you depend on regional buses, which need planning around connections and fill up in the busy seasons.

Fukuoka is a real shopping city. Tenjin has department stores such as Iwataya above a long underground arcade, Daimyo has independent fashion and vintage shops, and Canal City sits near Hakata Station. Hakata-ori silk and boxed mentaiko make good gifts.

Takayama is all about craft. It sells amber Shunkei lacquerware, yew carvings, bentwood furniture and brewery sake, mixed in with plenty of sarubobo souvenirs. It is good for one well-made object, but there is no fashion shopping.

Neither place is expensive by Japanese standards. Fukuoka is a little easier on a budget, with compact business hotels, cheap ramen and set lunches, and a cheap subway ride from the airport.

In Takayama, everyday eating and the sights cost little. The money goes on what most people come for: a ryokan night with a full dinner, a proper Hida beef meal, and rooms during festival weeks.

Fukuoka has a modest regular stage. The Hakataza theatre puts on touring kabuki and musicals, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra plays in the Acros building, and small live houses in Tenjin host jazz and local bands. The Hakata Gion Yamakasa float race in July is its most dramatic street spectacle.

Takayama's performances come almost entirely from its spring and autumn festival, with karakuri puppets and lantern-lit processions. Outside those days there is nothing to see on stage.

Takayama is the place to slow down. Hot-spring water flows into many ryokan baths, so a soak and an evening in a yukata come with the room. The riverside pools of Okuhida and the famous baths of Gero Onsen are about an hour away.

Fukuoka has neighbourhood sento, large bath complexes on the edge of the city and the old spa town of Futsukaichi near Dazaifu. Ohori Park and the temple gardens of Hakata are calm places, but Beppu and Yufuin are a long day's trip.