Granada, Nicaragua or San Jose, Costa Rica?

Neither city has a beach, but Granada has a much better swim close to town. Laguna de Apoyo, a clear and calm volcanic crater lake about half an hour away, has docks and lodges where you can spend a lazy day in the water. The lakefront in town is for strolling, not swimming.

San Jose is high in the Central Valley, so in the city a swim means a hotel pool. Its nearest Pacific beaches at Jaco and Puntarenas are two hours away or more in traffic, which means a night away rather than an afternoon trip.

The two are much alike at the table: plain, filling home cooking, with gallo pinto in both. The difference is where you eat. In Granada the best meals are on the street, such as vigorón from the kiosks around the central park and grilled meats from evening fritanga stalls. The restaurants on La Calzada are hit and miss.

San Jose eats indoors, at small family sodas and the counters inside the Mercado Central. It also does two things Granada does not: well-made local coffee in proper cafés, and a strip of modern restaurants and craft beer bars in Barrio Escalante.

In Granada the town itself is the sight. A grid of ochre and blue colonial houses leads to the yellow cathedral, and La Merced's bell tower looks out over tiled roofs to Mombacho. The San Francisco convent holds the basalt statues from Zapatera island.

San Jose lost most of its old buildings to earthquakes and growth, so its interest lies in a handful of indoor places rather than its streets. These are the gilded Teatro Nacional, the Gold and Jade museums, and the National Museum inside the bullet-marked Bellavista fortress. Both need only a day or two, but Granada is the more rewarding place simply to wander.

Granada's nightlife is one street. Tables spill out along Calle La Calzada, hostel bars fill with backpackers, and a few small clubs play reggaeton at weekends. It is friendly, but by the third night you have seen it all.

San Jose spreads its evenings across several districts: cocktails and craft beer in Escalante and California, cheap student bars in San Pedro, and the late clubs and salsa halls of El Pueblo, where locals dance seriously. The catch is that you take a taxi between them rather than walking, because the centre is not safe to walk late at night.

Both are volcano country, and both let you stand at the rim of an active crater, at Masaya near Granada and at Poas and Irazu above San Jose. Granada's wild places are right on its doorstep and lean towards water: Mombacho's cloud forest rises just south of town, and you can kayak among Las Isletas past herons and fishing villages.

San Jose has the wider range within reach. Braulio Carrillo drops from cloud forest to rainforest, the Orosi valley has waterfalls, and Carara has scarlet macaws. The Pacuare and Reventazon rivers offer white-water rafting, which Granada cannot match.

The day trips are about as good in each, but they are different in character. From Granada you visit craft towns: the Masaya market and the Monimbó quarter, the pottery workshops of San Juan de Oriente, and the Catarina lookout over Apoyo.

From San Jose the outings are coffee towns and churches, such as Cartago's basilica and ruins, the colonial church in Orosi, Sarchi's painted oxcarts and coffee farm tours. They take longer than the map suggests, because the valley roads clog with traffic.

San Jose has more for children. There is a children's museum in a former prison, room to run in La Sabana park, and waterfall gardens with sloths and butterfly farms just outside the city. Families who stay in the western suburbs and travel by car avoid the hardest parts of downtown.

Granada offers a handful of good outings, such as a carriage ride, the boat to the monkey island and a swimming day at Apoyo. Beyond those there is nothing made for children, the heat never lets up and medical care is basic, so it suits older, adaptable children best.

Granada is far easier on foot. The centre is a small grid where the cathedral, the lakefront and Xalteva are a few minutes apart, and cheap taxis or horse carriages cover the hot middle of the day. For trips out of town most people use shuttles or drivers rather than the crowded old school buses.

San Jose has no metro, and its private bus companies run from terminals scattered across the city. Heavy traffic slows everything down, so visitors depend on taxis or ride-hailing in town and on a hire car or tours beyond it.

Both cities sell mainly crafts and coffee, and San Jose has slightly more beyond that. Granada offers hammocks, Pueblos Blancos pottery, rocking chairs and cigars, though the market in nearby Masaya has a better choice than the town itself.

San Jose's Mercado Central is a more absorbing place to browse, with Boruca masks and miniature oxcarts at the craft stalls. For clothes, the big malls in Escazu are the only real option, since neither city has a fashion street.

Granada is much cheaper. Courtyard guesthouses, street food, taxis and volcano tours all cost little, and even the restored mansion hotels look like a bargain to North American or European visitors.

San Jose is only cheap if you live like a local, eating at sodas and taking buses. Sit-down dinners in Escalante, alcohol and the higher park and tour prices for foreigners bring costs close to North American levels.

San Jose has a real stage life and Granada does not. The Teatro Nacional is home to the National Symphony Orchestra and also stages ballet, the Melico Salazar puts on dance and folk shows, and you can hear salsa bands or jazz in San Pedro.

In Granada, live performance means marimba players and folkloric dancers entertaining diners on La Calzada, plus the music and costumed dances of the religious festivals.

Neither city has a bathing tradition or many spas, so the difference is where you find rest. In Granada it is in town: long afternoons in a shaded courtyard and a dip in the hotel pool, with yoga and massage at the Apoyo lodges a short drive away.

In San Jose, a noisy and traffic-bound city, rest means leaving for the cool, quiet hills above Escazu, the coffee-farm lodges or the simple thermal pools of the Orosi valley.