Guangzhou or Guilin?

Neither city is a beach destination. Guangzhou's river shore is muddy and industrial, and the nearest real sand is on the east side of Shenzhen, about two hours away. In summer, locals cool off at the big water parks instead.

Guilin is even further from the sea. What it has is river water: shallow, calm spots on the Yulong and Li around Yangshuo where people wade or swim on hot days. In both cities a proper swim usually means a hotel pool.

Food is one of Guangzhou's main attractions and a big gap between the two. As the home of Cantonese cooking, it has morning tea in large dim sum halls, roast meats and clay-pot rice in Liwan, live seafood cooked to order, and street stalls serving congee into the early hours. Tianhe adds refined Cantonese dining and the other Chinese regional cuisines.

Guilin's food is a short list: a bowl of mifen rice noodles for breakfast, river snails, stuffed vegetables and Yangshuo's beer fish. These are worth eating, but the choice beyond them is thin, and many restaurants near the sights cater to tour groups.

Guangzhou has deeper history and more of it to see. The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall's Lingnan carving, the Nanyue King's jade burial suit, and the ancient Buddhist temples of Guangxiao and the Six Banyan Trees are major sights. The colonial villas of Shamian Island and the arcaded streets of Xiguan add atmosphere between them.

In Guilin, most sightseeing means karst hills and lit caves set out as parks, such as Elephant Trunk Hill, Reed Flute Cave and Seven Star Park. The walled Ming palace of the Jingjiang Princes' City and the carved calligraphy at Longyin Cave are its main historic sights. A day or two is enough for the city.

Guangzhou's nights are bigger and go on later. There are loud clubs along the river and in Tianhe, cocktail and craft beer bars, karaoke, and above all siu yeh, the late seafood-and-beer supper with friends. Much of it suits groups who know their way around.

Guilin's evenings are gentler. People stroll the lit-up lakes and eat skewers around Zhengyang Street. The only real late night out is West Street in Yangshuo, a loud, touristy strip of bars.

Guilin's landscape is the reason to go, and Guangzhou cannot match it. Steep limestone peaks line the Li River down to Yangshuo, with bamboo groves and fishing villages along the banks. The flat lanes between the peaks are good for cycling, and the limestone is famous for sport climbing. The Longji rice terraces cover whole mountainsides to the north.

Guangzhou's green spaces are on a smaller scale. There are the wooded hills and cable car of Baiyun Mountain, evening walks along the Pearl River and the Haizhu wetland. Further out, Dinghu Mountain has waterfalls and old forest, but the scenery is green and pleasant rather than striking.

Guangzhou is the better base for day trips. Hong Kong is about an hour away by high-speed train and Macau's Portuguese old town is not much further, though both mean crossing a border, so check your visa. Closer to home, Foshan has its Ancestral Temple and kung fu heritage, Shunde is famous for its cooking, Zhaoqing has limestone crags rising from lakes and Kaiping has its diaolou watchtowers.

Guilin's trips all lead into the same countryside: Yangshuo, the stone lanes of Xingping, the old trading town of Daxu, the ancient Lingqu Canal and the Zhuang and Yao villages among the Longji terraces. They are lovely places, but they start to feel alike after a few days.

Guangzhou is much easier with children. Chimelong in Panyu combines a drive-through safari park with pandas and koalas, a theme park, a water park and a circus. The city adds a zoo, a science centre and river boat trips, and the metro has lifts, which helps with a buggy.

In Guilin, children enjoy rafting on the Yulong, the coloured caves and cycling around Yangshuo. There is no zoo or theme park, though, and with little English spoken, a family usually needs a hired driver.

Getting around is easier in Guangzhou. Its huge metro is signed in English and reaches the airport, the rail stations and almost every sight, although a journey of forty minutes between districts is normal.

Guilin has no metro, and bus signs are mostly in Chinese, so visitors rely on cheap taxis and ride-hailing. Its compact centre around the lakes is easy to walk, though, more so than Guangzhou's wide roads. In both cities, set up a mobile payment app before you go.

Guangzhou is a trading city, and its shopping shows it. Whole districts of wholesale markets sell clothing, leather and electronics, the Fangcun tea market lets you taste pu'er and oolong, and Hualin has its street of jade sellers. Beijing Road and the Tianhe malls cover everyday shopping and luxury brands.

Guilin has chain stores and souvenir stalls, and nothing you would travel for. What is worth taking home is local: chilli sauce, osmanthus tea, Sanhua rice liquor and Zhuang and Yao embroidery from the hill villages.

Both are cheap by Western standards, and Guilin is a little cheaper day to day. A bowl of noodles, a taxi or a countryside guesthouse near Yangshuo costs very little. The exception is sightseeing: the river cruise, the caves and the hill parks all charge entry, and a full programme adds up.

Guangzhou is the other way round. Its temples, parks and museums are mostly free or cheap, but hotels are dearer and rates jump during the spring and autumn trade fairs.

Guangzhou has more for anyone who wants an evening of music or theatre. The Opera House hosts touring opera and ballet, and the Xinghai Concert Hall is home to the symphony orchestra. Cantonese opera, with its painted faces, is still performed in the old western districts, though finding it takes some effort.

In Guilin, live performance mostly means large staged shows for tourists. The best known is Impression Liu Sanjie, staged on the Li River with the floodlit peaks behind it, and the city adds acrobatics and the odd night of Gui opera.

Both cities have hot springs outside town, but Guangzhou's are much easier to reach. The Conghua resorts lie in wooded hills about an hour north and make a good overnight escape, especially in the cooler months. In the city, cheap massage parlours stay open late on almost every block, and a slow morning tea in a teahouse is a way to rest in itself.

Guilin's springs at Longsheng are about two hours away near the rice terraces, so they fit best into a trip to the terraces rather than a separate break. The city is noisy with tour groups in season. The real way to unwind is to stay in a guesthouse among the fields outside Yangshuo, with cycling, tea and early nights.