Guangzhou or Hangzhou?

Neither city is a place for swimming. The difference is how far you have to go: from Guangzhou the sandy beaches on the east side of Shenzhen are about two hours away and warm from May to October, while Hangzhou's nearest option is a few designated lake swimming areas at Qiandao Lake, so real sea and sand means a separate leg on the coast.

Guangzhou is the stronger food city, and for many visitors the food is the reason to come. Cantonese cooking was born here, and morning tea with har gow and cheung fun, live seafood cooked to order and roast meats in the small shops of Xiguan and Liwan make every meal an event. The city also eats late, at night markets and street stalls well past midnight.

Hangzhou's kitchen is narrower but distinctive: sweetish eastern dishes such as West Lake fish in vinegar and Dongpo pork, banquets by the water and pian'erchuan noodles at lunch. Its real advantage is tea, drunk where Longjing is picked in the hill villages.

Hangzhou has the richer sights, and its greatest monument is the West Lake landscape itself, with causeways, pagodas and pavilions that shaped the idea of Chinese scenery. Lingyin Temple and the Feilai Feng carvings, the silk and tea museums, the end of the Grand Canal and the Neolithic site of Liangzhu add real depth.

Guangzhou's history comes as separate sights scattered across a big city. The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall and the Nanyue King's jade burial suit are the highlights, and Shamian Island's colonial villas add character. Neither city keeps an intact old town.

Guangzhou offers more after dark: big clubs along the river and in Tianhe, bars around Zhujiang New Town, karaoke everywhere and the late seafood-and-beer suppers that keep whole streets busy into the small hours. Much of it is aimed at local groups, but there is far more of it.

Hangzhou's evenings are gentler, usually a stroll along the lit lakeshore and a drink on a terrace near Hubin, with a few clubs in Wulin. Real night owls tend to save themselves for Shanghai.

Hangzhou is much the better choice for time outdoors. Green hills meet the city's edge, so you can walk from West Lake up through bamboo and tea terraces, cycle the causeways at dawn or take a small boat through the Xixi wetland. Moganshan, Qiandao Lake and Tianmushan widen the choice further out.

Guangzhou's main outdoor space is Baiyun Mountain, with riverside promenades and the Haizhu wetland in town, and the forests of Conghua and Dinghu Mountain further out. It is green and lush, but has less variety than Hangzhou.

Both are good bases, but Hangzhou has more within easy reach. Shaoxing is under half an hour by fast train, Shanghai and Suzhou's classical gardens are about an hour or so away, and the canal towns of Wuzhen, Xitang and Nanxun are all short drives.

Guangzhou's best outings cross a border. Hong Kong and Macau each make a full day, though the visa needs checking first, and Foshan, Zhaoqing's crags and the Kaiping watchtowers add variety.

Guangzhou has more for children, mostly because of the size of Chimelong in Panyu. This one resort on the city's southern edge is big enough to build several days around, and its sister ocean park in Zhuhai is there for a longer outing. Back in town, the science centre is a good indoor stop, and lifts on the metro make it easy to cross a large city with a buggy.

In Hangzhou the lake itself is the attraction, so family days are spent outdoors, out on the water and along the shore, rather than inside a park. The zoo in the hills and the beluga whales at the aquarium add to this, but there is less to fill a long stay. Both cities have the same drawbacks: humid summers, crowds in the festival weeks and little English.

Guangzhou is easier to get around despite its size. Its enormous metro, signed in English, reaches almost every sight as well as the airport and the rail stations, even if forty-minute rides are normal.

Hangzhou's metro is good but covers less of what visitors want, since the tea villages, temples and wetlands sit among the hills. That means combining it with shared bikes, buses and taxis, though cycling the lakeshore is a pleasure in itself. Both cities run almost entirely on phone payments.

Guangzhou is the more interesting place to shop, because it is a trading city whose wholesale districts sell clothing, leather and electronics by the street. The vast Fangcun tea market and the jade street at Hualin are the standouts.

Hangzhou's buys are more focused: silk scarves and qipao, and Longjing tea bought from the growers in the hills, at its best in spring. Both have luxury malls, in Tianhe and in Wulin.

Both are cheap for major cities, with inexpensive noodles, transport and sights. The difference lies in when prices spike: Guangzhou's hotel rates jump during the spring and autumn trade fairs, while Hangzhou's rise in the national festival weeks and for lakefront hotels, so staying a little back from the shore pays off.

Neither city has a big performance scene, but the offerings differ. Guangzhou has the Opera House and the Xinghai Concert Hall, plus Cantonese opera in the old western districts and in Foshan next door. Hangzhou's main draw is its staged spectaculars, an evening show on West Lake and the Song-dynasty extravaganzas, with Yue opera sung in dialect for those willing to seek it out.

The two are equally good for unwinding, in different ways. Guangzhou has the hot spring resorts of Conghua an hour north and late-opening massage parlours on almost every block, set against a loud, fast city. Hangzhou's calm is part of daily life: tai chi by the lake in the morning, long afternoons in the hill tea houses and spa retreats in the tea valleys, as long as you avoid the weekend crowds.