Guangzhou or Shanghai?

Neither city is a place to swim. Guangzhou looks out on a muddy, industrial estuary and Shanghai on the silty brown mouth of the Yangtze, so for both the realistic option is a hotel pool.

The escape routes differ. From Guangzhou, real sandy beaches on the east side of Shenzhen are about two hours away. Shanghai's nearest sand is the walled, filtered bay at Jinshan in an industrial setting, and a proper beach means flying to Hainan.

These are two of China's great places to eat, but the cooking is quite different. Guangzhou is the home of Cantonese food: morning tea with har gow and pu'er, live seafood cooked to order, clean and fresh flavours, and congee and grilled fish at night stalls long after midnight.

Shanghai's own benbang cooking is sweeter and richer in soy. Think red-braised pork, soup dumplings and hairy crab in autumn. Its strength is range, with every Chinese regional cuisine, a deeper international scene than Guangzhou, and a café and coffee culture in the former French Concession that Guangzhou has no real match for.

Shanghai gives the more striking sightseeing. The Bund's Art Deco and neoclassical banks facing the Lujiazui towers make one of Asia's defining views. The shikumen lanes and plane-tree avenues of the former French Concession are a pleasure to walk, and the Shanghai Museum's bronzes and ceramics are among the best in China.

Guangzhou's history goes back much further but survives in separate pieces rather than as a townscape. The carved Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, the Nanyue King's tomb with its jade suit, the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees and the colonial villas of Shamian Island are rewarding, though they are spread out and take two or three days.

Shanghai is the clear choice for going out. Its cocktail scene is the draw, with unmarked speakeasies in the former French Concession and hotel bars looking across at the lit Pudong skyline. Underground techno rooms and large clubs with international DJs keep going until dawn at weekends.

Guangzhou's nights are big but harder for a visitor to join. Bottle-service clubs, karaoke and the siu yeh late supper over seafood and beer are mostly for local groups. That supper is the part worth seeking out.

Guangzhou has more green on its doorstep. Baiyun Mountain's forested hills, with paths and a cable car, sit on the northern edge of the city. The streams of Conghua and the waterfalls and old subtropical forest of Dinghu are within an hour or two.

Shanghai is flat and densely built. Its outdoors means Century Park, cycling along the Huangpu riverside and birdwatching in the Chongming Island wetlands, and real hiking country such as Moganshan is too far for a day.

Guangzhou's best day trips cross borders. Hong Kong is about an hour away by high-speed train and Macau's Portuguese old town a little further, but check that your visa lets you back into mainland China. Closer to home, Foshan's kung fu and opera heritage is a metro ride away, Zhaoqing's limestone crags are about an hour west, and the Kaiping watchtowers are about two hours by road.

Shanghai has more choice, and none of it needs a border crossing. Suzhou's classical gardens are about half an hour away by high-speed train, Hangzhou's West Lake and Longjing tea villages about an hour, and Nanjing's Ming walls about an hour and a half. The canal town of Zhujiajiao lies within the city's own boundaries, while the stone bridges of Tongli, Xitang and Wuzhen are within two hours and best seen on a weekday.

Shanghai has more for children. Disneyland is reached by metro, Legoland and an ocean park sit on the city's edges, and the hands-on science and natural history museums fill rainy days. The city is also easier to manage with children day to day.

Guangzhou's draw is the Chimelong resort in Panyu, whose drive-through safari with pandas and koalas, water park and circus make an excellent couple of days. Away from Chimelong, though, there is less to do, and less is signed in English.

Both cities run huge, clean metros signed in English, and in both you will spend 30 to 45 minutes underground between districts and pay for nearly everything by phone. Shanghai is a little easier. The Maglev runs in from Pudong airport, cheap ferries cross the Huangpu, and the Bund and former French Concession are lovely on foot.

In Guangzhou, the old Xiguan and Yuexiu quarters are good for walking, but wide roads and heat make walking elsewhere hard work.

Shanghai is better for browsing and buying. Small boutiques on Wukang Road and Anfu Road sell Chinese designer fashion and ceramics, fabric markets tailor a qipao or suit in days, and Nanjing Road runs from historic department stores to luxury malls.

Guangzhou is a trading city first. Its fun lies in the wholesale districts for clothing, leather and electronics, and in tasting your way through the Fangcun tea market or the Hualin jade street. There is little independent design.

Guangzhou is the cheaper of the two, and the difference is mostly in where you sleep. Comfortable modern hotels cost far less than in central Shanghai, where good rooms near the Bund or Jing'an are priced like a European capital's. Street food and the metro are cheap in both.

Guangzhou's one trap is the spring and autumn trade fair seasons, when hotel rates jump, so check the dates before booking.

Shanghai has more on stage and makes it easier for a visitor to go. Acrobatics shows run as a regular part of its evenings. Kunqu, Yue and Peking opera all have homes here, and the Grand Theatre and Oriental Art Center often stage musicals in English. Its jazz goes back to the Bund ballrooms of the 1930s.

Guangzhou has a fine riverside Opera House and the Xinghai Concert Hall. Its own art is Cantonese opera, heard in the old western districts' neighbourhood halls, but most programmes assume you speak Chinese.

Both cities offer the same amount of calm, in different forms. Guangzhou's best escape is the hot spring resorts of Conghua, an hour north in wooded hills, along with cheap late-night reflexology and long hours of morning tea.

Shanghai keeps its bathing in town. Big bath centres let you soak, eat and sleep over in rest halls, and there are acupuncture clinics, hotel spas and tai chi in the morning parks.