Guangzhou or Suzhou?

Both are inland delta cities with muddy estuary shores, so swimming means a hotel pool in either. The difference is distance: from Guangzhou, the sandy beaches east of Shenzhen are about two hours away and make a possible outing, while Suzhou has no beach worth the trip, and Lake Tai is not used for bathing.

Guangzhou is one of the great eating cities of China. Morning tea with har gow and siu mai, char siu and clay-pot rice in the small shops of Xiguan and Liwan, and congee and grilled seafood at night markets past midnight give it a depth and range that Suzhou cannot match. It also has more international food and fine Cantonese dining in Tianhe.

Suzhou's cooking is narrower and gentler: sweet, seasonal Jiangsu dishes built on lake fish and shrimp, a breakfast bowl of noodles, and Biluochun tea with osmanthus cakes. It rewards the curious, especially in autumn when the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs arrive, but it is a pleasure to try for a few days rather than a reason to travel.

Suzhou's classical gardens, the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Lingering Garden, the Master of the Nets and the Lion Grove, form one of China's finest groups of sights, and they cluster within the old moat alongside canal streets such as Pingjiang Road. Tiger Hill, the Panmen gate and the Suzhou Museum round out a city that feels designed to be looked at.

Guangzhou offers strong single sights rather than a whole: the carved Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, the Nanyue King's jade burial suit and the old Buddhist temples, plus the colonial villas of Shamian Island. They are worth two or three days, but they are spread out and lack Suzhou's concentrated beauty.

Guangzhou has the bigger and later scene, with loud clubs along the river and in Tianhe, cocktail bars in Zhujiang New Town and karaoke everywhere. Its best night out is the siu yeh, sharing seafood and beer at plastic tables until two or three in the morning, though much of it is geared to local groups.

Suzhou's evenings are gentler: a lantern-lit walk along Pingjiang Road or Shantang Street, a drink by a canal, or the small bars of Shiquan Street. Little stays open late, and people wanting a proper night out take the train to Shanghai.

Neither city has dramatic scenery, and both offer green, gentle landscapes rather than wilderness. Guangzhou's is subtropical and hilly, with Baiyun Mountain's forest paths on the city edge and waterfalls in the Dinghu reserve further out. Suzhou's is flat and watery: Lake Tai's tea terraces and orchards on the Dongshan and Xishan peninsulas suit cycling, and Lingyan Hill gives short climbs with autumn maples.

Suzhou is one of the best bases in China. Shanghai is half an hour by high-speed train, Nanjing and Hangzhou are easy days out, and canal water towns such as Tongli, Luzhi and Zhouzhuang lie less than an hour away. Few cities offer that many major destinations so close.

Guangzhou is a good base too, with Foshan's Ancestral Temple next door by metro, Zhaoqing's limestone crags and the Kaiping watchtowers. Its biggest prizes, Hong Kong and Macau, mean crossing immigration and checking that your visa lets you back into mainland China, which makes them more complicated than Suzhou's trips.

Guangzhou has a real draw for children in the Chimelong resort at Panyu, where a drive-through safari park with pandas and koalas sits beside a theme park, water park and circus. The zoo, science centre and river boat trips fill other days, and the metro is easy with a buggy.

Suzhou welcomes children just as warmly, but its famous gardens are narrow and contemplative, and young ones soon lose interest. Canal boat rides, the open parks around Jinji Lake and the amusement parks to the west help, but there is less built around children than in Guangzhou.

Guangzhou's metro is among the largest in the world and reaches the airport, the rail stations and almost every sight, though its size means forty-minute journeys are normal. Away from Xiguan and Yuexiu, wide roads and heat make walking hard.

Suzhou works the other way round. The old town inside the moat is compact and lovely to walk or cycle between gardens, but outlying sights such as Tiger Hill and the Lake Tai shore need a taxi. In both cities, a mobile payment app makes life much easier.

Guangzhou is a trading city, and its wholesale districts for clothing, leather and electronics, the vast Fangcun tea market and the Hualin jade street make for unusual shopping. Tianhe's malls add the luxury labels, so it covers more ground than Suzhou.

Suzhou's strength is a single craft: silk and the fine double-sided embroidery of Zhenhu village, where you can watch the stitching. Beyond silk, fans and sandalwood on the canal streets, it is limited, and many people save luxury fashion for Shanghai.

Both are good value by Western standards, with cheap noodles, inexpensive metros and comfortable hotels. Where the money goes differs. Guangzhou's temples and parks are mostly free, but hotel rates jump during the spring and autumn trade fairs. Suzhou's gardens charge entry, which adds up over a day of them, and hairy crab dinners are a splurge.

Each city has its own opera tradition, and that is the real difference. Guangzhou's Cantonese opera is bold, with painted faces and high singing in neighbourhood halls, and the Opera House and Xinghai Concert Hall host touring and orchestral work. Suzhou is the birthplace of slow, refined Kunqu, sometimes sung by lantern light in garden pavilions, and of pingtan storytelling in its teahouses.

Relaxation takes a different shape in each. Guangzhou has the Conghua hot springs an hour north and late-opening massage parlours on every block, set against a loud, fast city. Suzhou has no thermal baths, but an early morning in a garden, a canal-side teahouse and quiet spa hotels on Lake Tai give it a gentler pace day to day.