Guilin or Lijiang?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both are a very long way from the sea. The difference lies in the water they do have. In Guilin's hot summers people wade and swim at shallow spots on the Yulong and Li rivers around Yangshuo, while Lijiang's mountain lakes are cold and used only for boating and birdwatching, and its hotels rarely have a pool.

Guilin has the more distinctive local food. Its mifen rice noodles, eaten at breakfast counters with braised meat and fermented chilli sauce, have a real identity, and river snails and Yangshuo's beer fish complete a clear local repertoire.

Lijiang's Naxi and Yunnan cooking has its own pleasures, from baba flatbread to black-goat hotpot and wild mushrooms in the summer rains, along with good Pu'er tea in courtyard cafés. But the Old Town menus repeat at tourist prices, and the better meals are found away from the main lanes. Neither city has much international range or fine dining.

Lijiang has the stronger case. Dayan's Old Town of Naxi houses and canals, the Mu Family Mansion, the Dongba museum at Black Dragon Pool and the murals at Baisha add up to a distinct minority culture, even though much of Dayan was rebuilt after the 1996 earthquake and can feel staged.

Guilin's sights are mostly hills and caves laid out as parks, such as Elephant Trunk Hill and Reed Flute Cave. Its historic core is the walled Ming palace of the Jingjiang Princes and the cliff inscriptions at Longyin Cave, and a day or two is enough to see them.

Lijiang offers more of a night out. The bar strip along the Old Town canals, with singers and drums, stays crowded past midnight, and quieter courtyard bars sit further back or out in Shuhe.

In Guilin an evening usually means a walk around the lit lakes and skewers and a beer near Zhengyang Street. Anyone wanting a late night heads to West Street in Yangshuo, about an hour away.

Both rank among China's great landscapes, but they are very different country. Guilin is lowland karst: hundreds of limestone peaks along the Li River, seen from a cruise boat or bamboo raft, cycled around Yangshuo or climbed on some of Asia's best-known sport-climbing rock, with the Longji terraces to the north.

Lijiang is high mountain country. Cable cars carry visitors up among the glaciers of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and Tiger Leaping Gorge has a two-day trail high above the Jinsha River. That makes it the better choice for serious walkers, provided they can cope with the thin air.

Lijiang reaches further. By train, Dali, with its walled town and Erhai Lake, and Shangri-La, with Songzanlin Monastery, are both within a day, while Shuhe, Baisha and the first bend of the Yangtze at Shigu are close by.

From Guilin the outings mostly circle the same scenery: Yangshuo, the riverside villages of Xingping and Daxu, the ancient Lingqu Canal and the Zhuang and Yao villages on the terraces. They are rewarding, but the list runs out sooner.

Guilin is the easier choice with children. Rafting on the Yulong, the river cruise, the coloured caves and the flat cycling lanes give a family plenty to do, although summers are hot and wet and little English is spoken.

Children enjoy following the streams through Lijiang's car-free Old Town, but the uneven paving is hard on pushchairs. The city already sits at altitude, and the snow mountain trips are best skipped with young children. Neither city has a zoo or theme park.

Guilin is simpler to manage. The compact centre around its lakes is easy to walk, several hill parks are within reach on foot, and the high-speed train and river cruise get you to Yangshuo without fuss.

Lijiang's car-free Old Town is walkable but its lanes are confusing, and nearly everything beyond it, from the snow mountain to Tiger Leaping Gorge, needs a taxi or a hired driver. In both cities, ride-hailing and Chinese mobile payment are close to essential.

Neither is a shopping city, and there is little between them. Lijiang's Old Town is one long row of shops selling hand drums, silver and Pu'er tea cakes, with tea and carefully compared silver the best buys, though much of the stock is made elsewhere. Guilin's best finds are edible or handmade: chilli sauce, osmanthus tea, Sanhua rice liquor and Zhuang and Yao brocade.

Both are cheap day to day, with inexpensive noodle breakfasts, taxis and guesthouses, and in both the sights are where the money goes. In Guilin the river cruise, caves and hill parks add up. In Lijiang the Old Town entry fee and the costly snow mountain outing do the same, and eating on the main Old Town lanes costs well above local norms.

In both cities the main performances are polished shows for tour groups set against the landscape, the best known being Impression Liu Sanjie on the Li River at Yangshuo. Lijiang also has Naxi ancient music, a Taoist ritual repertoire kept alive by older musicians in Old Town concerts. Guilin's nearest equivalent is the occasional performance of Gui opera.

Guilin is the better place to unwind. Massage is cheap on almost every street, there are hot springs at Longsheng, and the guesthouses among Yangshuo's rice fields set a slow pace of cycling and tea.

Lijiang has no spa tradition beyond hotel spas and foot-massage shops. Its calm comes from mornings in a courtyard and early walks in Shuhe and Baisha, away from the noisy Old Town lanes.