Guilin or Zhangjiajie?

Neither city has a beach, both are a long way from the sea, and swimming in either means a hotel pool. The difference is in how you cool off in summer: around Yangshuo you can wade or swim in calm, shallow stretches of the Yulong and Li rivers, while Zhangjiajie's lakes are only for boat rides and its day in the water is whitewater rafting in the gorges.

Both have regional cooking with real character, and neither has much international food or fine dining. Guilin's day starts with mifen rice noodles and its fermented chilli sauce, and continues with river snails and Yangshuo's beer fish.

Zhangjiajie's western Hunan cooking is hotter, sourer and smokier: the sanxiaguo three-pot stew simmered at the table, wood-smoked bacon and the mountain dishes of the Tujia and Miao. In both places the menus near the main sights are aimed at tour groups, so eat at the noodle counters and evening food streets in town instead.

Guilin has more to see in town. The Ming-era Jingjiang Princes' City around Solitary Beauty Peak, the calligraphy carved into the rock at Longyin Cave and the pagodas on Shan Lake fill a day or two alongside the hill parks and caves.

In Zhangjiajie the town offers Puguang Temple, a Tujia folk-customs park and a few rebuilt streets, all of which take about half a day. Its deeper heritage lies out of town, in Fenghuang and the old Tujia sites.

Guilin gives you a fuller evening, though still a modest one: strolling the lit-up lakes and the lanes around Zhengyang Street with skewers and a beer, and, if you are staying in Yangshuo, the loud bar strip of West Street. Zhangjiajie keeps to the rhythm of dawn starts in the parks, so its riverside bars and night-food streets are good for one drink after dinner, and Wulingyuan has gone quiet by then.

Both are among China's great landscapes, but the rock is different and so is the way you see it. Guilin's limestone karst is best seen from river level and at a gentle pace: the Li River cruise to Yangshuo, bamboo rafts on the Yulong, cycling the flat lanes between the peaks, climbing on the cliffs, and the Longji rice terraces to the north.

Zhangjiajie is vertical. Its sandstone pillars are seen from above, from cable cars, a lift up a cliff face and glass walkways at Yuanjiajie and Tianmen Mountain, with macaques beside paved, stepped trails. Choose Guilin for rivers and villages and Zhangjiajie for sheer drops and viewpoints.

Each has a short but good list. Guilin's outings blend into its scenery: Yangshuo as a second base, the old riverside villages of Xingping and Daxu, the ancient Lingqu Canal, and the Zhuang and Yao villages among the Longji terraces.

Zhangjiajie's best trips take you to towns rather than more mountains. Fenghuang, with its stilted houses on the Tuo River, deserves an overnight stay, and there are also Furong, a village on a cliff above a waterfall, and the UNESCO-listed ruins of Laosicheng.

Neither city is built for children, and both suit older children better than toddlers. Guilin is the gentler of the two, with coloured caves, the river cruise, bamboo rafting and flat cycling lanes.

Zhangjiajie has more thrills, from cable cars swinging over cliffs and glass walkways above sheer drops to macaques beside the path. Its steep steps, queues and long days are hard on small children and pushchairs, though.

In both cities visitors rely on cheap taxis, ride-hailing apps and hired drivers rather than buses, since signs are mostly in Chinese. Guilin's compact centre around its rivers and lakes is pleasant to walk, and the countryside is reached by river cruise or by train to Yangshuo.

Zhangjiajie is more spread out. The forest park is about 30km from the city, so most visitors split their stay between Wulingyuan and the town. Inside the park, the shuttle buses, cable cars and lifts take some working out.

Neither is a place to shop, but Guilin has a little more to browse in the pedestrian lanes around Zhengyang Street, the night markets and the stalls on West Street in Yangshuo. Its chilli sauce, osmanthus tea and Sanhua rice liquor make good edible souvenirs. Zhangjiajie sells mostly mountain produce and souvenirs near the park gates, and the best things to look for are Tujia xilankapu brocade and Miao silverwork.

Both are cheap places to eat, sleep and get about, and in both most of the money goes on tickets. Guilin charges entry for the river cruise, the caves and the hill parks, while Zhangjiajie sells its forest park pass, Tianmen cable car, glass bridges and lifts as separate tickets. Rooms near its park gates also cost more during Golden Week and Chinese New Year.

In both cities the evening shows are mostly big productions staged for visitors, but Guilin's are more striking and more varied. Impression Liu Sanjie uses the Li River and its lit-up peaks as a stage, and the city also has acrobatics, folk dance and occasional Gui opera. Zhangjiajie has polished retellings of Tujia and Miao folklore and an open-air show beneath Tianmen Mountain, and little beyond them.

Guilin is the easier place to unwind. A stay among the rice fields outside Yangshuo means slow days of cycling and tea, massage is cheap on almost every street, and the Longsheng hot springs are near the rice terraces.

Zhangjiajie is built around effort, with early starts and thousands of steps. Foot massage, a few hotel spas and hot-spring resorts in the countryside help you recover, but none of them is a reason to come. Its calmest moments are early walks in the lower valleys.