Hakone or Kobe?

Neither is a beach destination, but Kobe at least has one within the city. Suma's long sandy beach is a short train ride from the centre, with lifeguards and warm water in July and August.

Hakone has no swimming at all. You cannot swim in Lake Ashi, and the shore at Odawara is steep and pebbly, so a swim means a summer trip down to the sand at Atami.

In Hakone you eat mainly at your inn. The kaiseki dinner of mountain vegetables, river fish and tofu can be superb, but outside the ryokan you are limited to soba, tofu shops and Owakudani's black eggs, and most of these close by early evening.

Kobe has far more choice and keeps serving later. Beyond the famous beef there are bakeries and coffee houses from its port days, steamed buns in Nankinmachi, sake tasting in Nada and casual izakaya around the stations.

Kobe has a slight edge, and its sights are mostly about the port's modern history: the merchant houses of Kitano, the quay at Meriken Park left broken by the earthquake, and the Ando-designed art museum on the bay.

Hakone's strengths are different. It has art in natural settings, with sculpture on the lawns of the Open-Air Museum and paintings set in beech forest at the Pola. Its history comes from the Old Tokaido road and the rebuilt checkpoint, and these sights are spread around the caldera rather than gathered in a town centre.

Hakone has essentially no nightlife. The evening is dinner, a last bath and bed, and only Hakone-Yumoto keeps a few izakaya open a little later.

Kobe will not compete with Osaka, but the lanes running up from Sannomiya towards Kitanozaka are full of cocktail bars, whisky counters and izakaya. That makes it a good place to spend an evening eating and drinking, finished with a walk along the lit-up harbour at Harborland.

Both have mountains close at hand, with ropeways and good walking, but Hakone's landscape is the more dramatic. It has steaming sulphur vents at Owakudani, a crater lake and Fuji on the skyline, and it sits inside a national park rather than behind a city.

Kobe's Rokko range starts almost at the shinkansen station. You can walk to the Nunobiki waterfalls, cross the range on a long ridge path, or take a cable car up for night views over the bay, and the Akashi Strait and Awaji Island add a coastline Hakone does not have.

Both make good bases, but Kobe has more within reach. Himeji Castle is under an hour away, Kyoto and Nara are easy by train, and the shinkansen brings Okayama, Kurashiki and even Hiroshima within a day.

Hakone's day trips face the other way, towards eastern Japan. Kamakura, Yokohama and Tokyo are all reachable, along with the Izu Peninsula and the lakes at the foot of Fuji, though most of these take longer to reach than Kobe's.

Hakone gives children a memorable circuit by mountain railway, cable car, ropeway over the steaming vents and pirate ship. After that there is little made for them, and the nude communal baths and quiet, formal inns do not suit every family.

Kobe has more for children to do over several days. Oji Zoo, the Suma aquarium, Kobe Animal Kingdom, the Ferris wheel at Harborland and the farm at the top of Rokko are all easy to reach, and Universal Studios Japan is an hour away.

In Hakone, transport is part of the sightseeing. One pass strings together the railway, cable car, ropeway, boat and buses, but it is slow, and at weekends there are queues and traffic on the mountain roads.

Kobe is simpler. The city is a narrow strip, and parallel train lines run along it, all taking the same IC card. Chinatown, the harbour and the arcades are within walking distance of Sannomiya, and only the climb to Kitano is steep.

There is little to buy in Hakone beyond yosegi marquetry from the Hatajuku workshops, sweets on Yumoto's main street and the books in the museum shops. For clothes, you take the bus to the outlet mall near Gotemba.

Kobe is a proper shopping city, with covered arcades, the old Daimaru store among the stone buildings of the former foreign settlement, and boutiques along Tor Road. Pearls, leather shoes from Nagata and Western-style cakes are the things to take home.

Hakone is expensive because the reason to go is the ryokan. A good inn with dinner and a private outdoor bath costs a lot, especially at weekends and in autumn, though hostels in Yumoto and the public bathhouses keep costs down.

Kobe is easier on the budget. Business hotels around Sannomiya are good value, ramen and bakery breakfasts cost little, and the bill only climbs for a beef teppanyaki dinner or a night in an Arima ryokan.

Hakone has no theatre, concert hall or regular live music, so a show means going back to Tokyo.

Kobe has a real live music scene built on jazz. There are resident trios in bars around Sannomiya and Kitano, and an autumn jazz festival in Kitano. The orchestra at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center and the Takarazuka Revue are both within an easy trip.

Hakone was built around bathing. Hot springs run through the whole caldera, from riverside Yumoto to the milky waters of Sengokuhara, and the slow routine of soaking, resting in a yukata and having dinner shapes the whole stay.

Kobe has Arima Onsen, one of Japan's oldest spa towns, with its rust-red kinsen water, about half an hour from the centre. It makes a lovely afternoon or overnight stay, but you return afterwards to a busy city rather than a quiet mountain.