Hakone or Kyoto?

Neither is a place for swimming, but the water you could reach is different. From Hakone the sea is close: the sheltered sand at Atami is under an hour away and gets properly warm in high summer, although Odawara's shore is steep and pebbly.

Kyoto is inland, so its easiest swim is in fresh water, at the Lake Biwa beaches such as Omi-Maiko. The good sea beaches on the Sea of Japan coast are far enough away to need an overnight stay.

Kyoto is one of Japan's great food cities, and Hakone is not. Kyoto has kaiseki in old wooden houses along the Kamo River, shojin ryori in temple precincts, Nishiki Market, ramen counters around Shijo and sake in Fushimi, so every meal can be different.

In Hakone the highlight is the kaiseki dinner and breakfast that come with your ryokan, and these can be excellent. Beyond the inns, the choice is mostly soba and tofu shops in Yumoto, black eggs at Owakudani and set meals for day visitors, and most places close by early evening.

The gap is wide. Kyoto's seventeen UNESCO sites, its thousand-odd temples and shrines, Fushimi Inari's gates and the preserved lanes of Higashiyama could fill weeks, and the Kyoto National Museum adds a major art collection.

Hakone has a short but rewarding list: sculpture on the lawns of the Open-Air Museum, Impressionists in the forest at the Pola Museum, and Tokaido history at the Sekisho checkpoint and the torii gate of Hakone Shrine. Two unhurried days cover it.

Kyoto is quiet for a Japanese city, but it does have a night out: sake bars, standing izakaya and a few clubs along Pontocho and Kiyamachi, with Osaka under an hour away for anything louder. Hakone has almost nothing beyond a few small bars in Yumoto, and the mountain villages go dark after dinner, which is exactly the point.

Hakone has the more dramatic landscape. You are inside a volcanic caldera, with sulphur vents steaming at Owakudani, Lake Ashi on the crater floor and Mount Fuji behind it on clear days, and ridge walks up Kintoki and Komagatake.

Kyoto's nature is gentler but closer to hand. You can reach the Higashiyama trails, the bamboo of Arashiyama and the cedar path from Kurama to Kibune from the city in a short ride, and the Kamo River gives a green walking route through the centre.

Both make good bases, but Kyoto's rail links are hard to beat. Nara, Osaka, Uji, Kobe and Himeji Castle are each within an hour, so you can choose a trip on the morning without planning.

From Hakone the trips take longer: Odawara Castle is close, but Kamakura and Yokohama take around an hour and a half, and Tokyo a little under two hours on the Romancecar. The Izu Peninsula and the Fuji lakes are good for a full day out.

Kyoto has a slight edge with children because it has more things built for them. The Railway Museum with its steam locomotives, the zoo and aquarium near the centre, the Edo-period film set at Toei Studio Park and a day at Osaka's theme park give plenty of breaks from temples.

In Hakone, the journey is the attraction: the zigzag railway, the ropeway over Owakudani, the pirate ship on Lake Ashi and the swimsuit onsen park all go down well. Beyond these, very little is aimed at children, and the formal inns and nude communal baths do not suit every family.

Kyoto is easier to get around day to day. Its flat central grid is good for walking and cycling, and trains and buses reach the outlying temples, although the buses are slow in peak seasons.

In Hakone the villages are kilometres apart on winding roads, so you depend on the regional pass and its loop of railway, cable car, ropeway, lake boats and buses. The ride is scenic and part of the fun, but it is slow, and queues form at weekends.

Kyoto is a serious place to shop for crafts: Kiyomizu-ware, Nishijin silk, fans, incense, washi, hand-forged knives and tea, many sold by families who have made them for generations. It also has the covered arcades of Teramachi, department stores on Shijo and the flea markets at To-ji and Kitano Tenmangu.

Hakone's one speciality is yosegi-zaiku wooden marquetry, made in workshops at Hatajuku. Otherwise there are sweets and souvenirs in Yumoto, and the outlet mall near Gotemba is a bus ride away.

Kyoto is the cheaper of the two. Cheap noodle counters, department-store food halls and inexpensive transport keep daily costs down, and business hotels near the station are a sensible base.

A stay in Hakone is usually built around a night at a ryokan, and the better inns, especially rooms with a private bath, get expensive quickly. You can save with a Yumoto hostel and the public day-baths. Both get dearer in autumn.

Kyoto has a real stage life. There is kabuki at the historic Minamiza, Noh on several stages, the geisha districts' spring dances, and orchestra, opera and jazz for modern tastes. Hakone has no theatre, concert hall or regular music, apart from the odd museum concert or a show put on at an inn.

Hakone is built around bathing. Seventeen hot-spring areas, from riverside Yumoto to the milky sulphur water of Sengokuhara, offer outdoor pools under maples, private baths on balconies and day-bathhouses in the woods, and everything is set up for a slow day.

Kyoto offers calm of a different kind: century-old neighbourhood sento, zazen sessions, tea ceremonies and raked gravel gardens. The hot springs are on the edges of the city, though, and crowds can spoil the calm unless you go early.