Hakone or Nara?

Neither is a beach destination, but Hakone at least has the sea within reach. Atami's sheltered sand is under an hour away and pleasant for a summer swim, although Lake Ashi is closed to swimmers and the shore at Odawara is steep, pebbly and often rough.

Nara is landlocked. The nearest beaches are on the industrial Osaka Bay shore, the good ones on the Kii Peninsula take most of a day to reach, and a pool is the only realistic place to swim.

In Hakone the best meal happens at your inn: a kaiseki dinner of mountain vegetables, river fish and local tofu, then a Japanese breakfast. Outside the inns there are soba and tofu shops in Yumoto, black eggs at Owakudani and set meals for day visitors by the lake, and most of it closes by early evening.

Nara gives you more to look for in town. There is persimmon-leaf sushi, narazuke pickles, Miwa somen noodles and sake tasting around Naramachi, with kakigori in summer. The choice is still narrow, but Osaka and Kyoto are a short train ride away when you want a bigger meal.

Hakone's culture is mostly art. There is sculpture on the hillside lawns of the Open-Air Museum, Impressionist paintings at the Pola Museum in its beech forest, and reminders of the Tokaido road such as the rebuilt Sekisho checkpoint and the torii standing in Lake Ashi. All of it is spread around the caldera.

Nara is in another league. As Japan's capital in the eighth century, it has Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, Kasuga Taisha and one of the country's finest collections of Buddhist sculpture, with Toshodai-ji, Yakushiji and the Heijo Palace site further west. For temples and early history it is the obvious pick.

Both go quiet after dinner. Hakone is the quieter of the two, with evenings spent at the inn and a few small izakaya in Yumoto. Nara has a little more: izakaya near Kintetsu Nara station, sake counters and small bars in the covered arcades. Osaka's bar districts are also under an hour away, as long as you keep an eye on the last train back.

The landscape is the main reason to visit Hakone. Inside the volcanic caldera of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park there are sulphur vents at Owakudani, Lake Ashi with Fuji behind it, and ridge walks up Mount Kintoki and Komagatake. Hydrangeas bloom in early summer and the hillsides turn red and gold in November.

Nara's nature is gentler and starts in the middle of town. Deer graze the lawns of Nara Park, the Kasugayama forest has been protected for more than a thousand years, Mount Wakakusa is an easy climb and the Yamanobe-no-michi runs past shrines and rice fields. For real mountains you have to go out to Yoshino.

Hakone is a good base, but its outings take longer. Odawara's castle is close by, while Kamakura and Yokohama are about an hour and a half away, Tokyo is just under two hours on the Romancecar and the Fuji lakes take a full day by bus.

Nara's position is hard to beat. Kyoto and Osaka are each under an hour away and Horyu-ji is a short ride from the centre. Asuka's burial mounds, the tea and the Byodo-in at Uji, and Himeji's white castle fill further days.

Hakone keeps children busier. Getting around is the entertainment, with the zigzag railway, the cable car, the ropeway over the steaming vents and a pirate ship across Lake Ashi. There are also seal shows at Hakone-en, net sculptures to climb at the Open-Air Museum and an onsen park where everyone bathes in swimsuits. The weak points are formal inns and nude communal baths.

Nara has one great draw in the deer, and children like squeezing through the hole in Todai-ji's pillar. Beyond that there is little for them, and summer heat wears out small legs, so most families go to Osaka for an aquarium or a theme park.

Hakone's transport is part of the sightseeing. One pass covers the railway, cable car, ropeway, boats and buses in a loop. It is slow, though: the villages are kilometres apart on winding roads, and at weekends there are queues at the ropeway.

Nara is simpler. Todai-ji, Kasuga Taisha, the museum and Naramachi are all within walking distance of Kintetsu Nara station, the western temples are a short train or bus ride away, and rental bicycles suit the flat basin.

Neither city is worth a shopping trip. Hakone has one craft, the yosegi-zaiku wood marquetry made in the Hatajuku workshops, plus souvenirs in Yumoto and an outlet mall over the ridge at Gotemba. Nara has a deeper craft tradition: sumi ink and brushes, Nara-zarashi linen, Akahada pottery and Ittobori dolls in Naramachi, with the covered arcades by the station for sweets and sake.

Hakone is expensive because what people come for, a ryokan night with dinner and a hot-spring bath, costs a lot, especially with a private outdoor bath or at weekends and in autumn. A simple inn in Yumoto and the public day-bathhouses bring the cost down.

Nara is noticeably easier on the wallet. Business hotels and guesthouses near the stations are reasonably priced, the park is free and temple entry is modest. The main extra cost is rail fares if you use the city as a base for day trips.

Hakone has essentially nothing on stage, apart from an occasional museum concert or a performance put on at an inn. Nara's performing arts are tied to its shrines and temples: it is one of the birthplaces of Noh, Kasuga Taisha keeps gagaku music and bugaku dance alive through the winter On-matsuri, and Todai-ji holds the Omizutori fire rites in early spring. For regular theatre or concerts, both cities send you elsewhere, to Tokyo from Hakone and to Osaka from Nara.

This is where Hakone is far ahead. Seventeen hot-spring areas, from riverside Yumoto to the milky sulphur water of Sengokuhara, offer outdoor baths under maples and cedars, private baths on room balconies and day-bathhouses in the woods. A midweek stay in autumn or winter is the most peaceful.

Nara is calm but has no hot springs of note. Old neighbourhood bathhouses and a few bathing complexes on the outskirts give you a Japanese soak, but the city's real restfulness comes from early mornings in the park and quiet evenings in the old town.