Hangzhou or Suzhou?

Neither city is a place to swim. Hangzhou at least has one option within reach: Qiandao Lake, about two hours away, opens designated swimming areas in high summer. Around Suzhou, Lake Tai and the muddy Yangtze shore are not for bathing, so a hotel pool is the realistic answer. Anyone who wants sand should add a coastal leg to the trip.

The two kitchens are close cousins and equally rewarding: both lean sweet, build on freshwater fish and follow the seasons. Hangzhou's signatures are Dongpo pork, West Lake fish in vinegar and shrimp with Longjing tea, and its special pleasure is drinking the spring tea where it grows, in Longjing and Meijiawu.

Suzhou puts more weight on everyday rituals: the breakfast bowl of noodles in dark broth, osmanthus cakes from old pastry shops, and the autumn rush for Yangcheng Lake hairy crab. In both cities, spicy food and international choice are thin.

Where Suzhou's heritage is mostly built, Hangzhou's is scenery shaped by people over centuries: the causeways, islands and pagodas of West Lake, Lingyin Temple with the Buddhist carvings of Feilai Feng in the cliffs beside it, and the Neolithic earthworks of Liangzhu on the edge of town. The silk, tea and provincial museums are well worth an afternoon. The sights are spread around a large lake and up into the hills, though, so a day covers fewer of them.

Suzhou's sightseeing is denser and more varied. The Humble Administrator's Garden, the Lingering Garden and the Master of the Nets Garden sit in or just outside the moat, along with the Panmen water gate, while the leaning pagoda on Tiger Hill and Hanshan Temple are a short ride out. I. M. Pei's museum adds a modern landmark. Much of both old towns has been rebuilt, but Suzhou's canal grid survives, so the walk along Pingjiang Road from one garden to the next is part of the visit rather than a gap between sights.

Both are quiet after dark, and in both a serious night out means the train to Shanghai. Hangzhou has slightly more range: lakeside terraces around Hubin, larger clubs in Wulin, and a student-driven scene of craft beer bars and karaoke. Suzhou's evenings are smaller in scale: a lit-up canal walk along Pingjiang Road or Shantang Street, a few bars on Shiquan Street, then rooftop lounges by Jinji Lake.

Hangzhou is far ahead outdoors. Wooded ridges and tea terraces climb straight up from West Lake, the Nine Creeks valley and the Xixi wetland are within the city, and Moganshan, Tianmushan and Qiandao Lake are real trips into hills and forest.

Suzhou sits in flat delta country. The orchard roads on Lake Tai's Dongshan and Xishan peninsulas make pleasant cycling and Lingyan Hill gives a short climb, but there are no mountains nearby, so walkers have much less to do.

Both are excellent bases for the Yangtze delta. The difference is which places each puts within easy reach. Hangzhou is the better base for Shaoxing, the canal city of rice wine and Lu Xun, which is under half an hour by train. It is also closer to the southern water towns of Wuzhen, Xitang and Nanxun, and to Ningbo. Huangshan and the Huizhou villages of Hongcun and Xidi are just possible in a long day, though they are better as an overnight stay.

Suzhou is the better base for the big cities and the northern water towns. Nanjing's Ming walls are about an hour away by train and Yangzhou's gardens are within two hours, while Tongli and Luzhi are under an hour by road. Each city is also an easy day out from the other.

Hangzhou is the easier city with children, mostly because West Lake doubles as a playground. It has pedal boats, island ferries and wide paths for scooters, plus a zoo in the hills and an aquarium with belugas and penguins.

Suzhou's main sights, the gardens, are narrow and contemplative, and young children soon tire of them. Canal boats, the Jinji Lake parks and the water parks west of the old town go down better. Summer humidity and festival crowds are hard work in both cities.

Suzhou is a little easier to get around. The old town inside the moat is compact enough to walk or cycle from garden to garden, and the metro has signs in English.

Hangzhou's metro is just as modern, but its sights are spread around a large lake and into the hills, so most days combine walking with taxis or buses, and little English is used away from the metro. In both cities, setting up mobile payment before you arrive saves trouble.

Silk is what links the two, but each has its own speciality. Hangzhou pairs silk scarves and qipao with Longjing tea bought straight from the growers in the hill villages, best in spring.

Suzhou's distinctive buy is embroidery. In the workshops of Zhenhu village you can watch double-sided pieces being stitched, and the long-established shops on Guanqian Street sell silk. Both cities have large modern malls, and neither is the place for designer boutiques.

Day-to-day costs are much the same: noodles, transport and taxis are cheap in both, and hotel rates rise sharply in both during the national festival weeks. The difference is the cost of sightseeing. Hangzhou's lake, causeways and hill walks are free, while every Suzhou garden charges entry, and a full day of gardens adds up.

Neither has a deep stage scene, but they offer very different evenings. Hangzhou's strength is spectacle: the staged show on the surface of West Lake and the Song-dynasty extravaganzas at the theme parks, with Yue opera in local theatres for the curious.

Suzhou offers older and more intimate traditions. Kunqu opera is staged at its museum and sung in garden pavilions on summer evenings, and Pingtan storytelling is heard in small teahouses. Both are in Chinese, so visitors take them in as atmosphere.

Both cities have an old reputation for unhurried leisure, massage parlours on every street and no tradition of public bathing. Hangzhou's calm is in the hills: teahouses above the lake, retreat hotels in the tea valleys and tai chi under the willows at dawn. In Suzhou you find it in an early garden visit before the crowds and in the canal-side teahouses, with the resorts on Lake Tai for a proper spa stay.