Hanoi or Hoi An?

On beaches the two could hardly be further apart. Hanoi is a river city with no beach at all. The nearest sea, around Ha Long and Cat Ba or at Sam Son, needs a separate stay, so swimming in town means a hotel pool or a water park by West Lake.

Hoi An has An Bang about 5km away, through rice fields by bicycle, and almost unbroken sand running north towards Da Nang. From spring to late summer the sea is calm and easy to swim in. The autumn monsoon brings red flags, and then the beach is for walking only.

Both cities eat best on low plastic stools, but Hanoi has the deeper table. It is the home of pho and bun cha, and the Old Quarter adds banh cuon, cha ca and street-corner snacks. Egg coffee and early-evening bia hoi are rituals in their own right.

Hoi An's list is shorter, but much of it is found nowhere else: cao lau, white rose dumplings, chicken rice and its stuffed banh mi. It is the better place to learn to cook, with classes that start at the central market or in Tra Que village. The riverfront restaurants, though, repeat the same menus.

Hanoi has more to see and more variety. There are the guild streets of the Old Quarter, the Temple of Literature, and the French Quarter around the Opera House. The political city around Ba Dinh has the Mausoleum and the Thang Long citadel, and the Museum of Ethnology and Hoa Lo prison give real depth. All of that fills three or four days.

Hoi An is a single, coherent ensemble rather than a capital spread across districts. Its old trading port of wooden merchant houses, the Japanese Bridge and the Chinese assembly halls take a day or two at walking pace. Its museums are small, but the lantern-lit streets after dark make a more memorable picture than any one sight in Hanoi.

Neither city is for clubbing until dawn, but only Hanoi offers a proper night out. Bia hoi stools fill the Old Quarter pavements from late afternoon, and the bars around Ta Hien are loud by nine. West Lake adds craft beer and rooftop terraces, though most places quieten around midnight.

In Hoi An, an evening means a riverside stroll, a paper candle on the water and a drink. A few backpacker bars on An Hoi islet and beach bars at An Bang stay open later. For a bigger night, people go to Da Nang.

Hoi An has green countryside right on its doorstep. Flat lanes run through the paddies to the Tra Que gardens, and basket boats explore the palm waterways of Cam Thanh. Off the Cham Islands there is snorkelling and diving over coral. The Son Tra peninsula and the Hai Van Pass are within about an hour and a half, though the stormy autumn limits much of this.

Hanoi itself is flat and built-up, and the shoreline path around West Lake is its main open space. Its great landscapes, the limestone towers of Ninh Binh, Ha Long Bay and the mountains around Sapa, all need an early start or a night away.

Hanoi has more to fill several days out. Ninh Binh combines the ancient capital of Hoa Lu with the Bai Dinh pagoda, and the Perfume Pagoda is reached by rowing boat and then up into a cave. Closer in are the craft villages of Bat Trang and Van Phuc, the laterite-walled houses of Duong Lam, and the carved wooden sculpture of the But Thap and Tay Phuong pagodas.

Hoi An has one outstanding outing, the Cham temple ruins at My Son, and a good second in Da Nang's Museum of Cham Sculpture. After those the choice narrows to the Cham Islands and the Ba Na Hills resort. Hue is better as an overnight stay.

Children are fussed over in both cities, but Hoi An is far easier to manage with them. The pedestrian core is small, and there are lanterns to make, basket boats to spin in and rice fields to cycle through. Resort pools and the sandy shore in the calm season fill the rest of the day.

Hanoi has good outings in the water puppets, the lakes and the village houses at the Museum of Ethnology. Getting to each one is hard work, though, through motorbike traffic, crowded pavements and humid summer heat.

Hoi An is the easier place to get around, because a small centre and flat country lanes do the work that taxis do in Hanoi. In Hanoi the Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem, the French Quarter and Ba Dinh are close enough to walk between. Parked scooters and cooking stalls take over the pavements, though, so you keep stepping into the road, and crossing takes practice. The rail lines miss most sights and the buses are hard to use without Vietnamese, so ride-hailing cars and motorbike taxis do most of the work.

In Hoi An, much of the old town is closed to motor traffic for long stretches of the day, and hotels often lend bicycles for easy rides out to the rice fields and nearby villages. There is no useful public transport, so Da Nang, the airport and My Son need a taxi, a ride-hailing car or a driver.

Hoi An makes the better shopping trip, mainly because of its tailors. Hundreds of workshops make suits, dresses, coats, shoes and bags to measure, as long as you leave time for several fittings. Silk lanterns, carvings and the An Hoi night market cover the rest.

Hanoi's shopping is spread across the Old Quarter, where each street keeps its own trade. There is silk on Hang Gai, wholesale at Dong Xuan and a weekend night market up Hang Dao, and it is the better place to hunt for lacquerware, Bat Trang ceramics and textiles from the northern hills. Neither city has luxury shopping.

Both cities are very cheap, and Hanoi stretches money a little further still. Street meals, bia hoi and coffee cost almost nothing, boutique hotels in the Old Quarter are inexpensive, and ride-hailing makes transport negligible. The bills come from chain hotels and Ha Long Bay cruises.

Hoi An's homestays, free bicycles and market food are just as kind to a budget. The old town entry fee, the riverfront restaurants and beachfront resorts with international prices raise the cost of a stay slightly.

Hanoi has the fuller stage. Water puppetry by Hoan Kiem Lake is the classic evening. The colonial Opera House hosts the national symphony, ballet and opera on an irregular programme, and there is ca tru sung poetry in Old Quarter communal houses and a small jazz scene.

Hoi An offers bai choi, a sung card game that visitors can join, short folk shows at a traditional arts house and an outdoor spectacle on a river island. There is no theatre or concert hall, so anything more means going to Da Nang.

Massage is cheap and everywhere in both cities, so the difference lies in the setting. Hoi An moves at the pace of the bicycle. Resorts out among the paddies or by the sea are built for doing nothing, and yoga classes are easy to find.

Hanoi has foot massage and herbal baths in the Old Quarter to ease long days on foot. Horns and traffic fill the day, though, and a stay near West Lake or a dawn walk by the lakes is about as calm as the city gets.