Hanoi or Phnom Penh?

Neither city has a beach, and both treat the sea as a separate trip. The difference is distance. From Phnom Penh, Kep and Kampot are about three hours by road, while from Hanoi, Ha Long, Cat Ba or Sam Son take a longer journey. In town, Hanoi has water parks near West Lake, and in Phnom Penh's constant heat a hotel pool becomes a daily necessity.

Hanoi is the better city for eating. Its stalls often cook one dish and have done so for decades: pho at breakfast, bun cha at lunch, cha ca fried at the table. Then there is the drinking culture, from egg coffee up narrow stairs to fresh bia hoi on the pavement at dusk.

Phnom Penh's Khmer cooking is gentler and more herbal, with fish amok, lok lak and bai sach chrouk for breakfast, eaten at the counters of the Russian Market and Central Market. Its French baguettes and café habit are a pleasure, but the range is narrower and fewer dishes are worth crossing town for.

Hanoi gives you more to see, spread through layered districts rather than one cluster. The guild streets of the Old Quarter, the Temple of Literature, the Imperial Citadel and the Museum of Ethnology easily fill three or four days.

Phnom Penh's sights are fewer and sit close together by the river, but some hit harder. The National Museum's Angkorian sculpture is world class, and Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek are harrowing and essential. Two or three days covers it, and Cambodia's greatest monuments are at Angkor rather than here.

Phnom Penh is the city for staying out late. After rooftop sundowners over the Tonle Sap, the small cocktail bars of Bassac Lane and the clubs around Street 51 keep going into the early morning, though the scene covers only a few blocks and is rough in places. Keep your bag on the side away from the road.

Hanoi's evenings start earlier and are more social. Bia hoi stools and the crowded lanes around Ta Hien are lively by nine, and at weekends the streets around Hoan Kiem become a promenade, but most places close around midnight.

Hanoi has much more within reach. West Lake's shoreline path suits a walk or a ride, the Ba Vi hills have forest trails, and Ninh Binh's limestone towers and boat trips through river caves are about two hours away.

Phnom Penh sits on flat river plain, so nature means sunset cruises, cycling on Koh Dach and the animal rescue centre at Phnom Tamao. Real hills start at Kirirom, a long drive away, and the heat limits outdoor days in any case.

Hanoi has the stronger day trips. Ninh Binh combines the old capital of Hoa Lu with scenery, the Perfume Pagoda involves a boat ride and a cave shrine, and craft villages such as Bat Trang and Van Phuc, along with the laterite-walled village of Duong Lam, sit within an hour or so.

Phnom Penh's outings are quieter: the stupas on Oudong's ridge, the temples of Tonle Bati and Phnom Chisor, and the pottery town of Kampong Chhnang. They make pleasant days, but Angkor, Kampot and Kep all need overnight stays.

Both are hard going with small children, despite a warm welcome in each, because of the motorbike traffic and the pavements. Hanoi has more to do: water puppets by the lake, the village houses at the Museum of Ethnology and a cooler winter. In Phnom Penh, the main historical sights are unsuitable for children, so days revolve around the hotel pool, Phnom Tamao and the malls with ice rinks.

Getting around is about equally awkward in both, and in both you will rely on ride-hailing. Hanoi's main districts are close enough to walk between if you have the nerve for its motorbike traffic, and cyclos suit the Old Quarter. Phnom Penh has no urban rail at all and broken pavements, so app-booked tuk-tuks do most of the work, even for short hops.

Neither city has a luxury street, and both are best for crafts. Hanoi shops by trade: whole streets of silk, tin and bamboo, made-to-measure clothes around Hang Gai in a day or two, and a weekend night market up to Dong Xuan. Phnom Penh's draws are the Russian Market's silver, silk and factory overruns, and the fair-trade boutiques around Street 240 selling cooperative crafts and Kampot pepper.

Both are cheap, but Hanoi stretches money further. Street meals, bia hoi, boutique rooms in the Old Quarter and ride-hailing cost almost nothing, and only extras such as Ha Long cruises and international hotels add up.

Phnom Penh is cheap for local things, but anything imported, from wine to Western restaurants and big hotels, costs close to what it would at home. A traveller who leans on cocktail bars and hotel dining will find it noticeably less of a bargain.

Hanoi has a little more on stage. Water puppetry by Hoan Kiem Lake runs several times a day, and the colonial Opera House hosts the national symphony orchestra and ballet, even if irregularly. Ca tru sung poetry and a small jazz scene round it out.

Phnom Penh's highlight is classical Khmer dance, rebuilt after the Khmer Rouge years and shown in evening performances with masked dance and shadow puppetry near the National Museum. Beyond that there is no orchestra or opera, just a handful of bar gigs.

Massage is the way to unwind in both, and cheap enough to have every day. Hanoi's Old Quarter has plenty of foot massage and herbal bath spas, but calm means an early start at the lakes or a stay near West Lake. Phnom Penh is the slower city, with blind-masseur centres, NGO spas, villa hotels with garden pools and a midday lull in the heat.