Hoi An or Pondicherry?

Hoi An has the proper beach. An Bang is about 5km away through rice fields, the sand runs almost unbroken toward Da Nang, and from spring to late summer the sea is calm enough for long swims. You can easily split a stay between a riverside room in town and a few days by the water.

Pondicherry's waterfront is a promenade above boulders. For sand you go to Serenity Beach and the Auroville shore by scooter, or take a boat through the backwaters to Paradise Beach. The water is warm, but the surf and currents keep most people in the shallows, and modest dress is expected on local beaches.

Hoi An's cooking belongs to the town itself. You can only eat cao lau properly here, and with white rose dumplings, chicken rice and its stuffed banh mi, eaten on plastic stools at the riverside market, it makes eating a real reason to come. Cooking classes that start in the market or at Tra Que add to it, though the riverfront menus repeat themselves.

Pondicherry offers two cuisines in one small town: banana-leaf meals and filter coffee in the Tamil Quarter, and bakeries and Franco-Tamil Creole dishes in the French one. Wine and beer are easy to find, which is unusual in this part of India. It is charming, but there are fewer dishes you could not find elsewhere.

Hoi An's old town gives more to see. Hundreds of wooden merchant houses, the covered Japanese Bridge and the carved Fujian and Cantonese assembly halls show Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese trading cultures layered into one port, and the streets are at their best by lantern light.

Pondicherry's appeal is the contrast between its two quarters: ochre French villas on one side of the canal, and Tamil houses with verandas and carved pillars on the other. Its landmarks are smaller and spread across different faiths, from the Sacred Heart basilica to the Manakula Vinayagar temple elephant and the silent Ashram samadhi.

Neither town is for a big night, and both are quiet before midnight. In Hoi An the evening ritual is floating a paper candle on the river, with a few rowdier backpacker bars on An Hoi islet. Anyone wanting clubs goes to Da Nang.

Pondicherry has more places to drink than you might expect, because alcohol is cheaper here than in the rest of Tamil Nadu. Rooftop lounges in the French Quarter and shacks near Serenity Beach fill up with weekend visitors from Chennai and Bangalore, but they also close early.

Hoi An has more variety close to hand. There are flat rice paddies and vegetable gardens to cycle through, nipa palm waterways at Cam Thanh to explore by basket boat, and coral to snorkel around the protected Cham Islands. Within about an hour and a half you reach the forested Son Tra peninsula with its langurs and the climb over the Hai Van Pass.

Pondicherry sits on a hot, flat plain with no hills. Its outdoors is mostly the sea, with surf lessons at Serenity Beach and dives on reefs and wrecks. Inland, flamingos and pelicans winter on Ousteri Lake, and the Pichavaram mangroves can be rowed about two hours south.

Pondicherry is surrounded by Tamil temple country. You can see the Pallava Shore Temple and rock reliefs at Mahabalipuram, the living Nataraja temple at Chidambaram, Gingee Fort spread over three granite hills, and the pilgrim town of Tiruvannamalai. Each is a full day by car.

Hoi An has two strong outings and then little else: the Cham temple ruins at My Son, and Da Nang's Museum of Cham Sculpture with the Marble Mountains on the way. Ba Na Hills is more amusement park than heritage, and Hue is too far for a day.

Hoi An gives children much more to do. They can make silk lanterns, spin in basket boats, join a cooking class and swim in calm water in season, and resorts between town and the beach have pools and space. There is also a large theme park and safari park along the coast.

Pondicherry is pleasant with children in a smaller way. Children can run along the Promenade when it closes to traffic in the evening, and the Botanical Garden has its toy train. But there is no zoo or aquarium of note, the surf means paddling under close watch, and the heat lasts most of the year, so it suits older children best.

Both have small, flat centres you can walk, but Hoi An is a little easier beyond the centre. Much of its old town is closed to motor traffic for long stretches of the day, and borrowed hotel bicycles get you to the beach and the rice villages on quiet lanes.

Pondicherry's French Quarter is lovely to walk, but its beaches, Auroville and the lake mean an auto-rickshaw, an app taxi or a scooter on rough, busy roads. In both, day trips need a driver, as there is no useful public transport for visitors.

Hoi An gives you a clear reason to shop: tailoring. Workshops will make a suit, dress or coat to measure within a day or two, and shoes and bags too, though you should allow time for several fittings. Lanterns, ceramics and the An Hoi night market fill out the rest, often with the same stock.

Pondicherry is for smaller, considered purchases. Look for block-printed cotton and linen in the French Quarter, handmade paper and incense from the Ashram's workshops, and pottery and natural soaps from Auroville.

Both are very cheap, and you can live well in either on a modest budget. In Hoi An the extras are the old town heritage ticket and the riverfront restaurants. Bicycles are often free, and street food costs almost nothing.

In Pondicherry costs rise in the restored colonial boutique hotels of the French Quarter, especially at weekends and in winter. Staying across the canal in the Tamil Quarter keeps a stay cheap, and drinks cost less than in neighbouring states.

Live performance is thin in both, and neither is worth choosing for its stage. Hoi An has more you can rely on finding in the evening: bai choi, the sung card game of central Vietnam, short folk music shows and a large outdoor history spectacle on the river.

Pondicherry's performances are occasional but more serious when they happen. You might catch a Bharatanatyam recital, a Carnatic concert, an event at the French cultural centre or a show in Auroville's halls, and temple festivals bring pipes and drums into the streets.

Both are made for slowing down, but they rest you in different ways. In Hoi An, rest means massage parlours on every street, resort pools and quiet rice fields between town and the sea, with yoga classes if you want them.

Pondicherry goes further into the inner side. There is meditation in the Ashram courtyard, Auroville's yoga, breathwork and holistic therapies in forest guesthouses, Ayurvedic treatment centres, and yoga courses lasting several weeks.