Hong Kong or Dubai?

Dubai is the real beach destination of the two. Jumeirah, Kite Beach, JBR and the private resort sands of Palm Jumeirah give you a long, continuous shoreline of soft sand and calm, shallow water, ideal in the winter months. It is engineered rather than wild, but for a vacation built around swimming it delivers.

Hong Kong's beaches are better than most visitors expect, from Repulse Bay near Central to the clearer coves of Sai Kung and the long sand at Cheung Sha. Still, they are an afternoon added to a city trip, with shark nets, summer storms and typhoons as part of the picture.

Hong Kong is one of the great places to eat anywhere, and it pulls ahead here. Cantonese cooking is at its most refined: morning dim sum in teahouses, roast goose in shop windows, wonton noodles, live seafood on Lamma and the cha chaan teng diners that exist nowhere else. Street stalls, wet markets and acclaimed dining rooms all sit within a short ride of each other.

Dubai eats well too, but in a different way. Its strength is the cooking of its migrant communities in Deira, Karama and Satwa, from Keralan curries to Iranian kebabs, alongside hotel dining and the Friday brunch. Emirati food itself is hard to find, and alcohol is confined to licensed venues.

Hong Kong offers more to see. The skyline from Tsim Sha Tsui or the Peak is the headline, but there is substance behind it: Man Mo Temple, Tai Ping Shan, Wong Tai Sin, the walled villages of the New Territories and the Big Buddha, plus M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in West Kowloon.

Dubai's sights are mostly modern spectacle, with the Burj Khalifa and the Museum of the Future leading the way. The older trading port survives along the Creek in Al Fahidi, Al Shindagha and the Deira souks, but two or three days covers it.

The two are close, and Hong Kong edges it because its nights are freer. Crowds drink on the street in Lan Kwai Fong, Soho and Sheung Wan have a serious cocktail scene, Wan Chai runs late and rough, and Kowloon offers beer at seafood stalls and karaoke.

Dubai goes out in a different way: everything happens inside hotels and licensed venues, with big-name DJ clubs, Palm Jumeirah beach clubs and dress-code lounges in DIFC. It is the better city for clubbing and glamour, but there is no casual bar-hopping and no drinking outdoors.

This is where the two cities differ most. Hong Kong's towers back onto steep green country parks, and ridge walks like the Dragon's Back, the sunrise climb up Lantau Peak, Sai Kung's volcanic columns and the Mai Po wetlands are all close by public transport.

Dubai's outdoors is desert: dune drives, sandboarding and camel rides an hour inland, kitesurfing at Kite Beach, and hiking and kayaking around Hatta about ninety minutes away. For half the year the heat rules out most of it except at dawn.

Hong Kong has the richer range of outings. Macau's Portuguese squares are about an hour away by ferry or bridge, fast trains reach Guangzhou in under an hour, and the outlying islands of Cheung Chau, Lamma and Tai O make easy days within the territory. Mainland trips need a border crossing, so check the entry rules first.

From Dubai there are three strong options: Abu Dhabi for the Grand Mosque and the Louvre, Sharjah for heritage and Islamic art, and the oases and forts of Al Ain. Beyond those, it is mostly desert and road.

Dubai is a little easier with children. Legoland and the parks near Jebel Ali, the water parks, the Dubai Mall aquarium and indoor snow at Mall of the Emirates add up to a lot to do, the calm sea suits toddlers, and resorts run kids' clubs. Summer heat and long taxi rides are the drawbacks.

Hong Kong has Disneyland and Ocean Park, and the Peak Tram, Star Ferry and Ngong Ping cable car are rides in themselves. Getting about is simple, but weekend crowds, humid summers and tiny hotel rooms make it harder work for a family.

Hong Kong is about as easy as cities get. The MTR, trams, buses and ferries run on one card, sights sit close together, and covered walkways and the Mid-Levels escalator take the sting out of hills and humidity.

Dubai stretches some 50km along the coast and was built for the car. The driverless metro along Sheikh Zayed Road is clean and simple, but stations are far from the beaches, the Palm and the theme parks, and the heat makes even short walks tiring, so taxis fill the gaps.

Both are serious shopping cities, and Hong Kong edges ahead because its shopping spills out onto the streets. Dubai keeps almost all of it indoors, in the vast Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates, with deep jewellery and watch selections, plus the Gold and spice souks of Deira and the textile souk across the Creek in Bur Dubai. Outside the malls and souks there is very little independent shopping at street level.

Hong Kong matches the luxury flagships and big malls, with no sales tax, and adds the street layer Dubai lacks. There are the Ladies' Market and the bird and goldfish markets of Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po's fabric lanes and the curio shops of Hollywood Road and Cat Street. You can also have clothes made by the tailors of Tsim Sha Tsui or look for independent designers in Sheung Wan and PMQ.

Neither is a budget destination, and they are expensive in different ways. In Dubai the costs pile up in winter resort rates, the paid headline attractions and very dear alcohol, while summer brings much cheaper hotels and the canteens of Deira and Karama keep meals cheap.

In Hong Kong the hotel room is the big expense, often small for the money, but daily life can be thrifty: transport and the Star Ferry cost little, dim sum and cha chaan teng meals are good value, and the hiking trails and harbourfront are free.

Hong Kong has more of a scene of its own. The Hong Kong Philharmonic and Sinfonietta play at the Cultural Centre and City Hall, and Cantonese opera, with painted faces and clashing percussion, is staged at the Xiqu Centre and in village bamboo theatres. Most local theatre is in Cantonese, though.

Dubai's stage is almost entirely imported: touring opera, ballet and musicals at the dhow-shaped Dubai Opera, plus arena concerts. It is reliable if you book a particular show, but there is little to stumble upon.

Neither is a restful city, and both depend on polished hotel spas. Dubai's are bigger and built for long stays, with hammam rituals and hydrotherapy in Palm Jumeirah resorts, plus quiet desert retreats inland, which suits a vacation of doing very little.

Hong Kong's strength is everyday: foot reflexology and massage parlours on almost every block in Kowloon, traditional Chinese medicine and herbal tea shops, with calm found at Chi Lin Nunnery or on car-free Lamma.