Hong Kong or Shanghai?

Hong Kong is the only one of the two where a swim fits into the trip. Repulse Bay is a bus ride from Central, and Shek O and Big Wave Bay make a village-style afternoon. Lantau's Cheung Sha and the clearer Sai Kung beaches reward a longer outing, with lifeguards and shark nets in season. Even so, the beach is an afternoon add-on, not the reason to go.

Shanghai's shoreline is the silty mouth of the Yangtze, and nobody swims off the city. Jinshan's walled-in bay of filtered water is about an hour and a half away in an industrial setting, so in practice swimming means the hotel pool.

Both are among Asia's great eating cities, and they differ in style rather than quality. Hong Kong is where Cantonese cooking is at its most refined. Think morning dim sum in noisy teahouses, roast goose and char siu, wonton noodles, live seafood on Lamma or in Sai Kung, and the cha chaan teng diner with its milk tea and pineapple buns.

Shanghai's own benbang cooking is sweeter and richer in soy, from red-braised pork to soup dumplings, shengjian buns and hairy crab in autumn. The city also brings together cooking from every region of China, from Sichuan to Xinjiang, plus the cafés and bistros of the former French Concession. Shanghai offers more range, while Hong Kong offers one cuisine at its best.

Shanghai gives a sightseer more to work through. The Bund's banks and trading houses facing the Lujiazui towers, the plane-tree avenues and shikumen lane houses of the former French Concession, and the Shanghai Museum's bronzes, ceramics and paintings add up to a fuller heritage. The Yu Garden and the West Bund galleries come on top.

In Hong Kong the main sight is the city itself: the skyline from the Peak and the harbour, the trams and the tenement blocks. Little old building survives beyond spots such as Man Mo Temple and Tai Ping Shan. M+ and the Palace Museum in West Kowloon are serious stops, though, and the Big Buddha and the walled villages lie further out.

Shanghai offers the bigger night out. It has speakeasies in the former French Concession, hotel bars above the Bund and a real club scene, from polished rooms with international DJs to techno basements that run until dawn. Hong Kong does not match that depth.

Hong Kong's nights are more compact and centred on bars: crowds drinking in the street in Lan Kwai Fong, cocktail bars in Soho and Sheung Wan, a later and rougher Wan Chai, and beer and karaoke in Kowloon. Clubs are few, but most of it sits within walking distance. Shanghai's scene is spread across districts, so a night out means picking one area.

This is where the two differ most. In Hong Kong, steep country parks rise straight behind the towers, and all of it is reachable by public transport. You can walk the Dragon's Back above Shek O, climb Lantau Peak for sunrise, follow the MacLehose Trail or kayak past the hexagonal rock columns and sea caves of Sai Kung.

Shanghai is a flat city on the river delta. Century Park, the riverside paths for running and cycling, the low Sheshan hills and the Dongtan wetlands on Chongming Island are pleasant. Real hills and bamboo forest mean Moganshan, which is too far for a day trip.

Shanghai is one of the best bases in China for day trips. Fast trains reach Suzhou's classical gardens in about half an hour and Hangzhou's West Lake and Longjing tea hills in about an hour. Nanjing's Ming walls are also within reach, and canal towns such as Zhujiajiao, Tongli and Wuzhen can fill several more days.

Hong Kong has fewer outings, but they vary more: Macau's Portuguese squares by ferry or bridge, Guangzhou by fast train, and island villages such as Cheung Chau, Lamma and Tai O. The trips to the mainland mean a border crossing and checking the entry rules first, which Shanghai's excursions do not.

Both cities are safe, clean and easy with children, and each has a Disney park and a marine park. Hong Kong adds rides that are fun in themselves, such as the Peak Tram, the Star Ferry and the Ngong Ping cable car, plus beaches and short trails for a break. The downsides are cramped hotel rooms and sticky summers.

Shanghai has bigger hands-on museums for science and natural history, plus Legoland and space to run in Century Park, and its metro is easy with a buggy. The catch is distance: sights are far apart, which tires small legs more than compact Hong Kong does.

Hong Kong is the easier city to get around. One card covers the MTR, trams, the Star Ferry and the island ferries, distances are short, and covered walkways and the Mid-Levels escalator help on steep, humid streets.

Shanghai's metro is huge, clean and signed in English, and the Maglev and the Huangpu ferries are fun to ride. But the city is so large that trips between areas often take well over half an hour underground. Visitors also need to set up mobile payments before they arrive, as cash is rarely used.

Hong Kong comes out slightly ahead, helped by the lack of sales tax and by markets that are sightseeing in themselves. Mong Kok has the Ladies' Market and the bird, flower and goldfish markets, Sham Shui Po has its electronics and fabric lanes, and Hollywood Road and Cat Street have curio shops. The luxury rows of Central and Canton Road add the big names.

Shanghai is strongest on Chinese design. Small boutiques on Wukang Road and Anfu Road sell fashion, ceramics and homeware, and fabric markets make a qipao or a suit in a few days. Its souvenir lanes around Yu Garden and Tianzifang also come with more imitation goods.

Shanghai is clearly easier on the wallet. Comfortable central hotels cost about as much as in a European capital, but local food, the metro, taxis and many museums are cheap or free.

Hong Kong's hotels are among the dearest in Asia and often tiny, and dining and drinking in Central cost as much as in a Western capital. Daily spending can still stay low if you live on cha chaan teng meals, neighbourhood dim sum and the Star Ferry, and the trails and the harbour waterfront are free.

Shanghai offers more for an evening out. Acrobatics shows are the easy choice, and Kunqu, Yue and Peking opera all have homes here, including the Yifu Theatre from the 1920s. The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, opera and ballet at the Grand Theatre and a jazz tradition going back to the 1930s round it out, and much of it needs no Chinese.

Hong Kong's distinctive offering is Cantonese opera at the Xiqu Centre and in village bamboo theatres, along with the Philharmonic at the Cultural Centre. Most local theatre is in Cantonese, so visitors tend to rely on the annual Arts Festival, touring musicals and a few jazz bars.

Neither city is restful, but Shanghai has the stronger bathing culture. Its big bath centres have hot pools, saunas and rest halls where locals stay for hours, and the city also has foot-massage parlours, tea houses and morning tai chi in the parks.

Hong Kong has no public bathing. Its ways to unwind are reflexology and massage parlours, polished hotel spas and trips out of town to the gardens of Chi Lin Nunnery, the quiet of Ngong Ping or the car-free lanes of Lamma and Cheung Chau.