Hue or Sapa?

Hue at least has the sea within reach. Thuan An is about 15km away, and Lang Co, the prettier of the two, is a longer drive south. Both are fine for swimming from roughly April to August, until the autumn rains make the water rough.

Sapa has no beach at all. It is a mountain town far from the coast, with only cold streams in the valleys, so anyone who wants to swim will need to add some days on the coast.

Hue is a city to eat your way through, and Sapa is not. Hue's cooking is a regional tradition in its own right, with a court heritage behind it, so a few days here can bring a different dish at every meal: bun bo Hue for breakfast, banh beo and banh nam in the afternoon, com hen made with river clams, and sweet che at Dong Ba market. Thanks to the pagodas, vegetarians eat unusually well too. What Hue lacks is food from outside Vietnam.

Sapa's food is mountain fare, cooked to warm you up rather than to be explored. Expect a hotpot of fish farmed in the cold streams, evening skewers from the charcoal grills by the lake, highland dishes such as the Hmong horse stew, and corn wine to drink. It is hearty and makes a good night or two. But Hue keeps offering something new, while Sapa's menus start to repeat within a few days, and the tourist cafés in the centre add little to them.

This is the widest gap between them. Hue was an imperial capital, and the moated Citadel, the Forbidden Purple City, the tombs of Tu Duc, Minh Mang and Khai Dinh and Thien Mu pagoda make up a full itinerary of monuments.

Sapa has a stone church from the French years and a small ethnic museum. Its interest lies in living culture rather than buildings: walking to Black Hmong, Red Dao and Giay villages such as Ta Van and Ta Phin, past indigo dyeing and weaving. Go beyond the nearest villages for something less staged.

Neither is a place for late nights, but Hue has a little more going on. A few south-bank streets have backpacker bars with happy hours, and the night market by the Truong Tien bridge brings families out to the river. In Sapa the evening is a hotpot, a drink by the fire and an early bed, with a small cluster of pool-table bars and the lakeside grills as the only alternatives.

Sapa is the clear winner. From its ridge at about 1,500m, trails drop into the terraced Muong Hoa valley, walks of several days between homestays are easy to arrange, and Fansipan rises to 3,143m, reached on foot or by cable car.

Hue's setting is softer: cycling past rice fields along the Perfume River, boat trips on the Tam Giang lagoon, and Bach Ma National Park and the Hai Van Pass about an hour or so away. It is pleasant countryside to ride through rather than mountains to walk in, and the autumn floods put much of it out of reach.

Hue has more within reach. North lies the old DMZ, where the Vinh Moc tunnels and Khe Sanh make a long guided day. South, the Hai Van Pass leads to Lang Co and Da Nang, and many travellers carry on to Hoi An.

From Sapa, the best outing is Bac Ha's Sunday market with its Flower Hmong traders, and smaller markets such as Can Cau are similar. After those, the excursions are simply more mountains.

Both are hard going with small children, and neither has attractions made for them. Hue is flatter and calmer, with dragon boats, cyclos and the open Citadel grounds, but the summer heat and autumn rain soon wear a family out.

Sapa suits older children who can walk, with buffalo in the paddies, village homestays and the Fansipan cable car. Its steep streets and cold, damp winters make it a poor choice with toddlers.

Hue is the easier of the two. Its centre is small and flat, so the hotel area, the riverside and the Citadel are a short walk or bike ride apart. The tombs upriver need a taxi, a motorbike or a boat.

Sapa's centre is walkable but steep and uneven. Apart from the short tram down to the cable car, getting anywhere means trekking, hiring a driver or taking a motorbike taxi. Getting there is also a long road trip or an overnight train from Hanoi.

Neither is a shopping destination, so the difference is in the crafts. Hue's best buys are the conical hats with poems hidden in the leaves, sesame candy and incense from Thuy Xuan, with Dong Ba market for everyday browsing and tailors in the hotel streets. Sapa's are textiles such as Hmong and Dao embroidery, indigo batik and silver, best bought in the villages or at Bac Ha, though copies are common and sellers push hard.

Both are very cheap, and Hue is slightly cheaper. Its guesthouses, stall food and cyclos cost very little, and the main extras are monument tickets and royal dinners. In Sapa the central hotels and cafés cost a little more than in the lowlands and the Fansipan cable car is the one expense that stands out, though homestays and guided treks stay inexpensive.

Hue has more to offer, all of it rooted in the court: nha nhac royal music in the Citadel, ca Hue singing on lantern-lit dragon boats, and the Hue Festival in its season. Sapa has only short staged shows of Hmong and Dao pan pipes and dance on weekend evenings. Neither city has a theatre or concert scene.

The two are level here but restful in different ways. In Hue the calm comes from the city itself: pagodas, the garden houses of Kim Long, morning tai chi and quiet evenings, with resort spas and the Thanh Tan hot springs about an hour away.

Sapa has the stronger single tradition, the Red Dao herbal bath in wooden tubs, which is perfect after a trek. For real rest, though, stay in a valley homestay, because the town is noisy with traffic and persistent sellers.