Jaisalmer or Mumbai?

Neither is a beach destination, but Mumbai at least has the sea. Juhu and Girgaum Chowpatty are broad stretches of sand for a sunset walk, kite-flying and snacks, though the water is too murky to swim in, and a ferry across the harbour reaches cleaner water on the Alibaug coast.

Jaisalmer has no open water to swim in at all, and Gadisar Lake is for boats and views. In both cities a hotel pool is the practical answer, and in the Jaisalmer heat it matters even more.

Mumbai is one of India's great places to eat, and the gap here is wide. With vada pav from station carts, bhel puri at Chowpatty, bun maska in the Irani cafés, Malvani crab and pomfret curries, and cooking from across India, you could eat for a week without repeating a meal. Bandra and Lower Parel add a polished tier of restaurants and cocktail bars.

Jaisalmer's food is narrower but its own: desert dishes such as ker sangri and dal baati churma, best tried in a vegetarian thali. Beyond that, the rooftop menus facing the fort lean on pizza and pasta, and drinking is not part of local life.

The two are close here, but their sights are very different. Jaisalmer offers one compact set: the golden fort with people still living inside its walls, the finely carved Jain temples, the havelis and the cenotaphs at Bada Bagh, all seen on foot in two or three days.

Mumbai's sights belong to the colonial port city, from the Gothic extravagance of its great railway terminus to the Art Deco blocks of Marine Drive facing the Oval Maidan. It adds proper museum collections, the Kala Ghoda galleries and the Haji Ali Dargah. There is more variety, but the sights are scattered and slow to get between.

Mumbai has a real night out: cocktail bars and gastropubs in Bandra and Khar, clubs in the old mill compounds of Lower Parel and a more casual bar strip in Colaba. Most places close around 1am and drinks are heavily taxed.

In Jaisalmer the evening is a rooftop dinner facing the floodlit fort or a campfire show at a dune camp, and the lanes are quiet well before midnight.

Mumbai has more outdoors to choose from. Sanjay Gandhi National Park brings forest, leopards and the Kanheri caves inside the city, flamingos feed on the Sewri mudflats in winter, and the Western Ghats offer monsoon hikes to hill forts and car-free Matheran.

Jaisalmer has a single landscape, but it is memorable: the Thar Desert, best seen on an overnight camel trek under a very dark sky, with the quieter Khuri dunes and the bustards and gazelles of the Desert National Park. Beyond that there is little to do outdoors, and the comfortable season is short.

Mumbai has the stronger outings. The boat to the cave temples of Elephanta Island is a real highlight, the Buddhist cave halls at Karla and Bhaja lie out towards Lonavala, and the Alibaug coast adds sea forts. City traffic limits most visitors to one or two trips.

From Jaisalmer the options are short and local: the Jain temples of Lodurva and the abandoned villages of Kuldhara and Khaba, easy to pair with a trip to the dunes. Anything bigger is hours away, so the town works better as a stop than as a base.

Neither is easy with children, though both welcome them warmly. Jaisalmer offers adventure for school-age children: a fort like a giant sandcastle, camel rides and a night in a tent camp. That only works in the cool months, and nothing there is built for children.

Mumbai has the more conventional outings, such as the Nehru Science Centre, the Byculla zoo, harbour ferries and ice cream at Chowpatty, set against traffic, broken pavements and humidity. In both cities a car and driver and a hotel pool make life easier.

Both are tiring to get around, but for opposite reasons. Jaisalmer is compact, with the fort, the havelis and the lake all within walking distance. The lanes are uneven and hot, though, and the dunes and villages need a hired car or jeep.

Mumbai is long and spread out, with a walkable core around Fort, Kala Ghoda and Colaba. The suburban railway is fast outside rush hour and the metro covers part of the city, but road traffic can turn a short hop into an hour.

Mumbai offers far more range. Crawford Market, the gold of Zaveri Bazaar and the antiques of Chor Bazaar sit alongside the street stalls of Colaba Causeway and Linking Road, designer and handloom shops in Kala Ghoda and Bandra, and luxury malls.

Jaisalmer is a crafts town, with mirror-work textiles, appliqué quilts, camel leather and carved sandstone filling the lanes of the fort. The stock repeats from shop to shop and sellers push hard, but it is a good place to buy desert handicrafts.

Jaisalmer is clearly the cheaper trip, mainly because a simple room with a rooftop view of the fort costs very little. Food, rickshaws and entry to the sights are cheap too, and only the palace hotels and luxury camps charge international rates.

Mumbai is just as cheap for street food, trains and taxis, but rooms are the problem. Decent budget options are scarce, good hotels cost far more than elsewhere in India, and taxed cocktails add up quickly.

Mumbai has a real stage life. The National Centre for the Performing Arts is home to the Symphony Orchestra of India and puts on classical music, dance, jazz and theatre, Prithvi Theatre in Juhu is the heart of the Hindi and English stage, and Marathi plays fill auditoriums in Dadar.

Jaisalmer has no venues, but it has the Manganiyar and Langa musicians of the Thar, heard most evenings at desert camps and rooftop shows, and the Desert Festival each winter. The setting may be staged for visitors, but the music is genuine.

Neither is a place to unwind, and in both, relaxation means hotel spas and simple Ayurvedic massage. The quiet moments are what differ: in Jaisalmer, an afternoon in a haveli courtyard or a night at a remote camp in the dunes, and in Mumbai, an early walk on Marine Drive or Bandstand, a seat by the Banganga Tank or a yoga class in Bandra.