Jaisalmer or Udaipur?

Neither city has anywhere to swim. Gadisar Lake and Lake Pichola are for boats, not bathing, so in both cities a hotel pool is the answer. The difference is what the pool is for. In Udaipur it often looks out over the lake, while in Jaisalmer it matters most as relief from the desert heat.

Both cook from the same Rajasthani repertoire, including dal baati churma and gatte ki sabzi, but Udaipur eats a little better. Mewari laal maas, ghewar from the sweet shops and polished dining in the palace hotels give it more range.

Jaisalmer's cooking is more firmly rooted in the desert, with ker sangri and bajra roti, and a thali in a simple local place is the best way in. Beyond the heritage hotels there is no fine dining, and the rooftops facing the fort lean heavily on pizza and pancakes.

Both are equally rewarding, in different ways. Jaisalmer's heart is a living fort: a twelfth-century golden citadel where thousands still live around the royal palace and the finely carved Jain temples, with the havelis of Patwon and Salim Singh in the streets below. Udaipur is about water and royal grandeur: the City Palace on Lake Pichola, the white Lake Palace and Jag Mandir on the water, and the Jagdish Temple in the old city.

Each takes two or three days. Jaisalmer feels like a single stone town, while Udaipur spreads further out, to the gardens of Saheliyon ki Bari and the Monsoon Palace on its hilltop.

Neither is a place for going out, but Udaipur at least has hotel bars and a few lounge bars, some with music at weekends, and a sunset drink over Pichola is a fixed part of the day. Jaisalmer offers a rooftop dinner facing the floodlit fort, or a campfire show at a dune camp that ends soon after the meal, and its lanes are empty well before midnight.

Udaipur has more variety. There are lakes that fill after the monsoon, the forested Sajjangarh sanctuary, short hikes and cycle rides through the Aravalli hill villages, and jungle walks in Kumbhalgarh further out.

Jaisalmer has a single landscape, but a memorable one. An overnight camel trek in the Thar, best from the quieter Khuri dunes rather than crowded Sam, ends under a very dark sky, and the Desert National Park draws birders in winter. Beyond the sand there are no hills, rivers or forests.

This is where the two differ most. Udaipur works as a real base: Eklingji and the ruins of Nagda are half an hour away and Nathdwara about an hour. Longer days take you to Kumbhalgarh's ridge-top walls with Ranakpur's marble Jain temple, or to the fortress at Chittorgarh.

Jaisalmer is remote. The temples at Lodurva and the abandoned villages of Kuldhara and Khaba fit neatly around a dune evening, but beyond them Pokaran and Tanot are long drives for little reward, and most visitors move on rather than make excursions.

These two are much alike for families. Both suit school-age children in the cool months, both have narrow lanes shared with motorbikes and cows, and neither has much built for children.

What differs is the kind of fun. Jaisalmer offers adventure: a fort like a giant sandcastle, camel rides and a night in a tent camp. Udaipur is gentler, with boat rides, puppet shows, the cable car to the viewpoints and lakeside hotel pools for the afternoons.

Jaisalmer is the easier of the two to manage. The fort, the havelis and Gadisar Lake sit close together and are easily covered on foot, and rickshaws handle short hops, though walking is tiring in the heat.

Udaipur's old city is compact too, but its lanes are steep in places and full of motorbikes, pavements barely exist, and the hill sights and every day trip need a hired driver.

Both are craft towns rather than places for fashion, but Udaipur has the more distinctive offer. There are miniature-painting workshops around the City Palace, bandhani textiles and leather-bound notebooks, old bazaars at Hathi Pol and the clock tower that serve locals as much as visitors, and the Shilpgram crafts fair each December.

Jaisalmer's fort lanes are packed with mirror-work and appliqué textiles, camel leather and carved sandstone, but much of the stock repeats from stall to stall and the sellers are insistent.

Both are very cheap day to day, Jaisalmer by a small margin, and both get expensive only at the top end. The splurge is different in each. In Jaisalmer it is a restored palace hotel or a luxury tented camp in the dunes. In Udaipur it is a lake palace or a haveli room looking over Pichola, with a comfortable mid-range tier of lakeside stays in between.

The two are similar in scale but different in character. Jaisalmer has the stronger musicians: the Manganiyar and Langa singers, with kamaicha fiddles and khartal clappers, play most evenings at camps and on rooftops, and the Desert Festival comes each winter.

Udaipur's regular evening show is the folk dance programme at Bagore ki Haveli, supported by the puppet shows of Lok Kala Mandal and the musicians at the Shilpgram fair. Neither city has a theatre or concert circuit.

Udaipur is much the better place to slow down. Ayurvedic treatments and yoga classes are all over the old city, the lake hotels run elaborate spas, and a sunset over Pichola from a terrace does much of the work.

Jaisalmer has hotel spas and simple massage places, but touts and heat make the town itself tiring. Its calm is found in a quiet haveli courtyard or at a remote camp in the dunes.