Jakarta or Yogyakarta?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Jakarta has the edge because swimming is possible within reach. A speedboat from Ancol reaches the Thousand Islands, where Pari and Tidung have white sand, calm warm water and reefs for snorkelling. That still makes it a separate excursion, often overnight.

Yogyakarta's coast is wilder and less useful for swimming. Parangtritis has dark volcanic sand and dunes that are lovely at sunset, but the rip currents are dangerous. The white coves of Gunungkidul, two hours away, only offer paddling in sheltered rock pools.

Jakarta eats more widely. Padang, Manadonese, Sundanese and Betawi kitchens all compete here, Glodok and Sabang reward walking and grazing, and Menteng adds polished modern Indonesian dining for a special night.

Yogyakarta's table is narrower and sweeter, and very much its own. Gudeg is the dish to try, the angkringan carts with their rice parcels and charcoal-dropped kopi joss are the place to eat it, and the evenings fill with floor-seated lesehan stalls along Malioboro. Choose it for character rather than range.

Yogyakarta has the richer old city. It is still ruled by a sultan, and the Kraton, the ruined water palace of Taman Sari, the mural-painted lanes around it and the silversmith houses of Kotagede are close enough to see in a couple of days. You see a living court culture rather than a museum version of one.

Jakarta's history is that of a colonial port that grew into a capital. Kota Tua, the pinisi schooners at Sunda Kelapa, the National Museum's Hindu-Buddhist statuary and Istiqlal facing the Cathedral are all worth seeing, but long drives through a modern sprawl separate them.

Jakarta is built for a late night. Rooftop and cocktail bars cluster around SCBD and Senopati, Kemang has a looser bar strip, and the big clubs with visiting DJs run until morning. The districts are far apart, so expect to taxi between them, and expect a quieter scene during Ramadan.

Yogyakarta's evenings are sociable but mostly sober. Students linger at coffee carts, and families pedal light-strung cars round Alun-Alun Kidul. Prawirotaman's handful of guesthouse bars is about as lively as it gets.

Yogyakarta lives under an active volcano, and that makes all the difference. Jeep tours cross Merapi's lava fields to villages buried in 2010, Merbabu offers an overnight climb, and the limestone south holds the light-shaft cave at Jomblang and river tubing at Goa Pindul, all within an easy drive.

Jakarta itself is flat and built up. Its green escapes are the tea hills of Puncak and the rainforest of Gunung Gede Pangrango, which are rewarding but at least two hours away in traffic. Treat them as a weekend away rather than a morning out.

Jakarta's day trips are pleasant rather than essential. Bogor's colonial Botanical Gardens are an hour away by commuter train, Art Deco Bandung is under an hour on the high-speed railway, and the ruined sultanate capital of Banten Lama lies to the west. Java's great temples are too far for a day trip: getting to Borobudur from Jakarta means a flight or a long train journey, and is best done with a night or two in Yogyakarta.

In Yogyakarta, the day trips are the main reason to come. Borobudur is about an hour and a half away and Prambanan less than an hour, with Sewu, Plaosan and Ratu Boko close beside it. Solo, the Sangiran early-human site and the mountain temples of Sukuh and Cetho can fill further days.

Jakarta has more to keep children busy. The Ancol waterfront combines the Dunia Fantasi theme park, an aquarium and water parks, while Ragunan Zoo and Taman Mini's miniature houses fill other days and the malls double as cool indoor playgrounds. The cost is long, hot journeys between them.

Yogyakarta works better with older children, who will enjoy a jeep ride on Merapi, tubing through a cave or the pedal cars by the Kraton. The temples mean early starts, long drives and steep steps in the sun, which wear out small ones.

Both cities are tiring to move around in, but the reasons differ. Jakarta has a clean MRT along the Sudirman-Thamrin spine and busway lanes across the city, yet traffic jams can turn short hops into an hour. Grouping sights by district is essential.

Yogyakarta has no metro and buses that visitors find hard to use, but its core around Malioboro, the Kraton and Taman Sari can be walked, with becak rides to fill the gaps. Day trips are usually done with a hired car and driver.

Jakarta offers far more choice. The luxury malls of Senayan and the Hotel Indonesia roundabout sit at one end, and the vast textile market of Tanah Abang and the batik floors of Thamrin City at the other, with antiques on Jalan Surabaya.

Yogyakarta is a place to buy crafts from the people who make them. You can buy silver filigree in Kotagede's family workshops, pottery in Kasongan, and wayang puppets and hand-drawn batik in its galleries. For fashion or brands, look elsewhere.

Both are inexpensive, and Yogyakarta is cheaper still. Its guesthouses, angkringan meals and a car with driver for the day cost very little. The big outlay is the foreigners' entry fee at Borobudur and Prambanan.

Jakarta's bargain is the business hotel with a pool at the price of a modest European room. Costs climb in SCBD's restaurants and on any night built around heavily taxed cocktails.

Yogyakarta is the home of Javanese classical performance. The Ramayana ballet is danced against the lit towers of Prambanan, the Kraton pavilions host gamelan and court dance, and Sonobudoyo stages shortened shadow-puppet shows. All of these are easy for a visitor to catch.

Jakarta draws the big touring concerts and the Java Jazz Festival, with theatre at Taman Ismail Marzuki and the colonial Gedung Kesenian. Traditional wayang and gamelan only appear now and then.

Pampering is similar and cheap in both, built on Javanese massage and the turmeric lulur scrub, though the settings differ. Jakarta adds creambath hair treatments, reflexology in the malls and large hotel spas, with Puncak's hills as the retreat from the haze.

Yogyakarta's rituals grew out of court tradition, and they feel closer to their roots, with flower baths after the scrub and jamu sold from baskets. Its quiet resorts on Merapi's slopes look over rice fields rather than traffic.