Kamakura or Nagasaki?

Kamakura has the town beach that Nagasaki lacks. Yuigahama and Zaimokuza curve along the bay a short walk from the station, and the Enoden runs on to Koshigoe and Katase. Zushi and Hayama are calmer, though the sand is dark and volcanic and the season is short.

Nagasaki's harbour is for ships, not swimmers. The nearest proper beach, Takahama on the Nomo coast, is clean and sandy but about an hour away by bus. Iojima's small resort beach is a ferry ride out. A swim there is a day off from sightseeing rather than part of the daily routine.

Nagasaki has the more distinctive food. Its centuries of foreign trade produced dishes found nowhere else in Japan, from champon and sara udon to the shared shippoku banquet and castella sponge cake, which came with Portuguese traders. Local fish is simple and excellent in the izakaya of Hamanomachi.

Kamakura's strengths are narrower: whitebait over rice near the beach, refined shojin ryori near the Zen temples, and snacks along Komachi-dori. It is lovely at lunchtime but has little to offer after dark, and for serious eating most people take the train to Yokohama.

Both need two or three days, but they tell very different stories. Kamakura shows its medieval samurai past through its temples: the open-air Great Buddha, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and the great Zen temples of Kita-Kamakura. Hase-dera's hydrangeas and Hokoku-ji's bamboo fill the gaps.

Nagasaki's sights are about contact with the outside world, and about catastrophe. The Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park stand alongside Dejima's Dutch trading post, the merchant houses of Glover Garden, Oura Cathedral and a strong Chinese heritage. A visit here is more about learning history than quiet contemplation.

Neither is a place for clubbing, but Nagasaki at least has a proper district for going out. Shianbashi packs counter bars, karaoke and snack bars into a few streets, and a handful stay open late. The night view from Mount Inasa makes an evening in itself.

Kamakura offers little more than a drink after dinner near the station or a summer evening on the sand. For a real night out you take the train to Yokohama or Tokyo.

Kamakura's landscape is right on the doorstep. Wooded ridges circle the town, so the Daibutsu and Tenen trails link temples through forest. The bay is good for surfing and paddling, and on clear winter days Mount Fuji appears across the water.

Nagasaki's steep green hills and the Inasa ropeway make a fine setting for the harbour. Its bigger landscapes, the volcanic peaks and steaming vents of Unzen and the islands of Kujukushima, are a long journey out.

Few towns are as well placed as Kamakura. Yokohama is under half an hour away, Tokyo about an hour by direct train and Enoshima a short ride on the Enoden. Hakone's hot springs and Odawara's castle lie further west, and all of it is easy without a car.

Nagasaki's outings are memorable but more spread out. The boat to Gunkanjima is the highlight, if the weather allows a landing. Shimabara, Huis Ten Bosch and the porcelain towns of Arita and Imari each take a long day.

Kamakura is the easier of the two with children. They can climb inside the Great Buddha, ride the little Enoden along the sea and swim from gentle summer beaches. The aquarium at Katase and Enoshima's caves are close by. Weekend crowds and temple steps are the main trials.

Nagasaki has its own favourites in the trams, the ropeway and the Penguin Aquarium, plus Huis Ten Bosch for a big day out. But its stairway streets are harder with a pushchair, and the Atomic Bomb Museum needs some thought with younger children.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Kamakura is a walking town. The shrine and Komachi-dori are minutes from the station, and the Enoden and JR line handle longer hops, though weekend crowds clog both the roads and the trains.

Nagasaki runs on its simple flat-fare trams, which link nearly every major sight along the valley floor. Once you leave the valley floor, the hillside lanes and steps mean real climbing, with buses and the ropeway to fill the gaps.

Neither is a shopping destination, and keen shoppers from both head to a bigger city. Kamakura is for browsing crafts and souvenirs on Komachi-dori and Wakamiya-oji, and its carved Kamakura-bori lacquerware is the one thing worth seeking out. Nagasaki is more practical, with the covered Hamanomachi arcade and its department store, and its gifts run to boxed castella, glassware and porcelain from Hasami, Mikawachi and Arita.

In Kamakura the money goes on the bed rather than the sightseeing. Temple gates charge little and a soba or whitebait set lunch is fair, but a room by the sea or in an old wooden house costs a lot in the blossom, hydrangea and maple seasons. That one cost lifts the whole trip above most Japanese towns of its size.

Nagasaki works out cheaper overall, because a base in the city stays reasonable and most of the extra spending is on things you choose. The bigger outlays are the boat out to Gunkanjima, the ride up Mount Inasa and a long evening of sashimi in Shianbashi. A night at a ryokan in Unzen or Obama is the obvious splurge.

Both are festival towns rather than places with an evening programme, and Nagasaki's festivals are the grander. The October Kunchi at Suwa Shrine brings three days of dragon dances and ship floats, and the Lantern Festival fills Chinatown around Chinese New Year. A municipal concert hall and a few live-music bars cover the rest of the year.

Kamakura offers occasional Noh at a small private theatre, festival dances at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in spring and yabusame horseback archery in autumn. For anything more, go to Yokohama or Tokyo.

The two find calm in different places. Kamakura's calm comes from meditation: public zazen at Engaku-ji and Kencho-ji and the moss gardens of Kita-Kamakura, best on weekday mornings. It has no hot springs of its own, and the nearest onsen are in Hakone.

Nagasaki leans towards bathing, though mostly out of town. Obama's seaside footbath and Unzen's mountain ryokan are worth an overnight trip. The city itself has a few sento and a slow harbour pace.