Kanazawa or Kobe?

Neither city is a beach destination, though both have sand and warm water in July and August. Kobe has a slight edge because Suma is a short train ride from the centre, with lifeguards and a summer crowd, and Awaji Island across the strait has clearer water.

Kanazawa's beaches at Uchinada and Chirihama are long and plain, and at Chirihama you can drive on the hard sand. They take more effort to reach, though, and outside high summer they turn grey and windswept.

These are two very different food cities of similar strength. Kanazawa's food comes from the sea and the tea ceremony: seafood bowls at Omicho Market, snow crab in winter, Kaga dishes such as jibuni, and sweets with matcha in the chaya teahouses.

Kobe's food reflects its history as a port: Kobe beef on teppanyaki grills, a long tradition of bakeries and cake shops, and steamed buns in Nankinmachi. Both take sake seriously. Kanazawa draws on the brewers of the Kaga plain, while Kobe has the Nada breweries, with museums and tasting rooms.

Kanazawa is the stronger city here by a wide margin. Because wartime bombing missed it, it keeps Kenroku-en, the white castle walls, the wooden teahouses of Higashi Chaya and the canal-side samurai lanes of Nagamachi. It also has the 21st Century Museum and the D.T. Suzuki Museum.

Kobe's sights tell the story of a treaty port and an earthquake: the merchants' houses of Kitano, Ikuta Shrine, the broken quay at Meriken Park and the art museum in its Tadao Ando building. They fill a pleasant couple of days, but they are not the reason to choose Kobe.

In both cities an evening out means eating and drinking rather than dancing, but Kobe offers a little more. Sannomiya's lanes towards Kitanozaka are full of whisky and cocktail bars and have a few clubs, the lit harbour at Harborland is good for a last drink, and Osaka's late nights are twenty minutes away by train.

Kanazawa's Katamachi is a dense grid of izakaya and snack bars, mostly full of locals, and there are a few quiet sake bars in old wooden houses by the river. There is very little to go on to afterwards.

Kobe has its mountains on the doorstep. Walks start near Shin-Kobe station and climb past the Nunobiki waterfalls, ropeways go up Maya and Rokko for night views over the bay, and the Suma Alps make a short, rugged hike, all without a car.

Kanazawa's own green spaces are mostly the banks of the Sai and Asano rivers and the low hills to the east. Hakusan's alpine trails and ski slopes and the terraced rice fields of the Noto Peninsula are impressive, but they are about two hours out and hard to reach by public transport.

Kobe has the advantage because of its rail links. Himeji Castle, Osaka, Kyoto and Nara are all easy day trips, and the shinkansen adds Okayama, Kurashiki and even Hiroshima with Miyajima.

Kanazawa has fewer day trips, but they are very good. The best are the thatched farmhouses of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama, especially under snow, with Takayama, Eihei-ji and the Kaga hot-spring towns further afield. Expect buses and long days rather than quick train hops.

Both are safe, clean Japanese cities where travelling with children is easy, but Kobe gives them much more to do. Oji Zoo, the marine aquarium at Suma, the animal park on Port Island and Harborland's Ferris wheel are all close by, and Universal Studios Japan is about an hour away.

In Kanazawa the highlights for children are the pool installation at the 21st Century Museum and the trap doors of the ninja temple. The zoo, the beaches and the Fukui dinosaur museum all need a drive, and the gardens and teahouses can test young children's patience.

Kobe is the simpler city to get around. Its rail lines run side by side along the strip between the mountains and the sea, the subway and Port Liner take the same IC card, and the centre from Chinatown to Kitano is walkable, though the last stretch is uphill.

Kanazawa's sights lie in a flat, walkable band near the station, but the city has no metro or tram. The loop buses do the work and can be slow at busy times. Bike-share helps outside winter, when snow makes walking harder.

The two cities are equally good for shopping, but in different ways. Kanazawa is for crafts: gold leaf, Kutani porcelain, Kaga yuzen silk and lacquerware, much of it from serious makers.

Kobe is about style, with long covered arcades, the old Daimaru store and the boutiques in the stone buildings of the former foreign settlement, along with pearls, leather shoes from Nagata and Western-style cakes. For more depth, Kobe has Osaka next door, while Kanazawa offers little beyond its department stores and Tatemachi.

Costs are close. Both cities have clean, fairly priced business hotels near the station and cheap everyday food. In both, the bill grows with the local speciality: snow crab and kaiseki in Kanazawa, Kobe beef teppanyaki in Kobe. Kobe's short local train rides cost little, while Kanazawa's best outings depend on longer bus and Shinkansen journeys.

Kobe has more on. Jazz is its tradition, with small clubs and resident trios around Sannomiya and Kitano and the Kobe Jazz Street festival every autumn, while the Hyogo Performing Arts Center and the Takarazuka Revue are both close by.

Kanazawa's offering is narrower but more traditional: Noh at the prefectural theatre, geisha dance and shamisen in the chaya teahouses, and the concert season of the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa. Beyond these there is little, so plan your evenings around the programme.

Both cities are good places to soak in hot springs, but Kobe has Arima Onsen within its own boundaries. It is one of Japan's oldest hot-spring towns, famous for its rust-red and carbonated waters, and lies about half an hour from the centre.

Kanazawa's nearest hot spring, Yuwaku, is a small village of ryokan beside a stream, and the larger Kaga hot-spring towns need an overnight stay. What Kanazawa adds is the calm of the city itself: early mornings in Kenroku-en, matcha in a quiet teahouse and evening walks by the Asano River.