Kanchanaburi or Krabi?

There is no real contest here. Kanchanaburi is an inland river town more than three hours from the Gulf coast, and its swimming means the turquoise tiers of Erawan and lazy floats off a raft house on the Kwai.

Krabi is built around its sand: Railay West and Phra Nang under their limestone walls, the quieter Klong Muang and Tubkaek, and island coves a short longtail ride away, with calm, clear water through the dry season. If both towns are on one itinerary, save the beach days for Krabi.

Both serve honest, cheap Thai food without fine dining, but Krabi's cooking has more character. Kanchanaburi offers central Thai provincial fare: noodle soups at shophouse counters, the night market by the station, and river fish such as snakehead eaten on floating restaurants at sunset.

Krabi brings the southern Thai kitchen, which is hotter and shaped by the region's Muslim communities, with turmeric fish soups, khao mok gai and roti, plus fresh prawns and fish grilled by the shore. For the best of it, eat in Krabi Town rather than on Ao Nang's tourist strip.

Kanchanaburi has the weightier sightseeing, even though it tells a single story. The bridge, the rows of graves at the War Cemetery and Chung Kai, the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre and the JEATH museum bring the wartime railway to life, and there are a few cave temples on the edge of town.

Krabi has nothing comparable: the Tiger Cave Temple with its hilltop Buddha, a riverside promenade and some Chinese shophouses in Krabi Town, and the prehistoric caves of Khao Khanab Nam. It is a place for landscape, not history.

Neither is a place for a big night out, and both are quiet by midnight. Kanchanaburi's evenings mean a short strip of backpacker bars with pool tables and cover bands, plus karaoke rafts drifting down the river at weekends.

Krabi has a little more going on: Ao Nang's beach-road bars and a late alley with the odd dancefloor, and Railay's reggae beach bars with fire-spinning on the sand. Anyone wanting a proper party takes the ferry to Phi Phi.

Both make fine bases for the outdoors, but Krabi's scenery is more dramatic and more varied. Kanchanaburi offers jungle and river: Erawan's seven tiers of waterfalls, Sai Yok's caves, kayaking on the dam reservoirs and cycling through paddy fields, all at their greenest after the rains.

Krabi adds the sea to the limestone. The sheer towers above Railay and Tonsai draw climbers from around the world, sea kayaking through Ao Thalane's mangroves and around the Hong islands is superb, and diving and snorkelling sit alongside inland outings to the Emerald Pool and the Dragon Crest hike.

Kanchanaburi has more worthwhile places within a day's reach. The slow train along the cliffs to Nam Tok, Hellfire Pass with its memorial, the Khmer temple at Prasat Muang Singh, the great chedi at Nakhon Pathom and the canal markets at Amphawa all make easy outings, and Bangkok is possible in a long day.

From Krabi, most excursions are boat trips taken for the scenery itself. Phi Phi Don, Koh Lanta's stilted Old Town and the fishing villages of Koh Yao Noi are the main places to visit, Phuket's Old Town is a long day away, and there is no major heritage site nearby.

Krabi is the easier choice with children, because the days organise themselves around the sea. The shallow, warm water at Klong Muang and Phra Nang and the resort pools and kids' clubs north of Ao Nang make a dry-season stay simple, though unsheltered longtails and strong sun need care.

Kanchanaburi has good moments for children: the Erawan pools, the train over wooden trestles, a night in a raft house and the safari park. But the town's main sights are cemeteries and museums, and nearly every outing involves a minivan.

Both are awkward without your own wheels, in different ways. Kanchanaburi strings its guesthouses, bridge and cemeteries along several kilometres of river, so bicycles and songthaews handle the short hops. Scooters, drivers or tours cover Erawan and Sai Yok, with a slow train and sparse buses as the public option.

Krabi has the walkable Ao Nang strip and white songthaews to Krabi Town, but Railay can only be reached by longtail, which stops running in heavy seas, and the islands depend on boats and tour pick-ups.

Neither is worth the journey for shopping. Kanchanaburi's one distinctive buy is blue sapphire from the province's old mines, sold in a few gem shops where some knowledge helps, alongside its night market and the souvenir stalls by the bridge. Krabi has Ao Nang's beachwear stalls and tailors, and the more local weekend walking-street market in Krabi Town.

Kanchanaburi stretches a budget further, mainly because the cheap rooms are where travellers want to be anyway, by the river and close to the bridge and cemeteries. The spending that does add up is largely optional: foreigner fees at Erawan and the other parks, a private driver for the day, or a night at one of the comfortable resorts upstream.

In Krabi, prices rise as you get closer to the sea. Krabi Town is as cheap as anywhere in Kanchanaburi, but most visitors stay by the beaches, where Ao Nang costs more and Railay, supplied entirely by boat, costs the most. Island tours, park fees and imported drinks then add a steady extra to almost every beach day.

Kanchanaburi's live entertainment comes almost entirely in one burst each year, while Krabi has small shows every evening. River Kwai Bridge Week, usually held from late November into early December, restages the wartime bombing of the bridge with a sound-and-light show, fireworks and a fair along the riverbank, and is worth planning a visit around if your dates allow.

Krabi has fire-spinning on the sand at Railay and Ao Nang and Muay Thai bouts staged for visitors near Ao Nang. Apart from that, music in both towns means cover bands in the bars, and neither has a theatre or concert hall.

Krabi offers more for a restful stay. The resort spas on Klong Muang, Tubkaek and Railay often have open-air pavilions facing the sea, yoga classes and retreats are easy to find, and the Hot Springs Waterfall at Khlong Thom runs warm water over limestone into pools in the forest.

Relaxing in Kanchanaburi is simpler and quieter: a hammock on a raft house over the upper Kwai, cheap Thai massage in town and a few resort spas. The small hot springs at Hin Dat are a two-hour drive north.