Knysna or Swakopmund?

Knysna has far better beaches, even though the town itself faces a lagoon rather than the sea. The long, wild beaches at Brenton-on-Sea and Buffalo Bay, the forested cove at Noetzie and the sheltered swimming at Plettenberg Bay are all a short drive away, and the shallows off Leisure Isle suit small children. In summer the sea is warm enough for a proper swim, though you should stay near lifeguards because of rip currents.

Swakopmund sits right on the Atlantic, but the Benguela Current keeps the water cold all year, and morning fog and rough surf put most people off swimming. The beach there is for walks, fishing and watching the sunset.

The two are evenly matched, and each has its own farmed oysters, from the Knysna lagoon in one case and the Walvis Bay lagoon in the other. In Knysna the pleasure is a long lunch on a waterfront deck on Thesen Island or by the quays, with line fish, a seafood platter or a braai, and a local beer or a Western Cape wine alongside. The winter Oyster Festival puts the town's speciality at the centre for a few days.

Swakopmund's table has a German accent. Bakeries and coffee houses serve Black Forest cake and apfelstrudel in the afternoon, the beer is brewed to German purity rules, and oryx, kudu and springbok on most menus make it the place to try game. Neither town has much choice of restaurants, so a week covers the best of either.

Swakopmund has more to see in town. Its half-timbered colonial streets, the Woermann House tower, the old railway station and the iron jetty make a pleasant walking tour, and the town museum and the Mondesa township tours add depth.

Knysna's history is quieter: the small stone church at Belvidere, the gold-rush remains at Millwood in the forest and modest museums about the timber trade. Neither town is a place to visit for its sights alone.

Both towns are quiet well before midnight, and neither has a club scene. In Knysna an evening means sundowners on a lagoon deck and then a long dinner, and the town livens up during the Oyster Festival and the Pink Loerie Mardi Gras. In Swakopmund the evening is a drink by the jetty or a beer in a German-style pub, and weekends are livened by overland travellers passing through.

Knysna has the richer and more varied outdoors. It has yellowwood forest trails at Diepwalle and Harkerville, cliff paths on Featherbed above the Heads, a lagoon for sailing and paddling, and the seal colony on the Robberg Peninsula walk. Tsitsikamma's gorge is within reach, and whales come close inshore in winter and spring.

Swakopmund offers drama of a different kind: the Namib dunes start at the edge of town, with sandboarding, quad biking and scenic flights. There are flamingos and seals at Walvis Bay, and dunes run straight into the sea at Sandwich Harbour. It is thrilling, but it is a grey, treeless landscape with no forest walking.

Knysna has more places within easy reach. Plettenberg Bay and Wilderness are half an hour away along the coast, Mossel Bay has its maritime museum, and the drive over the Outeniqua passes to Oudtshoorn leads to the ostrich-boom mansions and the Cango Caves.

From Swakopmund the towns are few. You can reach the port of Walvis Bay, the small resort of Henties Bay and the Portuguese cross at Cape Cross, and the rock art at Spitzkoppe is the main cultural outing. The big Namibian sights, such as Sossusvlei, need a night away.

Knysna gives children more to do. There are calm lagoon shallows for paddling, boat trips through the Heads, elephant sanctuaries where you walk alongside the animals, and the primate park and bird aviary near Plettenberg Bay. Children who love forests and animals do best there.

Swakopmund is calm, flat and easy to manage. Its marine aquarium tunnel and the dunes are the highlights, and older children enjoy sandboarding there most. The cold sea and the long gravel-road drives are harder on younger ones.

Swakopmund is much easier without a car. The seafront, the jetty, the museum and the restaurants are all within a few minutes' walk of each other, and activity operators usually collect you from where you are staying.

In Knysna only the town centre, the waterfront and Thesen Island are walkable. The beaches, forest trails and neighbouring towns are spread along the N2 highway, so most visitors fly into George and hire a car there.

Neither is a shopping destination, but they sell different things. Knysna's speciality is furniture and turned wood from local yellowwood and stinkwood, alongside galleries and boutiques on Thesen Island. Swakopmund has craft markets near the lighthouse and shops for Namibian tourmaline and amethyst, karakul rugs, kudu-hide shoes and Herero dolls.

The two are similarly good value for meals, beer and guesthouses, and both fill up in December and January. The difference is in what drives the bill. In Knysna the main cost is the car hire, while walks, beaches and forest trails cost little. In Swakopmund the costs are the activities, because dune tours, boat trips and above all scenic flights and skydives are priced for international visitors.

Neither town has a theatre season, an orchestra or an opera. In both, live music mostly means weekend bands in pubs. Knysna's festivals add concerts and street performance at certain times of year, while Swakopmund's small local theatre puts on only the occasional show.

Knysna is better for a proper rest. It has quiet forest lodges, spas at the larger hotels, yoga and massage retreats in the hills, and an unhurried lagoon-side pace.

Swakopmund offers a few day spas and a calm routine of promenade walks and afternoon coffee. That works well as a pause on a long drive through Namibia, but there is less there to build a wellness stay around.