Kobe or Sapporo?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Kobe at least has one close by. Suma's long sandy beach is fifteen minutes away by train, with lifeguards and the warmer water of Osaka Bay in high summer, and Awaji Island across the strait has quieter swimming.

Sapporo is inland, so reaching the sea means half an hour or more out to Ishikari or Otaru. There the cooler Sea of Japan is good for a swim for only a few weeks around early August, so treat it as an afternoon out rather than a reason to go.

Both cities eat very well, but Sapporo has the edge because so much of its food comes straight from Hokkaido. Mornings mean crab and sea urchin over rice at Nijo Market, evenings mean miso ramen, soup curry and jingisukan lamb, and beer runs through the city's identity.

Kobe's table owes more to its history as a treaty port. It has Kobe beef on the teppanyaki grill, a long baking and cake tradition in Motomachi and Kitano, steamed buns in Chinatown and the sake breweries of Nada. Choose Sapporo for local produce and regional dishes, Kobe for pastry, sake and a famous steak.

Neither is a heritage city, and each takes about two days to see, but Kobe has more to offer. The merchant houses of Kitano, the ancient Ikuta Shrine, the earthquake museum and Ando's art museum on the bay tell a layered story of foreign trade, disaster and recovery.

Sapporo's history begins with its 1870s street grid, so its landmarks are the Clock Tower, the red-brick government building and the open-air Historical Village, with Ainu culture covered at the Hokkaido Museum. Its most memorable sight is Noguchi's Moerenuma Park, which is more landscape than history.

Sapporo is the better night out. Susukino is a whole district of neon towers with bars stacked floor upon floor, plus karaoke and ramen counters that stay busy past midnight even in winter. Touts and hostess bars mean the side streets are the easier place to start.

Kobe's evenings are quieter: whisky bars and izakaya in the lanes north of Sannomiya, or a drink by the lit-up harbour at Harborland. For anything louder you take the train to Osaka, and neither city is really for clubbing.

Snow is what sets the two apart. From December to March Sapporo has ski slopes inside its own city limits, and Kobe has nothing like that. Kobe's outdoors are the Rokko range rising straight behind the centre: trails start near Shin-Kobe and pass the Nunobiki falls, ropeways climb Maya and Rokko for night views over the bay, and the Suma Alps make a short, rocky scramble at the western end.

Sapporo's landscape is on a bigger scale. Teine, an alpine venue at the 1972 Winter Olympics, and Kokusai are both within the city, and Niseko's powder is about two hours away. In summer the caldera lake and volcanoes of Shikotsu-Toya lie about an hour south, and the flower fields of Furano and Biei are within reach.

Kobe is far ahead here. Its rail corridor makes Himeji Castle, Osaka, Kyoto and Nara easy days out, and the shinkansen reaches Kurashiki and even Hiroshima and Miyajima. A week in Kobe can cover many of western Japan's best-known sights.

Sapporo has fewer outings, and they take longer: Otaru's canal and the Yoichi distillery, the Ainu museum at Shiraoi, the hot springs of Noboribetsu and Asahikawa. Beyond those, trips lead into lakes and farmland rather than to other cities.

Both are safe, clean and easy with children, and Kobe edges ahead for the variety close to its centre. Oji Zoo, the aquarium beside Suma beach, the Harborland Ferris wheel and the ropeways up to play areas on Rokko are all near, and Universal Studios is about an hour away.

How much Sapporo appeals depends on the season. Winter brings the Snow Festival slides and beginner ski slopes in the city, and summer brings the fountains and grassy hills of Moerenuma. January cold calls for proper clothing, just as Kobe's summer heat needs planning around.

Both cities are easy to find your way around, but they are built differently. Kobe is one long line between hills and sea. JR, Hankyu and Hanshin trains run side by side from east to west on the same card, so you pick a station rather than learn a network, and the compact core from Sannomiya to Motomachi is mostly done on foot. Sapporo spreads out as a grid instead, and there the subway does more of the work, with three lines crossing the centre and a streetcar loop out to the Moiwa ropeway.

The bigger difference is the season. Walking in Kobe stays easy all year, apart from the uphill streets of Kitano. Sapporo's centre is flat but slow and icy in midwinter, when the underground walkway from the station to Susukino is the best way across town. Kobe's outer sights, Port Island and the mountains, are reached by rail and ropeway, while in Sapporo Moerenuma Park and Jozankei mean taking a bus.

Kobe shops for style, Sapporo for things to eat. Kobe's covered arcades run for blocks through Sannomiya and Motomachi, Daimaru and boutiques in stone buildings anchor the old foreign settlement, and the local specialities are pearls, Nagata leather shoes and Western-style cakes.

In Sapporo the shopping bags fill with Hokkaido chocolate, butter biscuits, cheese and dried seafood from the station malls and the long Tanukikoji arcade, and Ainu woodcarving is the craft to take home. In both cities, serious fashion shoppers will find more depth in Japan's largest cities.

Costs are much the same in both, with modest business hotels, cheap ramen and set lunches, and inexpensive local transport. The splurges differ. In Kobe it is a Kobe beef teppanyaki dinner, shinkansen day trips and a night at an Arima ryokan. In Sapporo it is crab and sea urchin, ski passes, and central hotel rooms that become scarce and expensive during the February Snow Festival.

Kobe has more for an evening at a performance, largely thanks to jazz. There are small clubs with resident trios around Sannomiya and Kitano and the Kobe Jazz Street festival each autumn. The Hyogo Performing Arts Center is nearby, the Takarazuka Revue is about forty minutes away, and Osaka has kabuki and bunraku.

Sapporo's strength is classical music at Kitara, home of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra and the Pacific Music Festival each July. Beyond that and the Yosakoi Soran street dancing in June, its programme is that of a regional city.

Each city has a major hot-spring town within its own limits, so the difference is the setting. Kobe's Arima Onsen, half an hour away over Mount Rokko, is famous for its rust-coloured and carbonated waters and makes an easy afternoon, or a night with a kaiseki dinner.

Sapporo's Jozankei lies in a forested gorge an hour away, with open-air baths where you soak under falling snow or turning leaves, and Noboribetsu is also within reach. With its wide streets and quiet winters, Sapporo itself also feels the calmer of the two.