Kota Kinabalu or Kuala Lumpur?

Kota Kinabalu has real swimming close at hand. The Tunku Abdul Rahman Park islands, such as Manukan and Sapi, are a short speedboat hop from the city jetty, with white sand and coral you can snorkel from the shore. The beaches are small and fill up by late morning, and Tanjung Aru on the mainland is better for sunset walks than for swimming. Still, the resorts there and at Dalit Bay put the sea at the centre of a stay.

Kuala Lumpur sits inland, and the nearest coast at Port Klang is mangrove and shipping water. Port Dickson, about an hour and a half away, has warm but rarely clear water and plain sand. Most visitors swim in a rooftop hotel pool and save the sea for a separate leg to Langkawi or Penang.

Kuala Lumpur has much the wider choice. Malay, Chinese and South Indian cooking all run deep, and the mamak canteens serve roti canai and teh tarik at any hour. Jalan Alor, Brickfields and Kampung Baru each make an evening of eating, and there is a polished restaurant tier for a special night.

Kota Kinabalu is narrower but distinctive. Seafood is picked live from tanks or grilled at the waterfront night market, and Sabah has its own dishes, such as sang nyuk mee, Tuaran mee and hinava, the Kadazan raw fish salad cured with lime. Outside the big hotels, variety is what you give up.

Kuala Lumpur gives you two or three solid days of sightseeing. There are the Petronas Towers and their skybridge, the British-era buildings around Merdeka Square, the Islamic Arts Museum in the Lake Gardens, and temples from Chinatown out to the long stairway at Batu Caves.

Kota Kinabalu lost most of its old town in the 1945 bombing, and the centre is postwar. The Sabah Museum with its longhouse village, the floating City Mosque and the Atkinson Clock Tower fill half a day. Borneo's indigenous cultures are better seen in the villages outside town.

Kuala Lumpur offers a proper night out. The shophouse bars of Changkat Bukit Bintang stay busy late, rooftop bars look out at the Petronas Towers, and larger clubs keep dancers going into the small hours. Heavy taxes make drinking expensive, and many people end the night at a mamak stall instead.

In Kota Kinabalu the evening is a long seafood dinner and a sunset drink at the waterfront bars, with a few live-band bars and small clubs at weekends. Early starts for boats and the mountain keep the scene small.

Nature is where Kota Kinabalu is strongest. Mount Kinabalu, Borneo's highest peak at 4,095m, is about two hours' drive away. Most people climb it over two days with a night in a mountain hut, and its park is one of the richest botanical sites on earth. Add snorkelling and diving in the marine park, rafting on the Kiulu and Padas rivers, and dusk cruises in the Klias wetlands to see proboscis monkeys and fireflies.

Kuala Lumpur's green side is pleasant rather than wild. There is a patch of jungle with a canopy walkway by the KL Tower, forest trails at the Forest Research Institute and birdwatching at Fraser's Hill, but the great national parks need an overnight trip.

From Kota Kinabalu, most outings head into the landscape, and there are few towns to visit. The best of them is the Sunday tamu at Kota Belud, about an hour and a half north, where Bajau and Dusun villagers trade livestock, produce and crafts. The other is the slow colonial railway south through rice fields and stilt villages to Beaufort.

Malacca alone puts Kuala Lumpur well ahead. It is about two hours south, with Dutch and Portuguese buildings, Chinese shophouses and Peranakan cooking, though the drive makes for a long day. Nearer the city, Putrajaya's lakeside mosques, the royal town of Klang and the hilltop fort at Kuala Selangor make shorter half-day trips.

Kota Kinabalu suits a slow family stay built around the sea. Short boat rides reach shallow island beaches with fish to snorkel over, Lok Kawi Wildlife Park has orangutans and pygmy elephants, and the resorts have pools and kids' clubs. Beyond that there is little made for children, and the mountain means long drives on winding roads.

Under the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, an aquarium with a shark tunnel and a hands-on science centre give children far more to do. The Lake Gardens add bird and butterfly parks, and there is the national zoo and a big water park at Sunway. Air-conditioned malls give you somewhere to go when the afternoon storms arrive.

Kuala Lumpur has a rail network that does most of the work. The LRT and MRT lines, the monorail through Bukit Bintang and the airport express to KL Sentral reach most sights, though changing lines can mean long walks. Ride-hailing fills the gaps.

Kota Kinabalu has no rail transit, and visitors find its minibuses hard to use. The waterfront centre is easy to walk and the island boats leave from its jetty. For anything further you need ride-hailing, a tour or a hired driver.

Kuala Lumpur is a mall city on a large scale. Bukit Bintang's string of centres runs from luxury flagships to electronics floors, with Mid Valley and Bangsar adding more. For crafts, the Art Deco Central Market sells batik, songket and pewter.

Kota Kinabalu's shopping is small and local. The Sunday market on Gaya Street has orchids and rattan, and the waterfront handicraft market sells cultured pearls and shell work. Sabah tea and wild honey make good gifts, but there is no boutique scene.

Both cities are cheap day to day. Kopitiam breakfasts, hawker meals, ride-hailing and comfortable hotels all cost little.

Where the money goes is different. In Kota Kinabalu it goes on the experiences: climbing permits, compulsory guides and the mountain hut, plus diving, rafting and beach-resort rates. In Kuala Lumpur it goes on heavily taxed alcohol, while upper-end hotels are unusually good for what they cost.

Kuala Lumpur has a few evenings worth planning around. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra plays in its intimate hall inside the Petronas Towers, Istana Budaya puts on large productions, and there is a small jazz circuit around Bangsar and Changkat.

Kota Kinabalu has almost no formal stage, and Kadazan-Dusun and Bajau dances are mostly seen as staged shows. The exception is the Kaamatan harvest festival in Penampang, where gong ensembles and bamboo bands play for local people.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and in both, relaxing means massage and hotel spas. The difference is the setting.

In Kota Kinabalu it means a beach-resort stay at Tanjung Aru or Dalit Bay, with Poring's open-air sulphur tubs as a reward after the mountain. In Kuala Lumpur it means a reflexology parlour in Bukit Bintang, Malay herbal treatments in a hotel spa and a rooftop pool, with the hill stations for cooler air.