Kyoto or Nikko?

Neither is a place for the beach, but Kyoto at least gives you somewhere to swim. Lake Biwa's sandy western shore is close enough for a summer afternoon in warm freshwater, and Osaka Bay can be reached by train.

Nikko has nothing comparable. Its highland lakes are for boating and fishing, so in summer the water you get into is a hot spring.

Kyoto's cooking is in a different league from Nikko's. It has kaiseki in Gion's wooden houses, shojin ryori inside temple precincts, Nishiki Market, ramen counters and izakaya around Shijo, and sake tasting in Fushimi, so every meal of a long stay can be different.

Nikko shares the taste for yuba and vegetarian temple food, and it is worth trying fresh there, but beyond soba and grilled river fish the list is short. Most places serve lunch to day visitors, so the best dinner is usually the multi-course meal at your ryokan.

Nikko's shrines are among the most striking in Japan. Toshogu's gold leaf, lacquer and carvings are deliberately showier than anything in Kyoto, and the cedar forest around them sets them off well. Still, the whole ensemble takes a day or two.

Kyoto works on another scale. It has seventeen UNESCO sites, from Kinkaku-ji to the Ryoan-ji rock garden, over a thousand other temples and shrines, Nijo Castle, the imperial villas and the Kyoto National Museum, and whole districts of machiya around Higashiyama. A week there barely scratches the surface.

Kyoto's evenings are modest by Japanese standards, but there is still a night out to be had in the sake bars, standing izakaya and summer river terraces of Pontocho and Kiyamachi. Osaka is under an hour away for anything louder.

In Nikko the street goes dark once the day-trippers leave. Evenings there mean a ryokan dinner and a bath, not a bar.

Nikko is the stronger choice for landscape. The Irohazaka road climbs to Lake Chuzenji beneath the volcanic cone of Mount Nantai, with Kegon Falls at the lake's outlet and the Senjogahara marsh beyond. Walks range from flat boardwalks to real mountain ascents, and there is rafting on the Kinugawa and snow in winter.

Kyoto's nature is gentler and right on the doorstep. Its attractions are the Arashiyama bamboo groves, the Daimonji trail, the cedar path between Kurama and Kibune and the Kamo River banks, all good for a morning between temples but without high mountains.

Kyoto is about as good a base as Japan offers. Nara's deer and great Buddha, Osaka, the tea town of Uji, Himeji Castle and Kobe are all close by fast train, so you can decide the night before.

From Nikko, the big outing is Tokyo, which needs a long day. Closer to hand are Utsunomiya's gyoza and the Mashiko potteries, but otherwise most of what lies within reach is mountains and lakes rather than more towns to explore.

Kyoto offers children more variety. The Railway Museum with its steam roundhouse, the aquarium and zoo near the centre, and the Edo film set with its samurai shows all mix well with chasing through the Fushimi Inari gates.

Nikko has its own ninja village and miniature world park at Kinugawa, and older children enjoy the lake boats and waterfalls. However, the shrine stairs and long bus rides wear on small children, and it works best as a two or three day stay rather than a family base for a week.

Kyoto's flat central grid is made for walking and cycling, and trains, the Randen tram and city buses reach the temples on the edges of the basin. The buses crawl in the peak seasons, though, so a bicycle often wins.

Nikko is simpler but slower. It is one gentle uphill road from the station to the shrines, then a dependence on buses up to the lakes, which can stall for hours on autumn weekends.

Kyoto is a serious shopping city for anyone who loves craft. You can buy Kiyomizu-ware ceramics, Nishijin silk, fans, incense and hand-forged knives from family firms, browse the Teramachi arcades and department store food halls, and time a visit around the To-ji or Kitano Tenmangu flea markets.

Nikko has one street of souvenirs. Still, Nikko-bori carved trays and straw-soled geta make honest local buys.

The two cost broadly the same, with Nikko slightly gentler on the budget. Its plain guesthouses and hostels are easy to find, while in Kyoto rooms get scarce and costly at blossom and maple time.

In both places the real cost is the classic inn stay with dinner included. In Kyoto, the cheap noodle counters and food halls make it easier to eat well for little.

Kyoto has a living stage tradition. The geiko's spring dances in the geisha districts, kabuki at the historic Minamiza, Noh stages, and a symphony orchestra at the Concert Hall give most visits something to see, even if the choice on a given night can be thin.

In Nikko it depends on the date. The Toshogu festival's procession of armoured samurai and horseback archery is a spectacle in spring and autumn, but otherwise there is little beyond theme park shows.

Kyoto's way of relaxing is urban and tied to its temples. You can soak in a century-old neighbourhood sento with tiled murals, sit through a zazen session or a tea ceremony, or spend a night in a temple lodging, and there are hot spring baths on the city's edges at Kurama, Ohara and Arashiyama. The catch is that the calm has to be found early in the morning or away from the main routes.

Nikko is the better place to switch off, because there the bathing is the point of the stay rather than a pause between sights. You can choose between the large inns along the Kinugawa gorge and the rustic sulphur springs of Yumoto on Lake Yunoko. On a winter weekday you get snow on the outdoor baths and the mountain resorts almost to yourself.