La Paz or Puno?

Neither city is a place to swim. La Paz is in a landlocked canyon, about two hours from Lake Titicaca. Puno sits right on the lake shore, but its waterfront is a working port lined with reeds. The lake is too cold for a proper swim, although in Puno a few island coves allow a brave dip on a sunny afternoon. For a beach, plan a separate stop on the Pacific coast.

La Paz gives a curious eater more to explore. Street food sets the rhythm of the day, from hot purple-corn api at dawn to anticucho grills on the corners after dark. The markets stock more than a hundred kinds of potato alongside tropical fruit brought up from the Yungas, and there is something local to drink as well: wine from Tarija and singani, Bolivia's grape spirit.

Puno's cooking stays close to what the lake and the altiplano provide. Trout appears on almost every menu, next to chairo soup, alpaca steak and, for festive meals, roast cuy, all washed down with hot coca tea. It is warming, filling food with little range beyond it, and many travellers save their appetite for the bigger cities further along the route.

La Paz has far more to see within the city itself. The carved front of San Francisco, the cathedral and government buildings on Plaza Murillo, and the small museums along Calle Jaén are a good start. The ethnography museum's Andean textiles and masks fill a rewarding morning. Beyond these, the city's living culture is on show in the Witches' Market, in the cholitas in bowler hats and in the cholet mansions of El Alto.

Puno's own sights fit into an afternoon: the cathedral façade, the Kuntur Wasi viewpoint, the coca museum and the Victorian steamship Yavari. Its real cultural draw is the life of the lake communities, which means taking a boat.

La Paz offers a real choice of places to go in the evening, while Puno offers a drink after dinner. Sopocachi's craft beer and cocktail bars draw students and young professionals, the Sagárnaga area fills with travellers just back from the Death Road or a climb, and the southern zone has clubs at weekends.

Puno has a few pubs on Jirón Lima serving pisco sours. Early boat departures and freezing nights mean most evenings there end with dinner, except in the festival season, when the whole town comes out onto the streets.

Both settings are dramatic, but La Paz offers more ways to get out into the mountains. Illimani rises behind the city, the glaciers of the Cordillera Real are close enough for a day out, and Huayna Potosí takes two or three days to climb. Chacaltaya's high moonscape and the clay spires of the Valle de la Luna make easy half-days, Condoriri and the Zongo valley are good for trekking, and the Death Road drops by bike from the snowline into cloud forest.

In Puno, the main outdoor attraction is the lake itself. You can watch birds in the totora reed reserve, kayak off the Capachica peninsula and walk the short, steep island trails. The outdoors here is gentler, and the even thinner air sets the pace.

Day trips are where Puno comes out ahead. Uros is a short crossing, Taquile makes a full day on the water, and Sillustani's burial towers are under an hour away by road. Chucuito, Juli, Lampa and Pucará add colonial churches and village life on the shores of the lake and the altiplano.

From La Paz, the standout trip is Tiwanaku, a major pre-Inca site and well worth the drive. Most other trips from La Paz, including Copacabana, Isla del Sol, Coroico and Sorata, need an overnight stay to be worthwhile.

Both cities are a poor choice with young children, mainly because of the altitude. La Paz's airport is at about 4,000m, and Puno is not much lower. La Paz has slightly more to keep children busy, such as the cable-car rides and the zoo at Mallasa, but its steep streets and heavy traffic are tiring. In Puno, the reed islands and their watchtowers are the main highlight. Its cold nights in poorly heated guesthouses are the bigger drawback there.

Getting around is about equally easy in both, but in very different ways. La Paz is a sprawling city where the Mi Teleférico cable cars carry you over the rooftops between the centre, El Alto and the southern suburbs. It has no metro, and road traffic is often jammed. Puno is small enough to walk, with the plaza, market and port only minutes apart. Boats, colectivos and tricycle taxis cover the rest, though in both cities the uphill walk back leaves newcomers out of breath.

La Paz has the wider choice. The craft lanes of Sagárnaga and Linares sell alpaca knitwear, silver and musical instruments. The Mercado Negro and the sprawling 16 de Julio fair in El Alto give a real taste of everyday trade, and the southern malls cover the basics.

Puno is all about textiles, with a long craft market near the port selling sweaters, ponchos and chullo hats. Its best buys come from the islands, where you can buy Taquile knitting and weaving directly from the people who make it.

Both are among the cheapest stops in the Andes, and La Paz stretches a budget a little further. Comfortable rooms in Sopocachi or the centre, cable-car rides and market lunches all cost very little. In Puno, guesthouses, colectivos and shared island boats are just as cheap. The cost rises at its lakeside hotels and in the restaurants on Jirón Lima, while in La Paz the bigger costs are guided climbs and Death Road tours, where a reputable operator is worth paying for.

Both cities are known mainly for folk dance rather than concert halls, and each is famous for one great festival. In La Paz it is Gran Poder, and the city also has the Teatro Municipal and a national symphony orchestra. Puno's Candelaria in February is one of the largest festivals in South America. For the rest of the year, both rely on peñas and restaurant shows of panpipes, charangos and costumed dancers.

Central La Paz is noisy and the lake around Puno is slow and quiet, but in both the altitude makes the first nights tiring, so coca tea and an early bed are the usual remedy. La Paz has the Urmiri hot springs about two hours away, and the leafy streets of Sopocachi are a break from the traffic.

Puno's calmest moments are out on the lake, especially on the islands at dusk. Massages in a few lakeside hotels are the only spa treatments it has.