Lijiang or Xi'an?

Neither city has any beach life, since both lie deep inland. Lijiang's mountain lakes are too cold to swim in and few hotels have a pool, while Xi'an at least offers hotel pools and the hot-spring resorts of Lintong for a swim.

Xi'an is the far better place to eat. It is a wheat city, and its hand-pulled and biangbiang noodles, roujiamo and yangrou paomo, with the stalls of the Muslim Quarter open late into the evening, make food a real reason to visit.

Lijiang has its own pleasures, such as layered baba flatbread, black-goat hotpot and wild mushrooms in the summer rains, but the Old Town lanes repeat the same menus. The best meals are simple breakfasts at noodle counters or tables a few streets beyond the walls.

Xi'an carries much more history. Its Ming wall survives complete and can be cycled in full, the Shaanxi History Museum runs from Zhou bronzes to Tang gold, and the Forest of Steles, the Wild Goose Pagodas and the Great Mosque fill several days of sightseeing.

Lijiang's appeal is narrower and more unusual: the Naxi houses and canals of Dayan, the Mu Family Mansion, and the Dongba pictographic script at Black Dragon Pool. Much of the Old Town was rebuilt after the 1996 earthquake and now feels like a stage set, so the Baisha murals and quieter Shuhe give it more substance.

The two are broadly level, but the evenings feel quite different. Lijiang packs almost everything into one canal strip in the Old Town, where bars with singers and drums stay loud and crowded well past midnight, and quieter courtyard bars sit further back.

Xi'an's nights are earlier and take place outdoors, with crowds strolling and snacking along the floodlit boulevard below the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and around the wall gates. For drinks there are the bars of Defu Xiang near the South Gate and a few big local clubs.

Lijiang is the clear winner outdoors. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain rises with its glaciers on the town's horizon, Blue Moon Valley has its turquoise pools, and Tiger Leaping Gorge offers a two-day trail high above the Jinsha River. The snow mountain is busy and tightly managed, but the scale is remarkable.

Xi'an sits on a flat, often hazy plain, and the wild country starts with the Qinling range to the south. Mount Hua's granite cliff paths make one thrilling day, and the Zhongnan foothills and Taibai Mountain give good walking, but nothing here matches the views around Lijiang.

Xi'an has the stronger excursions, led by the Terracotta Army in Lintong, which pairs neatly with the Tang hot-spring palace at Huaqing. The Hanyangling and Qianling tombs and Famen Temple follow, and fast trains put the Longmen Grottoes at Luoyang within easy reach.

Lijiang's outings lean towards landscape and other peoples' cultures. The villages of Shuhe and Baisha are a short taxi ride away, while trains run to Dali's old town on Erhai Lake and to the Tibetan monastery at Shangri-La. Lugu Lake and Shaxi need a night away.

Xi'an works better with children. Cycling on top of the city wall, the giant pandas and golden monkeys at the Qinling wildlife park and the evening lights at the wall gates give them things to enjoy between the museums and tombs, although summer heat is a strain.

Lijiang offers streams to follow through the car-free Old Town and a mild climate, but there is little made for families. The town already sits high, the snow mountain excursions climb much higher and are unwise for young children, and the uneven stone lanes are hard going with a pushchair.

Xi'an is much easier to navigate. The walled centre is a compact grid, a large metro with English signage reaches the pagodas, stations and airport, and Line 9 runs out towards the Terracotta Army.

Lijiang's Old Town is walkable but a tangle of lanes, and there is no rail transit at all. The snow mountain, Baisha and the gorge are scattered across the valley, so most visitors depend on taxis, a hired driver or ride-hailing apps that need a Chinese payment setup.

Xi'an has more worth buying. Shuyuanmen, the lane inside the South Gate, sells brushes, ink stones, seals and paper that make lasting souvenirs, and the malls around the Bell Tower add international brands. Lijiang's shopfronts mostly repeat drums, scarves and trinkets made elsewhere, so tea and carefully compared silver are the purchases to look for.

Both are cheap places to stay, with Xi'an slightly ahead thanks to low metro fares and good-value hotels even inside the wall. In both cities the real cost is admission fees. In Xi'an these add up across the wall, the Terracotta Army and the tomb sites. In Lijiang it is the Old Town entry fee and the expensive snow mountain outing, and the restaurants on the main lanes charge well above local levels.

Neither city has much of a stage scene, and both rely on polished spectacles staged for tour groups, Lijiang's against the snow mountain and Xi'an's on the hillside at Huaqing. Xi'an has a little more depth. Qinqiang, the raw local opera, plays in small theatres and parks, and the city has a symphony orchestra. Lijiang's rooted tradition is Naxi ancient music, the Taoist ritual repertoire played by older musicians in Old Town concerts.

Xi'an has the bathing culture Lijiang lacks. Lintong's hot springs, used by Tang emperors, feed resort pools, and the city has plenty of bathhouses with saunas and rest halls.

Lijiang has only hotel spas and foot-massage shops. Its rest comes from slowing down: long mornings over tea in a sunny courtyard inn in Shuhe or Baisha, away from the noisy main lanes.