Lima or Bogota?

Bogota has no beach at all. It sits on a cold plateau far above the sea, and the nearest warm water is in hotel pools down the mountain.

Lima at least lies on the Pacific, though the Costa Verde below the cliffs has grey pebbles and surf rather than calm swimming. The Humboldt Current keeps the water cool. The sandy beaches to the south are where summer weekends happen, and they make a pleasant day out between December and March rather than a reason to come.

Lima is the clear winner at the table. Its cooking blends Andean and Amazonian ingredients with Chinese, Japanese and African influences, so a single day can take in ceviche at lunch, a chifa dinner and beef-heart anticuchos from a street cart. Surquillo market shows the raw materials, and the tasting-menu restaurants are famous across the continent.

Bogota eats more plainly but well: ajiaco soup, tamales, and hot chocolate with cheese melted into it. Paloquemao is a superb fruit market, and the city's coffee is excellent. Its street food is a quick snack, though, while in Lima it is part of the reason to go.

Both capitals have a colonial core around a grand square with a cathedral, and both hold outstanding pre-Columbian gold. The difference is in how the sights are arranged. In Bogota almost everything is within a few blocks of La Candelaria: the Museo del Oro, the Botero Museum and the gilded San Francisco church. Street art along Calle 26 and the view from Monserrate complete the picture.

Lima's highlights are more spread out. The UNESCO-listed centre has carved balconies and the bone-filled catacombs of San Francisco. The Larco Museum and MALI lie in other districts, and adobe pyramids such as Huaca Pucllana stand among the apartment blocks of Miraflores.

Bogota has the more varied night out. Zona T has polished clubs, Chapinero has a large LGBTQ and alternative scene, there is serious underground electronic music, and in the salsa bars the locals dance with real skill. The rumba starts on Thursday.

Lima goes out mainly in Barranco and Miraflores. Its mansion bars and clubs stay open until dawn at weekends, but the mood is dressier, the music is mostly salsa, cumbia and reggaetón, and weeknights are quiet.

Bogota has far more wild country within reach. The Eastern Hills rise straight from the streets, and beyond them the páramo of Chingaza and Sumapaz is a strange high landscape of frailejón plants and glacial lakes. There is also cloud forest at Chicaque and rock climbing at Suesca, and on Sundays the Ciclovía closes main roads to cars.

Lima's outdoors faces the sea. The malecón suits walking and cycling, paragliders take off from the cliff parks, and boats from Callao go out to swim with sea lions. Inland the hills stay bare and brown except in winter, when the fog briefly turns them green.

Bogota has more good outings within an easy drive. The salt cathedral at Zipaquirá is about an hour away, Nemocón and the sacred lake of Guatavita pair well with it, and the Sabana towns are pleasant for lunch. Villa de Leyva is worth an overnight stay.

Lima's best day out is the ancient sanctuary of Pachacamac, followed by the old port of Callao. Its greatest nearby sites, Caral, Paracas and the Ica vineyards, are three hours or more away and work better as overnight trips.

Neither city is easy with small children, and they are much alike here, since in both traffic and long distances wear families down. The attractions are different in kind. Bogota offers Maloka's hands-on science museum, two amusement parks and the car-free Sunday Ciclovía for bikes and scooters, but the altitude can tire young children for the first day or two.

Lima has Parque de las Leyendas, a zoo and archaeological site in one, and the lit fountains of the Circuito Mágico del Agua in the evening. In summer the southern beaches suit older children, and staying in Miraflores keeps the playgrounds on the clifftop close at hand.

Both are sprawling cities choked with traffic, where visitors mostly rely on cheap taxis and ride-hailing apps. The real difference is where you stay. In Bogota, La Candelaria and the northern districts are far apart, so you face a long ride whenever you switch between sightseeing and evenings out. TransMilenio is crowded and known for pickpockets.

In Lima, Miraflores and Barranco sit side by side and are joined by the clifftop path. The Metropolitano runs in its own lanes to the historic centre, which makes the main sightseeing trip simpler.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and each has one speciality. In Bogota it is emeralds from the dealers on Avenida Jiménez, best bought with some knowledge, along with the Sunday crafts market in Usaquén and good leather.

In Lima it is alpaca knitwear and the regional crafts of the Petit Thouars markets, which are useful if you will not reach the highlands. Both have large malls for everything else.

Bogota stretches a budget a little further. Comfortable hotels in the northern districts cost a fraction of Western rates, the set lunches eaten by office workers are very cheap, and the Museo del Oro and the Botero Museum charge almost nothing to enter. Only the polished dinners of Zona G and Usaquén come close to international levels.

Lima is good value too, with cheap set lunches, ride-hailing and museum entries, but there the main attraction is also the main cost. A traveller who eats where locals eat spends little, while a trip built around the famous tasting menus and upscale cevicherías soon reaches international prices.

Bogota has the bigger stage. Opera and ballet fill the gilded Teatro Colón, the Teatro Mayor brings in international orchestras, and the Ibero-American Theatre Festival and the free Rock al Parque festival take over the city in their seasons. Jazz and salsa fill smaller rooms the rest of the time.

Lima's strongest offer is more intimate: a peña night in Barranco, with música criolla and Afro-Peruvian cajón rhythms and an audience that joins in the dancing. Its formal concert halls are fewer.

For a proper soak, Bogota has the edge: the thermal springs at Choachí, over the mountains to the east, and at Tabio on the plateau, are each about an hour away and popular with locals at weekends. In the city itself, traffic and noise set a fast pace, and rest means a hotel spa or the quieter streets of Usaquén.

Lima is just as restless, with horns, traffic and grey winter skies, and its spas are limited to hotels and a few day spas in Miraflores and San Isidro. Its calmest hours come early, with a walk or a yoga session in the clifftop parks above the Pacific.