Lima or Medellin?

Neither city is a beach destination, but only Lima has the sea. The pebble shore under the Miraflores cliffs belongs to surfers. The sandy coves at Punta Hermosa and San Bartolo, about an hour south, make a good summer day out when the water is at its warmest.

Medellín lies high in the Andes, far from the Caribbean, so swimming means a pool or the reservoir at Guatapé. Anyone who wants sand will need a separate leg on the coast.

Lima is well ahead here, and for many visitors its cooking is the reason to come. It draws on Andean, Amazonian, Chinese and Japanese roots. A week can run from lunchtime ceviche to chifa, Nikkei raw fish, anticucho carts and some of the most celebrated tasting menus in the Americas.

Medellín eats heartily rather than inventively: bandeja paisa, sancocho and arepas, with tropical fruit and Antioquia's own coffee as the real pleasures. Provenza and El Poblado add creative kitchens, but a food lover will find far fewer memorable meals than in Lima.

Lima has the deeper heritage. It has the viceregal centre around the Plaza de Armas with its carved balconies, the catacombs of San Francisco and the Larco Museum's pre-Columbian gold. Adobe pyramids also stand among the apartment blocks, so together they cover thousands of years.

Most of Medellín was built in the last century, and its interest is its recent story: Botero's sculptures, the Casa de la Memoria and the escalators of Comuna 13. It is moving, but it fills two or three days where Lima fills a week.

Both cities go out late and dance to Latin rhythms rather than electronic music, but Medellín makes nightlife a reason to visit. Parque Lleras and Provenza fill with reggaeton clubs and rooftop bars. La 70 in Laureles has cheaper salsa bars for serious dancing, and the centre keeps its old tango bars.

Lima's nights centre on the bars and clubs inside Barranco's mansions, with a dressier crowd around Parque Kennedy in Miraflores. It is lively at weekends but quiet midweek, and it has less range than Medellín.

Medellín is ringed by steep green mountains, and its mild climate keeps the outdoors open all year. A cable car climbs to the pine and cloud forest trails of Parque Arví, paragliders launch from San Félix, and the drowned valleys around El Peñol are two hours away.

Lima's outdoors faces the sea from a desert. It has the clifftop malecón for walking and cycling, surf below and boats out to swim with the sea lions of the Palomino Islands. Inland the hills stay brown, turning green only briefly in the misty winter.

Medellín has far more within a day's reach. Guatapé's painted zócalos and El Peñol's rock, colonial Santa Fe de Antioquia and the ceramics town of Carmen de Viboral all make easy outings, and coffee farms are close by.

From Lima, the adobe sanctuary of Pachacamac and the old port of Callao are the main short trips. Caral, Paracas and the Ica vineyards are three hours or more away and work better as overnight stays.

Medellín is the easier of the two with children, thanks to the cluster of sights in the north of the city. Parque Explora's science museum and aquarium, the planetarium and the cable cars to Parque Arví are all there, and the weather is never too hot. Steep streets and uneven pavements are the drawback.

Lima has a zoo at Parque de las Leyendas, the lit fountains of the Circuito Mágico del Agua and summer beaches for older children. Its long distances and heavy traffic wear families down, so keeping each day to one district matters more there.

Medellín is much simpler to move around. Its clean metro runs the length of the valley and connects with Metrocable gondolas and a tram. That reaches the centre, Comuna 13 and Parque Arví without touching the jammed roads.

Lima has the Metropolitano bus lanes to the historic centre, but most other trips mean taxis or ride-hailing through some of the slowest traffic on the continent. Miraflores and Barranco are walkable and linked by the clifftop path, which is where most visitors spend their time.

Lima has the more rewarding things to take home, above all fine alpaca and baby alpaca knitwear. The craft markets on Avenida Petit Thouars gather textiles, silver and retablos from across Peru, and Barranco adds small design shops.

Medellín's strength is clothing from Colombia's textile centre, especially swimwear and leather, sold in El Poblado's malls and Provenza's boutiques, with El Hueco for cheap wholesale. Neither city has much luxury shopping.

Both are inexpensive for visitors from Europe or North America, but Medellín is cheaper again. Set lunches, metro rides and mid-range rooms cost little, and staying in Laureles rather than El Poblado keeps spending low.

Lima is good value at street level, but its reputation for food draws many visitors into tasting menus and Miraflores cocktail bars charging international prices.

Lima's peña nights in Barranco are the more distinctive evening out, with música criolla and Afro-Peruvian cajón rhythms and the audience dancing along. The Gran Teatro Nacional and the restored Teatro Municipal add the symphony, ballet and opera.

Medellín's live music is mostly salsa bands and a loyal tango scene, dating from Carlos Gardel's death here in 1935. The Teatro Metropolitano hosts the philharmonic, but there are no long opera seasons.

Neither city is built for rest, and in both, wellness means hotel spas and massage studios. The difference is where to find calm. In Lima it comes from an early walk or yoga in the clifftop parks above the Pacific. Medellín's mild air and nearby hills allow a few nights in a finca or eco-lodge around Santa Elena.