Luang Prabang or Siem Reap?

Neither city has a beach, but Luang Prabang at least has somewhere memorable to swim. The turquoise pools below Kuang Si and the smaller Tad Sae falls make a half-day outing into the forest. In Siem Reap the Tonle Sap is muddy and the coast is most of a day away, so swimming means the hotel pool, which becomes the afternoon routine after dawn at the temples.

The two eat at a similar level, so the difference lies in the cooking and the range. Luang Prabang has dishes of its own, such as or lam stew, jeow bong and crisp kaipen river weed, along with French-style bakeries and highland coffee. The menus start to repeat after a few days, though.

Siem Reap's Khmer food has a little more depth: fish amok, num banh chok at morning stalls, roadside grills, a handful of tasting-menu kitchens and social-enterprise restaurants. The catch is that the centre around Pub Street is full of pizza and backpacker menus, so the better meals are a short tuk-tuk ride away.

Siem Reap is far ahead because of Angkor. Angkor Wat, the stone faces of the Bayon, Ta Prohm and dozens of temples in the forest need three days or more, and the Angkor National Museum sets them in context. Expect heat and crowds at the sunrise points.

Luang Prabang works on a smaller scale. The pleasure is the whole UNESCO-listed peninsula: more than thirty monasteries led by Wat Xieng Thong, the former Royal Palace and the dawn alms round, all within a short walk. It is a living religious town rather than the ruins of an empire, and a calm day or two covers it.

Of the two, only Siem Reap has a real night out. Pub Street and the lanes around it fill every night with cheap beer, cocktail buckets and loud music until late, and quieter wine bars line the river. In Luang Prabang a few garden bars and riverside terraces close around midnight under the town curfew, and then the streets go dark and silent.

Luang Prabang has the finer landscape and far more to do in it. Steep green hills rise at the edge of town, Kuang Si has its bear sanctuary, and kayaking on the Nam Khan, mountain biking and treks to hill villages are easy to arrange.

Siem Reap is flat paddy country, pleasant for early-morning cycling between villages. Its natural highlights are boat trips to the flooded forest and the bird colonies of Prek Toal on the Tonle Sap. Phnom Kulen, about an hour and a half north, has a waterfall and forest walks, and a jungle trail leads to the riverbed carvings at Kbal Spean.

Siem Reap has more worth leaving town for, and most of it is more temples. There is the carved pink sandstone of Banteay Srei, the collapsed and overgrown Beng Mealea, the early Roluos group and, for a long day, Koh Ker. In the wet season the stilt villages of Kampong Phluk and Kampong Khleang make a different kind of outing.

Luang Prabang's classic outing is the boat up the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves and their thousands of Buddha images, with weaving villages close to town. The railway gives it something Siem Reap lacks: towns within easy reach, with Vang Vieng about an hour away and Vientiane about two.

Both suit older children better than toddlers, and neither has much built for kids. What differs is the kind of adventure. In Luang Prabang it is the bears and swimming pools at Kuang Si, the boat rides and quiet streets to cycle along together.

In Siem Reap children can scramble through root-tangled ruins and take boats to the stilt villages, but long temple days and chaotic traffic tire young legs. Cheap family rooms with pools help there, while Luang Prabang's limited medical care is worth weighing.

Luang Prabang is easier to get around. The old town sits on a flat peninsula with light traffic, so walking and cycling cover nearly everything, and you only need a tuk-tuk or minivan for the waterfalls, the villages and the train station.

Siem Reap's centre is walkable too, but the temples are spread across a large park, pavements are broken and traffic is chaotic. Most days therefore mean a hired tuk-tuk driver, a car or an e-bike, though ride-hailing apps make tuk-tuks easy to call.

The two are evenly matched, and in both shopping means crafts rather than fashion. Luang Prabang's long night market of red-roofed stalls sells Hmong embroidery, mulberry-paper lanterns and silk. The better textiles are in the weaving studios and villages, where you can watch natural dyeing.

Siem Reap adds stone and wood carving and lacquerware from social-enterprise workshops, kramas and spices at the Old Market, and a few boutiques selling homewares made in Cambodia. Expect to bargain at the stalls.

Both are very cheap, and Siem Reap is a little cheaper still. Pool hotels, Khmer meals, massages and a tuk-tuk for a whole day cost little there, although the Angkor pass takes a real bite out of a short stay. Luang Prabang is the most expensive stop in Laos. Simple guesthouses on the peninsula stay inexpensive, but restored colonial hotels and riverside wine lists can raise the bill quickly.

Siem Reap offers more evenings worth booking. The Khmer circus under its big top, run by a school for young performers, is widely admired, and the smaller, more serious apsara dance performances are better than the buffet shows. Luang Prabang has essentially one performance, the masked Phralak Phralam at the Royal Palace theatre, plus a few folk evenings and temple drums at dusk.

Both are easy places to unwind, with massage on every street and spas in the hotels, but the calm comes in different forms. Luang Prabang is quiet day and night. Its gentle Lao massage and lemongrass-scented herbal saunas are a local tradition, and the town suits reading on a terrace and sleeping early.

In Siem Reap the rest comes between the early temple starts: long afternoons by a garden-hotel pool, Khmer massage with herbal compresses and yoga classes that are easy to find. If you want quiet nights, stay away from Pub Street.