Macau or Yangshuo?

Neither is a beach destination, but Macau at least has sand. Hac Sa and Cheoc Van on Coloane give you dark sand and warm water, although the Pearl River leaves it silty, and most actual swimming happens in the Cotai resort pools.

Yangshuo is far inland. Its version is a dip from the gravel banks of the Yulong or a calm reach of the Li after a day of rafting or cycling. That is pleasant in summer, but not a reason to go.

Macau is far ahead on food. Its Creole Macanese cooking, with dishes such as minchi and African chicken, sits alongside Portuguese dining rooms, serious Cantonese cooking, egg tarts in the lanes and a cluster of high-end resort restaurants. You could plan a stay around meals alone.

Yangshuo eats well but narrowly. Beer fish, the stuffed dishes and Guilin rice noodles are worth trying, and the riverside villages often do them better than West Street does. Beyond that there is no fine dining and no wine culture.

Macau's heritage is the real thing: four centuries of Portuguese and Chinese life laid out in churches, temples, fortresses and the mosaic sweep of Senado Square. It is compact enough for a day or two of steady sightseeing.

Yangshuo's centre is largely rebuilt. What history it has lies in the brick villages along the Yulong, the Ming-era Dragon Bridge and the ancient banyan tree. Here the landscape is the main event, not the monuments.

Both offer a fairly limited night out, of very different kinds. Macau's evenings centre on casinos that never close and polished lounges inside the resorts, best for a cocktail with the lit towers outside. The old centre goes quiet by late evening.

Yangshuo puts everything on West Street: loud bars, stage dancers and crowds of domestic tourists until well past midnight. If you want that, you will find it straight away. If not, the countryside is dark and silent.

Here Yangshuo is in a different league. Hundreds of limestone peaks stand among rice fields at the edge of town, with rafting on the Yulong, the walk from Yangdi to Xingping and viewpoints from Moon Hill and Laozhai Hill. It is also one of Asia's major rock-climbing bases, with kayaking and caving on top.

Macau is almost entirely built up or reclaimed. The Coloane hills, Seac Pai Van Park and the loop around Guia Hill are a breath of air, not a landscape to travel for.

Macau's day trips are slightly better, mainly because one of them is Hong Kong, an hour away by ferry or over the sea bridge. Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Guangzhou lie beyond the land border, though every outing means passport control and possibly a visa.

Yangshuo's outings are small and close by: the old quarter at Xingping, the fan workshops of Fuli, Daxu's merchant street, the better-preserved town of Huangyao, and Guilin about an hour away. It is a pleasant list, but none of it matches a day in Hong Kong.

The two are evenly matched for families, but they suit different children. Macau offers built attractions: the Science Center with its planetarium, the panda pavilion on Coloane and elaborate resort pools. Its stairways and casino focus suit a short stop better than a long stay.

Yangshuo is for older, active children who will enjoy a bamboo raft, a tandem ride through the villages or a mud pool in a show cave. There is nothing purpose-built, and the busy country roads call for care.

Macau is much easier to get around. The old peninsula is walkable, though hilly, and buses, the Taipa light rail and free resort shuttles mean nothing is more than half an hour away and no car is needed.

In Yangshuo the town is easy, but the reason to come is out in the countryside. You will rely on a hired bike or scooter, local minibuses or a driver. The rail station is outside town and signs are mostly in Chinese beyond the centre.

Macau is the clear pick for shopping, as long as you mean luxury houses, watches and jewellery in the themed arcades of the Cotai malls. Outside them the choice narrows to cookies, jerky, Portuguese tiles and tinned fish.

Yangshuo offers mostly mass-produced souvenirs along West Street. The exception is the hand-painted fans of Fuli, a real craft worth the short trip, with local tea and osmanthus products as simple gifts.

The widest gap is in where you sleep. In Macau the room is usually the largest part of the bill, and a resort stay is only good value on weeknights, while a village guesthouse in Yangshuo stays modest for most of the year. Meals follow the same pattern: an egg tart or a bowl of noodles in Macau is cheap, but a sit-down dinner inside a casino is not, and in Yangshuo a plate of beer fish in a riverside village barely dents the budget.

The free parts differ too. Macau's heritage costs almost nothing to walk and the resort shuttles cost nothing, while Yangshuo's scenery is free to cycle through but the rafts, river cruises and caves need tickets. Both get dearer in the same weeks, Chinese New Year and October Golden Week, when much of China travels and room rates in each jump, so avoiding those dates pays off in either place.

Macau has rather more on stage. The Macao Orchestra plays at the Cultural Centre and the historic Dom Pedro V Theatre, an autumn music festival and a spring arts festival bring visiting companies, and the Cotai arenas host Cantonese and Mandarin pop stars. You still need to check listings before you go.

Yangshuo's one big draw is Zhang Yimou's outdoor show on the Li River, with hundreds of performers lit against the floodlit peaks. It is a memorable spectacle, but beyond it there are only tour-group dance shows and cover bands.

Both can be restful, in opposite ways. Macau's rest happens indoors, in large resort spas with pools, saunas and long treatment menus, plus foot massage in the old town. Coloane village offers the only real calm outside.

Yangshuo's rest comes from the setting. A guesthouse in the Yulong valley or near Xingping means rice-field views, slow cycling, river swims, tai chi classes and quiet terrace evenings. You need to stay well away from West Street for it to work.