Malacca or Singapore?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Singapore at least gives you somewhere to swim. Sentosa's Siloso, Palawan and Tanjong beaches are imported sand behind breakwaters, calm and safe, and ferries reach the sheltered lagoons of St John's and Lazarus.

Malacca's own shore is mudflat and brown shipping water, and Klebang is for watching the sunset rather than swimming. The sand at Tanjung Bidara, about 30km up the coast, and at Port Dickson further on is quiet but murky, so a hotel pool does most of the work here.

Both are serious eating cities, sharing laksa, satay, chicken rice and kopitiam breakfasts, but Singapore has more range. Its hawker centres, such as Maxwell, Old Airport Road and Tekka, cover Chinese, Malay, Indian and Peranakan cooking in depth. Little India and Kampong Glam serve food late, and there is a fine-dining tier above it all.

Malacca's food is narrower but deeper. It is the home of Nyonya cooking, with ayam pongteh and assam fish, and adds its own chicken rice balls, satay celup and the Kristang devil's curry of the Portuguese Settlement. Come for these dishes rather than for variety.

The two are close in what they offer a sightseer, but the experience is different. Malacca is a place to walk through history. The red Stadthuys square, the ruined church on St Paul's Hill, the Porta de Santiago gate and the Peranakan shophouses of Heeren Street all lie within a few streets, though its museums are small.

Singapore's past is younger, but its collections are far larger, led by the Southeast Asian art of the National Gallery, the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Peranakan Museum. Its skyline and Gardens by the Bay are sights in their own right. Go to Malacca for atmosphere and to Singapore for museums.

Singapore gives you a proper evening out, mostly in bars. There are rooftop terraces above Marina Bay, cocktail bars in the shophouses of Keong Saik and Telok Ayer, and riverside clubs at Clarke Quay. The mood is orderly and expensive rather than late and loud.

In Malacca an evening means a walk and a meal. The Jonker Street night market and a few loud bars liven up weekends, and the riverside has quiet spots for a beer, but on weeknights the old town goes to sleep early.

Singapore has more real nature within easy reach. There is rainforest at Bukit Timah and on the MacRitchie trails, the raised walkways of the Southern Ridges, the wetlands of Sungei Buloh and the cycling tracks of Pulau Ubin, all by train or a short boat ride.

Around Malacca the land is flat and planted, so outdoor time means the river walk, the coastal mangroves or a boat to Pulau Besar. The one real hike is Gunung Ledang, a steep rainforest climb about an hour and a half away. In both cities the heat calls for early starts.

Malacca has more within a day's reach because it sits on the mainland. Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya are about two hours away, the river town of Muar is an hour south, and the buffalo-horn roofs of Negeri Sembilan make a quiet outing.

Singapore is an island with few short escapes. Johor Bahru lies across the causeway but comes with border queues, and the ferries go to resort islands on Bintan and Batam. Malacca is the obvious outing from Singapore, but it deserves an overnight stay.

Singapore is far easier with children. The Mandai parks group the zoo, the Night Safari, the bird park and the giant pandas together, and Sentosa adds Universal Studios and a large aquarium. Lifts, air conditioning and familiar food make long days manageable.

Malacca welcomes children warmly, but its attractions are smaller: the lit-up trishaws, a short river cruise, the revolving tower and Zoo Melaka on the edge of town. Weekend crowds and patchy pavements make the heritage core harder work with a pushchair.

Singapore's MRT reaches almost everywhere a visitor goes, from the airport to Orchard Road and the forest reserves, and covered walkways take some of the heat out of the walk between stations.

Malacca has no metro or tram, and its buses are slow and irregular. The heritage centre is compact enough to walk, or to cycle in the cool of the morning. The zoo, Klebang and the Portuguese Settlement mean booking a car through a ride-hailing app, and weekend traffic into the old town crawls.

For shopping, Singapore is in another league. Orchard Road has its long run of malls and Marina Bay its designer flagships. Haji Lane has independent boutiques, and the Art Deco blocks of Tiong Bahru hold bookshops and design stores.

In Malacca you shop for small finds rather than brands. Jonker Street's antique dealers sell old porcelain, clocks and furniture, and Peranakan crafts such as beaded slippers and embroidered kebaya blouses are the things worth carrying home.

Malacca is much the cheaper stay. Guesthouses in restored shophouses cost a fraction of Singapore's hotel rooms, and museums and temples charge little or nothing. Weekends and Malaysian school vacations are the main times when room rates climb.

In Singapore the hotel takes the biggest share of the bill, and the wildlife parks and Sentosa charge high entry fees, though hawker meals and the MRT keep everyday spending reasonable. Alcohol is heavily taxed in both.

Singapore has a real stage calendar. There are the Esplanade's concert hall and free performances by the bay, the season of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and touring musicals at Marina Bay Sands.

Malacca has one staged spectacle about the city's history, performed on a rotating platform by the waterfront and worth an evening if the past appeals. Beyond that, performance means local tradition rather than a programme: dondang sayang verses, branyo dancing at the Festa San Pedro and weekend buskers on Jonker Street.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and both rely on massage and reflexology. Singapore offers more choice and polish, with hotel spas and skyline pools, traditional Chinese medicine in Chinatown and Ayurveda in Little India, and the Botanic Gardens at dawn for quiet.

Malacca's reflexology shops are inexpensive, the resorts on its outskirts have spas, and a slow weekday breakfast followed by a stroll along the river is restful in its own way. Its weekends, though, are crowded and noisy.