Marrakech or Samarkand?

In neither city will you swim anywhere but a pool, and in summer it is worth booking a hotel or riad with one in both. The difference is that Marrakech at least has somewhere to escape to: the Atlantic at Essaouira, a long drive away with cool water and strong wind, or the Lalla Takerkoust reservoir in the foothills for a lakeside afternoon. Samarkand is in a doubly landlocked country, so there is no sea within reach at all, only the shallow Zarafshan river that locals use.

Marrakech has the more rewarding food. Tagines, pastilla, harira and the slow-cooked tanjia make a deeper range of dishes, and the grill stalls of Jemaa el-Fna at dusk turn dinner into an event. Gueliz and Hivernage add some international choice once the riad menus start to repeat.

Samarkand's cooking is narrower and plainer, built on plov at lunchtime, glazed Samarkand non, shashlik and somsa, and Siab Bazaar is the place to see it all. Beyond Uzbek and Russian dishes the options run out quickly, though a tasting at the city's nineteenth-century winery is an interesting extra that Marrakech has nothing to match.

Samarkand has the greater monuments. The Registan's three tiled madrasas, the avenue of mausoleums climbing the hill at Shah-i-Zinda and Timur's gilded tomb at Gur-e-Amir are architecture few cities can equal, and Ulugh Beg's observatory and the Afrasiyab murals add depth.

Marrakech's strength is the medina as a whole, a medieval maze that is still lived in, with the Koutoubia above it. The Ben Youssef Madrasa, the Bahia Palace and the Saadian Tombs are inside the walls and the Jardin Majorelle is outside them. Its sights are smaller and part of daily street life, while Samarkand's stand on their own between Soviet-era avenues.

Neither is a party city, but Marrakech at least offers a night out. Jemaa el-Fna keeps the medina lively after dark, and Hivernage and Gueliz have lounge bars, hotel bars and a few large clubs with DJs that stay open late. Samarkand empties well before midnight: the evening is dinner in a hall where wedding parties dance to live bands, then a walk past the floodlit Registan, with only a handful of hotel bars for a drink.

Marrakech has the far grander setting. The snow-capped High Atlas is visible from the city. Within about an hour and a half are the Ourika valley's waterfalls, the Berber villages around Imlil and the two-day climb of Toubkal, and there is winter skiing at Oukaimeden. Closer in, the Agafay desert has balloon flights and camel rides.

Samarkand's countryside is gentler: juniper woods, walnut groves and village trails in the Aman-Kutan valley and the hills above Urgut, with the Nuratau range for treks between homestays. It is good walking country in spring, but the high mountains lie across the border in Tajikistan.

Samarkand is much the better base for day trips. The high-speed train reaches Bukhara in about an hour and a half, close enough for a full day in another great old town, and Shakhrisabz, Timur's birthplace, is a manageable drive over a mountain pass. The Sunday bazaar at Urgut and the paper-makers of Konigil fill shorter days.

From Marrakech, the outings worth taking go into the mountains and the desert rather than to other towns. Essaouira is two and a half hours or more each way and better with a night there, Ait Benhaddou needs an overnight stay, and closer in there are only village souks such as Asni and the Almohad mosque at Tinmel.

Neither city is easy with young children, and both work best for older ones in spring or autumn. The problems differ, though. In Marrakech it is the medina itself: crowded lanes shared with motorbikes, persistent sellers and snake charmers some children find unsettling, softened by riad plunge pools, resort gardens and a water park. Samarkand is calmer, with wide pedestrian streets and simple rides in its parks, but its sights are mausoleums and madrasas that hold little for children, and the distances feel long in the heat.

Samarkand is the simpler city to get around. Its main monuments line up along one pedestrian street from the Registan to Shah-i-Zinda, and app taxis at fixed fares cover the observatory, Afrasiyab and the station.

Marrakech takes more patience. The medina is walkable but a maze of unnamed alleys shared with motorbikes and carts, petit taxis often need the fare agreed first, and the buses are hard for newcomers to use. A trip into the mountains or the desert means hiring a driver or joining a tour.

Marrakech is worth the trip for its shopping alone. The souks north of Jemaa el-Fna run lane by lane through leather, metalwork, carpets, lanterns and babouches. The design boutiques of Gueliz and the Sidi Ghanem showrooms are a calmer alternative to long bargaining over tea.

Samarkand's shopping is smaller and centred on crafts: suzani embroidery, ikat silk and ceramics sold from old madrasa cells, hand-knotted carpets, and mulberry-bark paper from Konigil. Some pieces are distinctive, but quality is uneven and there is far less to browse.

Both are inexpensive places to travel, and Samarkand is the easier of the two on a tight budget. Plov, bazaar food and monument entry cost little, family-run guesthouses are good value, and app taxis come at fixed fares.

Marrakech is cheap at street level, with Jemaa el-Fna stalls, petit taxis and simple medina riads. But first prices in the souks are set high for visitors, and the city's large luxury tier of palace hotels and boutique riads makes it easy to spend much more.

Neither city has an opera, orchestra or theatre season worth planning around, so the difference is in where performance happens. In Marrakech it is spontaneous and nightly: gnawa musicians, drummers and storytellers gathering crowds on Jemaa el-Fna, a tradition UNESCO lists as intangible heritage. Samarkand's is staged for visitors, with folk costume shows and a sound-and-light show at the Registan, and its highlight, the Sharq Taronalari festival, is held only in some years.

Marrakech is one of the great bathing cities. Every quarter has a neighbourhood hammam with black soap and kessa scrubs, spa hammams add argan oil massage and rhassoul wraps, and a riad courtyard with a fountain and orange trees is a retreat in itself.

Samarkand has one old domed bathhouse near Bibi-Khanym and a few hotel spas. Rest here comes from slowing down instead, over long afternoons on a topchan in the shade and in the quiet courtyards of the old quarter once the tour groups have gone.