Melbourne or Perth?

Beaches are Perth's clearest advantage. Pale sand faces the open Indian Ocean and runs north from Cottesloe through City Beach and Scarborough. The water is very clear and pleasantly warm from December to April, surf clubs patrol the main beaches, and there are calm river spots and sheltered Rottnest bays for snorkelling. The one catch is the afternoon sea breeze, so mornings are the time to swim.

Melbourne's bay beaches at St Kilda, Elwood and Brighton are calm and easy to reach by tram. The water is cooler, though, the swimming season is short and the weather unreliable. The better sand is on the Mornington Peninsula, a drive away.

Melbourne is the better city for eating out, and many visitors come for that alone. Coffee and brunch are a daily habit from the CBD laneways to Fitzroy and Brunswick. Generations of migration have left Greek, Italian, Vietnamese and Chinese neighbourhoods with enough choice to eat something different every night.

Perth's strength is its produce: rock lobster, Shark Bay prawns, marron, and the cellar doors of the Swan Valley. Northbridge has good cheap Asian food, but the restaurant scene is smaller and spread across the suburbs, and kitchens close early.

Neither city has a world-famous landmark, but Melbourne gives the fuller visit. Gold rush money built a grand Victorian centre, which you see in the Royal Exhibition Building, the arcades and the State Library. The National Gallery of Victoria, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the Melbourne Museum can fill two days, with laneway street art in between.

Perth's centre is mostly modern towers, and its sights sit together in one small precinct, where WA Museum Boola Bardip and the Art Gallery of Western Australia, with its strong Indigenous collection, are the main stops. The richer history is in Fremantle, where the limestone port and the UNESCO-listed prison tell the colonial story well.

Melbourne is the place for a night out. In the CBD, small bars hide up stairwells and on rooftops. Brunswick and Smith streets have pubs and late bars with real character, Chapel Street has the clubs and St Kilda has a rougher scene by the beach, and somewhere is busy most nights of the week.

Perth's evenings are pleasant in summer, with beer gardens and after-work rooftop bars, but going out is concentrated in Northbridge and most other places are quiet by midnight. Fremantle's pubs and breweries are the relaxed alternative.

The two cities are level here, but their outdoors are different. Melbourne's best nature is a drive away: the mountain ash and tree ferns of the Dandenongs, cliff walks on the Mornington Peninsula, the penguins and seals of Phillip Island and the surf coast at Torquay. Bring layers, because the weather turns quickly.

Perth's outdoors centre on water and open space. There is Kings Park's bushland above the Swan, paddling and sailing on the river, kitesurfing in the sea breeze, cycling past quokkas on Rottnest, and dolphins and passing whales. In summer, avoid hiking in the midday heat.

Melbourne has the wider choice of day trips. Options include the cool-climate wineries of the Yarra Valley, the Mornington Peninsula and the spa town of Daylesford. The gold rush cities of Ballarat and Bendigo can both be reached by train, so a week of different outings is easy.

Perth's nearest escapes, Fremantle and Rottnest, are excellent, and the Swan Valley and York are easy to reach. Its most famous region, Margaret River, is too far for a day trip, though, and much of the land between towns is empty.

Both cities suit children about equally, and both are safe and relaxed. Melbourne's strengths are animals and easy travel: the zoo in Parkville, the safari bus at Werribee, platypus at Healesville, the Puffing Billy steam train, and trams that make prams simple.

Perth's strengths are outdoors and often free: patrolled beaches, shallow sheltered water on the river, big park playgrounds with barbecues, and a day cycling on Rottnest. The sun is strong, though, and a car makes the distances easier.

Melbourne is much easier without a car. Its tram network, one of the largest anywhere, is free in the CBD and runs to St Kilda, Fitzroy, Carlton and the other inner suburbs. Trains reach the bayside suburbs and regional cities.

Perth's centre is compact, with free CBD buses and a train to Fremantle, but the city is very spread out. Several beaches need a bus from the station, and evening services are sparse. In both cities, wine country and the hills are easiest by car or on a tour.

The real difference is how much of the shopping is independent. In Melbourne a visitor can spend whole afternoons in Fitzroy and Collingwood among small local labels, vintage rails and homeware stores that exist nowhere else, then cross the river to Chapel Street for fashion. The Victorian arcades off Collins Street give the centre an elegant start, and weekend design markets move around the inner suburbs.

Perth relies on chains and malls, in the central pedestrian streets or out in the suburbs, and has only a small luxury end. Its strength is things that are hard to buy elsewhere: South Sea pearls, Argyle-region jewellery and Aboriginal art from the city's galleries. For browsing crafts, Fremantle's old market hall is the place to go.

Neither city is a budget destination, and hotels, meals and drinks cost much the same in both. The savings come in different forms. In Melbourne they are the free tram zone, free galleries and cheap eats in Chinatown, Richmond and Footscray, while in Perth they are the free beaches, Kings Park, the free CBD buses, public barbecues and the Northbridge food courts. In Perth, extras such as the Rottnest ferry, wine tours and heavily taxed alcohol add up quickly.

Melbourne has more on stage. The Arts Centre under its spire is home to the Australian Ballet and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the historic theatres at the east end of the CBD host the big musicals. Pub band rooms in Fitzroy, Collingwood and St Kilda have gigs most nights, and the autumn Comedy Festival adds weeks of shows.

Perth's opera, ballet and orchestra give solid seasons, with His Majesty's Theatre as the main stage. The city comes alive in late summer, when the Perth Festival runs and its fringe fills the parks. For the rest of the year the programme is modest.

Melbourne offers more for a restful stay. The sea baths at St Kilda and Brighton have pools and saunas by the water. Outside the city are Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, where people have bathed in the mineral springs since the nineteenth century, and the hot pools on the Mornington Peninsula.

Perth has no spa tradition, only day spas and a few retreats in the hills. What makes it restful is the slow pace: early mornings, quiet evenings and long walks by the river and in Kings Park.