Mendoza or Valparaiso?

Mendoza has no beach to offer. It lies on the inland side of the Andes, with the Chilean coast a full day's drive over a high pass, so summer swimming means a hotel or club pool, or a drive to the Potrerillos reservoir, which is better for its views than for a swim.

Valparaíso is the one with sand nearby, though not on its own waterfront, which is docks, breakwaters and rocks. The coastal train runs along the shore to Viña del Mar, and the wide beaches of Reñaca and Concón lie beyond it further up the coast. The Humboldt Current keeps the Pacific cold even in midsummer, so expect sunbathing and a bracing dip rather than long swims.

Mendoza eats better, mainly because of its wine country. Long lunches at the wineries of Luján de Cuyo, Maipú and the Uco Valley, with a wine paired to each course and the Andes in view, are often the high point of a trip. In the city there are wood-fired parrillas and late terrace dinners along Arístides Villanueva.

Valparaíso cooks from the sea. Expect fried fish and conger eel soup at fishing coves such as Caleta Portales, chorrillana in the old port bars, and harbour-view restaurants on the hills serving whites from the Casablanca Valley. It has character, but quality varies more, and in both cities the choice beyond the local style is narrow.

Here Valparaíso is well ahead. Its hills of painted houses, stairways and funiculars, together with the UNESCO-listed quarter of 19th-century merchant houses and banks, make the whole city the sight. La Sebastiana and the naval and maritime museum on Cerro Artillería add depth.

Mendoza lost its colonial centre in the 1861 earthquake. What replaced it is a planned, tree-shaded grid whose plazas, foundation ruins and Cerro de la Gloria monument are pleasant rather than compelling. A day or two covers Mendoza, while Valparaíso holds a visitor for longer.

Valparaíso has the livelier night. Students and a bohemian streak carry evenings from the cocktail bars of Cerro Alegre down to the port bars and the clubs around Subida Ecuador, which run until dawn at weekends. It is rough at the edges, so taxis between areas make sense.

Mendoza's nights are late but gentler. Pavement tables on Arístides Villanueva stay busy past midnight, Chacras de Coria has quiet wine bars, and there are only a handful of big clubs on the edge of town. Many visitors call it an early night before a winery or mountain start.

Mendoza is the stronger choice for the outdoors because the Andes begin almost at its edge. Within about an hour you can raft on the Mendoza River, hike at altitude in the Cordón del Plata or paraglide above the city. A full day takes you to Aconcagua, the highest summit in the Americas.

Valparaíso's nature is coastal and gentler: cliff walks towards Quintay, the Concón dunes, surf at Ritoque, and sea lions and Humboldt penguins offshore. La Campana, with the summit hike Darwin made famous, is the inland highlight. It is a good mix, but the high mountains are too far from the coast for a day.

Valparaíso has the more varied list. Viña del Mar is practically next door and Santiago makes a full day of museums and markets. Along the coast are Neruda's house at Isla Negra, the old whaling cove of Quintay and the villas of Zapallar, and the Casablanca Valley wineries are under an hour inland.

Almost all of Mendoza's day trips are about wine: cycling between family bodegas in Maipú, the big estates of Luján de Cuyo and the high vineyards of the Uco Valley. For a wine lover that is plenty. For anyone else the options soon run out.

Mendoza is the easier of the two with children. Its flat, shaded centre, the paddle boats and playgrounds of Parque San Martín, the Cacheuta pools and the gentle rafting at Potrerillos fill several days. The winery circuit and the summer heat suit children poorly, though.

Children enjoy Valparaíso's funiculars, harbour boat trips and murals. Even so, the steep stairs, broken pavements and narrow, busy streets make it hard going with a buggy. Many families stay in Viña del Mar for the beaches and visit the port for the day.

The two are about as easy to get around, but in opposite ways. Mendoza's centre is a flat, tree-shaded grid with a light-rail line running south. The wineries and mountains, though, mostly need a hired car, a driver or a tour.

Valparaíso is compact but vertical, so walking means climbing stairways. Funiculars, shared colectivo taxis, the old trolleybuses and the coastal train to Viña do the rest. You do not need a car there, and buses run often to Santiago.

Neither city is worth a trip for its shops, and each sells what it is known for. Mendoza's best buys are things to eat and drink: bottles from small wineries that are hard to find abroad, bought at the cellar door or in town, with olive oil and dried fruit alongside. A wine lover goes home with a heavier suitcase.

Valparaíso sells art and old things instead. The studios on its hills sell prints, ceramics and lapis lazuli, and the weekend flea market near Plaza O'Higgins is good for a rummage among maps and nautical oddities. For ordinary clothes, Mendoza at least has its pedestrian street and malls, while from Valparaíso you have to go to Viña del Mar.

Day-to-day costs are moderate in both, and the difference lies in what pushes the bill up. In Mendoza it is the wine country, where tasting fees, winery lunches and the drivers needed to reach them add up quickly. Argentina's unstable currency can also make the same trip feel cheap one year and dear the next.

Valparaíso is kinder to travellers who stay in guesthouses and eat set lunches at port picadas, and much of its appeal, from the stairways to the viewpoints, costs nothing. Prices rise on Cerros Alegre and Concepción, where boutique hotels charge close to international rates.

Neither city is worth the trip for its stages, and each has its own folk tradition. Mendoza's big moment is the Vendimia harvest festival, which ends with a huge night-time show in the hills of Parque San Martín. For the rest of the year there is the Teatro Independencia and the occasional cueca night.

Valparaíso's music is more everyday. Cueca porteña, boleros and old waltzes are played in traditional port bars and street musicians work the hills. The Teatro Municipal and the arts centre in the old prison host the formal shows.

Mendoza is by far the better place to unwind. The Cacheuta hot springs, about 40km up the river canyon, have drawn bathers for more than a century. Vineyard lodges in Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley offer spa retreats, and the city itself slows down through the hot afternoons.

Valparaíso has no bathing tradition, a sea too cold to linger in and only a few hotel massage rooms, with larger spas over in Viña. There, rest means a slow morning on a terrace above the bay rather than a treatment.