Mysore or Pondicherry?

This is where the two cities differ most. Mysore has no shore at all, and its reservoir and river are for looking at, not swimming in, so a beach means a separate trip to the coast.

Pondicherry faces the Bay of Bengal, though even here the town's own seafront is a wall of boulders. The sand lies a short ride north at Serenity Beach and Auroville, or across the backwaters at Paradise Beach. The surf is strong, so plan on wading and watching sunsets rather than proper swims.

Both cities do South Indian breakfasts very well: dosas, idli and filter coffee in steel tumblers. Mysore keeps to that vegetarian tradition, with banana-leaf lunches and its own ghee-heavy Mysore pak, and offers little beyond it.

Pondicherry has more range. Fresh seafood comes in from the fishing villages, and the Franco-Tamil Creole kitchen and the French Quarter's courtyard restaurants and bakeries add a second cuisine. Wine and beer with dinner are also much easier to find than in Mysore.

Mysore has the bigger monuments. The Mysore Palace, lit by thousands of bulbs on Sunday evenings, along with the Jaganmohan Palace's Ravi Varma paintings, St Philomena's and the Chamundeshwari temple, make it feel like a royal capital, and Dasara is something to plan a trip around.

Pondicherry's appeal is quieter and more about the streets themselves. The ochre villas of the French Quarter and the pillared verandas of the Tamil Quarter, seen one after the other, are the main sight, with the Aurobindo Ashram and the basilica as modest landmarks along the way.

Neither city is somewhere for a late night, and neither has any clubs. Pondicherry gives you a bit more to do after dark. Cheaper alcohol fills rooftop lounges and beach shacks, and the Promenade, closed to traffic, gets lively in the evening. In Mysore, an evening means the palace lights, dinner and maybe a hotel bar that closes early.

Mysore has the wilder country nearby. About two hours away, Bandipur, Nagarhole and Kabini run jeep safaris for tigers, elephants and gaur. Closer in, Ranganathittu's river islands have nesting storks and crocodiles, and the coffee hills of Kodagu lie beyond.

Pondicherry's outdoors is mostly water. You can surf at Serenity Beach, dive on offshore wrecks, see winter flamingos on Ousteri Lake and row through the Pichavaram mangroves. On land the plain is flat, with no hills or hiking.

Mysore's outings start close to home. Tipu Sultan's island fortress at Srirangapatna is about half an hour away and the carved Hoysala temple at Somnathpur about an hour, so either fits into a morning, while the giant Jain monolith at Shravanabelagola, Talakad's sand-buried temples and hilltop Melukote make longer days by hired car.

Pondicherry's sites lie further off and are built on a grander scale: Mahabalipuram's Pallava Shore Temple and rock reliefs, the vast Nataraja temple at Chidambaram with its daily ritual, Gingee's walls across three granite hills and the pilgrim town of Tiruvannamalai. Each takes a full day with a driver on crowded roads, but they are among the great sites of Tamil temple country, and Auroville is close enough for a half day.

Mysore has a little more for children. The maharajas' shaded zoo, the rail museum's royal carriages, the musical fountains at Brindavan Gardens and boating on Karanji Lake add up to several easy outings, and the milder plateau climate helps.

Pondicherry keeps things simpler. Children can run along the Promenade once it closes to traffic, take a boat to Paradise Beach or ride the Botanical Garden's toy train, but the heat and the rough surf make it better for older children who are happy with a slow pace.

Mysore's centre around the palace, Sayyaji Rao Road and the market is compact enough to walk, but uneven pavements and traffic that rarely gives way make it tiring. Beyond that core, auto-rickshaws and app cabs cover the short rides to Chamundi Hill, the zoo and Brindavan Gardens, and the fast rail line and expressway put Bengaluru within easy reach.\n\nPondicherry is the easier town to explore under your own steam. The flat French Quarter is quiet enough for a relaxed walk, and a hired bicycle covers the old town and the Promenade. The beaches and Auroville are further out, which means a scooter or a rickshaw on rough roads.

Both cities are for buying crafts, not fashion, and the difference is in what you take home. Mysore's speciality is the traditional pair of gold-zari silk and sandalwood, best bought from government emporia to avoid fakes. Pondicherry offers a lighter Indo-French style: block-printed cotton and linen in French Quarter boutiques, and handmade paper and incense from Ashram and Auroville workshops.

Both are very cheap by Western standards, and Mysore is a little cheaper day to day. Local vegetarian meals, rickshaw rides and simple rooms cost very little, and you'll mainly spend more on heritage palace hotels, drivers and safari lodges.

Pondicherry is about as cheap until you stay in the French Quarter. Its boutique mansions and European-style cafés are priced for visitors, and weekends and winter push rates up. Staying across the canal keeps costs down.

Mysore has the deeper musical tradition, built on the Wodeyar court's Carnatic music and the city's own veena style, and during Dasara the palace grounds put on concerts every night. Outside the festival both cities offer only occasional recitals. In Pondicherry you'll find them at the French cultural centre, in Auroville's halls and when temple festivals bring nadaswaram pipes into the streets.

Mysore is the place for serious yoga. As the birthplace of Ashtanga it draws students who settle for weeks in leafy Gokulam, start on the mat before dawn and fill the rest of the day with chanting and Sanskrit classes. The calm, though, belongs to that suburb and the early hours; the centre, with its horns and traffic, is not restful.\n\nPondicherry suits a broader, gentler retreat: meditation in the Ashram courtyard, Auroville's yoga, breathwork and bodywork, and guesthouses set in forest. Here the quiet reaches right into town, along the shaded French Quarter streets and the Promenade in the early morning.