Nagoya or Sapporo?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Nagoya does a little better. The Chita Peninsula beaches such as Utsumi and the ferry islands like Shinojima have wide sand and bay water that stays warm through July and August, though it is sheltered and not very clear.

Sapporo's nearest swimming, at Ishikari or near Otaru on the Sea of Japan, is cooler and only usable for a few weeks in high summer. In both places a swim is a day out, not the reason to come.

Both are among Japan's better cities for eating, and the difference is one of character. Nagoya has a cuisine of its own, rich and dark with red miso: hitsumabushi eel, miso katsu and tebasaki wings, each with its own specialist restaurants. It also has the morning-service breakfast habit and cheap snacks in the Osu arcades.

Sapporo leans on Hokkaido's produce: sea urchin and crab bowls at Nijo Market, miso ramen, soup curry, jingisukan lamb and beer halls in the old brewery. Go to Nagoya for its distinctive dishes, and to Sapporo for seafood and the quality of the ingredients.

Nagoya has more to see. Bombing destroyed most of the old city, but it still has a castle with a carefully reconstructed palace, Atsuta Shrine in its forest, Tokugawa samurai treasures and Tale of Genji scrolls. The Toyota and railway museums also explain how industrial Japan was built.

Sapporo was laid out in the 1870s, so its landmarks date from the pioneer era: the Clock Tower, the red-brick government building and the Historical Village of Hokkaido. Its most memorable sight is Noguchi's Moerenuma Park, and two days covers everything.

Sapporo is the better night out. Susukino stacks thousands of tiny bars, izakaya and late ramen counters into its neon towers and stays busy past midnight even in midwinter. It is made for bar-hopping rather than dancing.

Nagoya's Sakae and Nishiki have a similar mix of small bars and karaoke, plus a few dance clubs that fill at weekends. But the city has a reputation for going home early, and on weeknights it mostly belongs to office workers having dinner and drinks.

Here Sapporo is in a different league. It gets reliable winter snow, has Olympic slopes at Teine inside the city, and Niseko is two hours away. In summer the caldera lake and volcanoes of Shikotsu-Toya and the flower fields of Furano and Biei take over.

Nagoya sits on a flat, built-up plain, so its green space within the city is parks and gardens such as Higashiyama and Tokugawaen. The Suzuka Mountains, Korankei's autumn maples and the Nakasendo through the Kiso Valley are rewarding, but each takes an hour or more to reach.

Nagoya is one of the best-placed bases in Japan. The shinkansen puts Kyoto just over half an hour away and Osaka under an hour, and Ise Jingu is an easy trip by Kintetsu train. Closer to home are the original castle keeps at Inuyama and Hikone, the pottery towns of Seto and Tokoname and the post towns of Tsumago and Magome.

Sapporo has fewer day trips, but they are distinctive: canal-side Otaru, the Yoichi whisky distillery, the Ainu museum at Upopoy and Noboribetsu's volcanic valley. Beyond those, most trips lead into the countryside rather than to towns.

Nagoya gives children more to do. It has one of Japan's largest aquariums, with orcas and belugas, as well as Legoland, Ghibli Park, the full-size bullet trains at the railway museum and the rides at Nagashima Spa Land. These are spread out, though, so expect long train journeys.

Sapporo is easy and safe with children and comes into its own in winter, with Snow Festival slides and beginner ski lessons inside the city. In summer, Moerenuma and Takino parks give children room to run, but the list of big attractions is shorter.

Both cities are laid out on grids with clean subways that run on a single IC card, so neither is hard to navigate. Nagoya's wide avenues are tiring on foot, but its station is a major regional hub, and the Linimo maglev reaches the outlying attractions.

Sapporo's numbered grid makes addresses easy to find, and its flat centre is more pleasant to walk. It has a streetcar loop and an underground walkway that keeps you off icy pavements, though in midwinter snow slows everyone down.

The two are fairly close, and department stores with basement food halls are at the heart of both. Nagoya has a deeper luxury strip around Sakae and the Osu arcades of secondhand clothes, anime and electronics, plus crafts such as Arimatsu shibori and Seto pottery.

Sapporo's Tanukikoji arcade is cheaper and plainer, and most of what visitors take home is edible: Hokkaido chocolate, cheese and dried seafood. Ainu woodcarving and textiles are the craft to look for.

Day-to-day costs are much the same. Business hotels keep rooms moderate in both, and cheap noodles and set lunches are easy to find. Where they differ is in what drives the bill up: in Nagoya it is eel dinners, shinkansen day trips and theme-park tickets, and in Sapporo crab and sea urchin, ski passes and central rooms during the February Snow Festival.

Nagoya has the wider programme. Kabuki plays at the Misono-za, Noh and kyogen are staged near the castle, the Aichi Arts Center hosts opera and ballet, and the Philharmonic gives a regular season.

Sapporo's strength is classical music at Kitara, home to its symphony orchestra and to the Pacific Music Festival each July, along with street dance during Yosakoi Soran in June. In both cities most performances are in Japanese.

Sapporo is the better place to unwind. Jozankei's open-air baths in a wooded gorge are within the city limits, and Noboribetsu is close enough for a night away. The city itself feels unhurried, especially under winter snow.

Nagoya has good everyday bathing in neighbourhood sento and super sento, and the Nagashima complex is nearby. But Gero, its classic onsen town, is two hours away in the mountains, and in the city calm is mostly found in the teahouse gardens of Tokugawaen and Shirotori.