Nara or Nikko?

Neither city works for a beach vacation. Nara lies in an inland basin and Nikko in the mountains, so summer swimming in both means a pool. From Nara, the industrial Osaka Bay shore is over an hour away and the better sand of the Kii Peninsula takes most of a day to reach. Nikko's highland lakes are for boating, not swimming, and the water people seek out there is the hot spring.

Nara eats better, though neither is a food destination. Persimmon-leaf kakinoha-zushi, sake-lees pickles, Miwa somen and the sake counters of Naramachi give it more variety. Osaka and Kyoto are close enough for a serious dinner.

Nikko's choice is narrower still: yuba in its many forms, mountain soba and river fish, mostly served at lunch along the shrine road. The best meal there is usually the multi-course dinner at your ryokan, so choosing the right inn matters more than choosing a restaurant.

Both cities are built around great religious sites, but Nara has more of them, and they are older. Its time as the eighth-century capital left Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, Kasuga Taisha, the Tang-era temples to the west and the National Museum. That is enough for two or three days without repeating yourself.

Nikko is one concentrated burst of Edo-period splendour: Toshogu's lacquer and gold leaf, with Rinnoji and Taiyuinbyo in their cedar forest. It is more ornate than anything in Nara, but you can cover it in a day or two, and there are few museums beyond it.

Evenings are quiet in both, but Nara at least has somewhere to go. There are izakaya near Kintetsu Nara station, sake counters and small bars in the covered arcades, and Osaka's bar districts are under an hour away until the last train. In Nikko the main street goes dark early. The evening is the ryokan dinner and the bath, with only a few hotel lounges in Kinugawa Onsen.

Nikko is the outdoors destination of the pair. A bus ride up the Irohazaka road takes you to Lake Chuzenji at 1,269m, Kegon Falls, the Senjogahara marsh and serious climbs on Mount Nantai. There is also rafting, autumn colour and winter snow.

Nara's nature is gentler and closer to hand: deer on the park lawns, the ancient Kasugayama forest, an easy climb up Mount Wakakusa and the Yamanobe-no-michi through orchards in the foothills. Yoshino's hills make a fine outing in blossom season, but nothing near Nara matches Nikko's mountains.

Nara has the far richer list. Kyoto and Osaka are each under an hour away and Horyu-ji is a short ride. Asuka, Uji and the mountain temples of Hase-dera and Muro-ji are all easy to reach, and Himeji makes a long day.

From Nikko, Tokyo is about two hours each way, so it takes a long day. The closer outings are Utsunomiya for its gyoza and the pottery kilns of Mashiko. Beyond them most choices are more mountains and lakes, so Nikko works better as a place to stay than as a base for exploring.

Both suit a family for two or three days and no longer, but the attractions differ. In Nara it is the deer: children feed them crackers in the park and then squeeze through the pillar at Todai-ji, all within an easy walk. Toddlers need watching around hungry deer.

Nikko's attractions for children are out at Kinugawa, with an Edo-period theme village and a park of miniature landmarks, and older children enjoy the boats on Lake Chuzenji. With small children, the shrine staircases and long bus rides are harder going than Nara's compact centre.

Nara is the easier place to get around. The main temples, Kasuga Taisha, the museum and Naramachi are all within walking distance of Kintetsu Nara station. The western temples are a short train or bus ride away, and the flat basin suits rental bikes.

In Nikko, the shrines are a 2km uphill walk from the stations along one road. Everything beyond, including the lake, the falls and the marsh, depends on buses up the Irohazaka road, which crawl on autumn weekends. Neither needs a car, but each sight takes longer to reach in Nikko.

Neither is a shopping city, but Nara has more worth taking home. There are sumi ink and calligraphy brushes, Nara-zarashi linen, Akahada pottery and Ittobori dolls, along with the covered arcades and a department store. Nikko has one street of souvenir and food shops, where carved Nikko-bori trays and straw-soled geta are the genuine local crafts. For fashion, Osaka is close to Nara, while in Nikko you have to wait until Tokyo.

Costs are much the same, and in both cities most of the money goes on the ryokan. Nara has plenty of business hotels near its two stations, and the temples charge modest entry fees hall by hall. Rail fares add up, though, if you use it as a base for day trips.

At the cheaper end, Nikko has guesthouses and hostels, inexpensive soba and cheap buses. The onsen inn with dinner, which is half the reason to go, is a real expense, especially by the lakes in foliage season.

Nara has the deeper tradition. It is one of the birthplaces of Noh, and Kasuga Taisha keeps gagaku music and bugaku dance alive. The winter On-matsuri and the Omizutori fire rites at Todai-ji in early spring are worth planning a visit around, and Osaka is close for regular theatre.

Nikko's one great occasion is the Toshogu festival in spring and autumn, with its procession of a thousand men in samurai armour and its horseback archery. The rest of the year there are only the theme-park shows at Kinugawa and the occasional sacred dance at the shrines.

This is Nikko's clearest advantage. The riverside inns of Kinugawa Onsen are a short train ride away, and Yumoto has milky sulphur springs by Lake Yunoko. Many ryokan have open-air baths looking onto forest or river, with snow around them in winter.

Nara has no hot springs of its own, only old bathhouses, bathing complexes on the outskirts and some ryokan baths. What makes it restful is its pace: the park in the early morning, a tea house near a temple and the quiet once the day visitors leave.