Nara or Sapporo?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Sapporo at least has the sea within reach. Ishikari and the shore near Otaru are under an hour away, with wide sand and water warm enough to swim for a few weeks in high summer.

From Nara the nearest beaches are on the industrial Osaka Bay shore, more than an hour away. The good sand of the Kii Peninsula takes most of a day to reach, so in practice a summer swim means a pool.

Nara's food is limited but distinctive: persimmon-leaf sushi, narazuke pickles, Miwa somen and local sake tasted around Naramachi. Many kitchens close early, though, and a serious meal often means a train to Osaka or Kyoto.

Sapporo is worth a trip for the food alone. Miso ramen, soup curry and jingisukan grilled at the table are all home-grown, and the morning seafood bowls at Nijo Market come heaped with sea urchin and crab. The brewery beer halls and Susukino's counters carry on into the evening. The range is mostly Japanese, but within that it is deep.

Culture is Nara's great strength. As Japan's eighth-century capital it keeps Todai-ji and the Great Buddha, Kofuku-ji's pagoda, the lantern-lined paths of Kasuga Taisha and the calm halls of Toshodai-ji and Yakushiji, enough for two or three unhurried days.

Sapporo was laid out only in the 1870s, so its sights are Meiji pioneer buildings such as the Clock Tower and the red-brick former government building, along with the Ainu collections at the Hokkaido Museum. Isamu Noguchi's Moerenuma Park is the most original thing in the city, and the whole set takes about two days.

After dark the two cities part company. Nara empties once the day visitors leave, and an evening out means an izakaya near Kintetsu Nara station or a sake counter. Osaka's bars are under an hour away, but the last train back sets the limit.

Sapporo has Susukino, a district of neon towers stacked with tiny bars, karaoke boxes and late ramen counters that stays busy past midnight even in winter. It is made for bar-hopping rather than clubbing, and the side streets are a better place to start than the corners where touts work.

Nara's green space is gentle and close at hand. Deer roam the lawns of Nara Park, the Kasugayama forest has been protected for more than a thousand years, Mount Wakakusa is an easy climb, and the Yamanobe-no-michi runs past orchards and rice fields, with Yoshino's blossom hills further out.

Sapporo's outdoors works on a bigger scale. Teine and Kokusai have ski slopes inside the city, and Niseko's powder is about two hours away. In summer, Shikotsu-Toya National Park offers a caldera lake, volcanoes and steaming fumaroles, with the flower fields of Furano and Biei beyond.

Nara has by far the richer choice. Kyoto and Osaka are each under an hour by train, and the ancient wooden buildings of Horyu-ji are a short ride. Asuka, the Byodo-in at Uji and the mountain temples of Hase-dera and Muro-ji add history in every direction.

Sapporo's outings are good but fewer: canal-side Otaru with the Yoichi distillery nearby, Upopoy's Ainu museum at Shiraoi and the volcanic springs of Noboribetsu. Beyond those, most trips lead to lakes and mountains rather than towns.

Children remember feeding Nara's bowing deer and squeezing through the hole in the Todai-ji pillar. Beyond that the city has no zoo, aquarium or theme park, and the summer heat makes temple walks tiring, so one or two days usually covers it.

Sapporo has enough to plan a whole trip around: the slides and sculptures of the Snow Festival, beginner ski slopes within the city, polar bears at Maruyama Zoo and the playground hills of Moerenuma Park in summer. The underground walkway helps with small children in bad weather, though January calls for proper winter gear.

Both are easy to get around, in different ways. Nara is a walking city: the main temples, the museum and Naramachi are all close to Kintetsu Nara station. Local trains, buses or a rental bicycle on the flat basin reach the western temples, though buses fill up in blossom season.

Sapporo is larger and relies on three subway lines and a streetcar loop, laid over a numbered grid that makes addresses easy to read. Its underground walkway keeps you off icy pavements in midwinter, when good footwear matters.

Shopping in Nara is mostly crafts. Naramachi sells sumi ink, calligraphy brushes, Nara-zarashi linen, Akahada pottery and carved Ittobori dolls, and the covered arcades add sweet shops and deer souvenirs. There is little fashion.

Sapporo has more range: department stores and fashion malls above the station, the long Tanukikoji arcade, and food halls full of Hokkaido chocolate, cheese and butter biscuits. Neither rivals Japan's largest cities, but Sapporo covers everyday shopping much better.

Costs come out much the same, with comfortable business hotels and cheap noodle lunches in both. What differs is where the money goes.

In Nara the free park and modest temple fees keep sightseeing cheap, but rail fares mount up if you use the city as a base for day trips. In Sapporo it is crab and sea-urchin dinners, ski passes and the Snow Festival, when central rooms become scarce, that push the budget up.

Nara's performances are rooted in ritual: gagaku and bugaku at Kasuga Taisha, the winter On-matsuri and the Omizutori fire rites at Todai-ji in early spring. Outside those occasions there is little to see on stage.

Sapporo has a regular programme, led by the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra at Kitara hall and the Pacific Music Festival each July. Touring opera and musicals, jazz bars in Susukino and the Yosakoi Soran dance teams in June fill out the year.

In Nara, rest comes from the quiet itself: early walks in the park before the crowds, tea beside a temple garden and a hushed old town in the evening. There are bathhouses and a few bathing complexes, but no hot springs.

Sapporo has proper onsen within easy reach. Jozankei's open-air baths in a forested gorge are inside the city limits, and Noboribetsu, one of Japan's best-known spa towns, makes an easy overnight stay. Soaking outdoors while the snow falls is a reason in itself to come in winter.