Nara or Yokohama?

Nara has no beach at all. It is an inland city, the nearest sand is on the industrial Osaka Bay shore more than an hour away, and summer swimming means a pool.

Yokohama is no beach city either, but the sea is within easy reach. Besides the man-made beach at Umi no Koen, trains reach the broad grey-brown sands of Zushi, Kamakura and Enoshima in under an hour, which makes for a good midsummer day out in July and August.

Nara's table is short and local: persimmon-leaf sushi, sake-lees pickles, Miwa somen and tastings at the sake counters of Naramachi. It is worth trying, but kitchens close early and most of what lies near the park is quick lunches.

Yokohama offers far more choice. Japan's largest Chinatown, the city's own iekei ramen and sanma-men, a ramen museum in Shin-Yokohama and the counter bars of Noge mean a different meal every night of a long stay.

This is where Nara leaves Yokohama behind. As the eighth-century capital it keeps Todai-ji's Great Buddha, Kofuku-ji's pagoda, the lantern-lined approach to Kasuga Taisha and the Tang-style halls of Toshodai-ji and Yakushiji, sights that would fill two or three days even without Kyoto next door.

Yokohama tells a younger and different story, that of a treaty port opened to the West in the 1850s. The merchant houses on the Yamate Bluff, the Red Brick Warehouses and the liner Hikawa Maru are pleasant to see, and Sankeien's relocated temple buildings are the highlight, but none of it matches Nara's ancient temples.

Nara goes quiet once the day visitors leave. An evening means an izakaya near Kintetsu Nara station or a drink at a sake counter, and for anything more you go to Osaka and watch the time of the last train back.

Yokohama gives you a proper evening out, even if it is not a clubbing city. The warren of standing bars and izakaya in Noge, the pubs and karaoke of Kannai and the harbour-view bars of Minato Mirai suit a long night of yakitori and beer.

The two are broadly level for the outdoors, but the green is in different places. In Nara it starts in the middle of town: the deer park, the protected Kasugayama Primeval Forest, the easy climb up Mount Wakakusa, and the Yamanobe-no-michi path through orchards and rice fields, all of it good for gentle walking and cycling.

Yokohama itself is densely built, so its nature lies a train ride away, and it is wilder. There are ridge trails between Kamakura's temples, sea cliffs at Enoshima, coastal walks on the Miura Peninsula, proper hikes in the Tanzawa mountains and volcanic scenery at Hakone.

Both make excellent bases, and Nara is the stronger of the two. Kyoto and Osaka are each less than an hour away, Horyu-ji's ancient wooden halls are a short ride, and Asuka, Uji's Byodo-in and the mountain temples of Hase-dera and Muro-ji add still more. Himeji is possible in a longer day.

Yokohama's list is shorter but very good. Tokyo is under half an hour away, and Kamakura's Great Buddha and Zen temples pair neatly with Enoshima. Hakone and Kawagoe's Edo-era streets fill longer days.

Children remember feeding the bowing deer and squeezing through the pillar at Todai-ji, but Nara has little else made for them. There is no zoo or aquarium, and most families spend a day or two there before heading to Osaka.

Yokohama can fill a family week. Children make their own noodles at the Cup Noodles Museum, and there are the aquarium and rides of Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, the Anpanman museum, Zoorasia and the waterfront amusement park. The flat harbour, with lifts and nursing rooms in the stations, makes pushchairs easy.

Nara's main sights are a gentle walk from Kintetsu Nara station, though the distances add up over a day. The western temples need a local train or a bus, and buses crowd in blossom season, so a rental bicycle on the flat basin is often the best answer.

Yokohama is easier still. The Minatomirai Line, JR, subways and private railways all take one tap-on card, the harbour from Minato Mirai to Chinatown is a level stroll, and water buses cross the bay. Neither city needs a car.

Nara is the place for traditional crafts in small specialist shops: sumi ink and calligraphy brushes, Nara-zarashi linen, Akahada pottery and carved Ittobori dolls. Beyond those and the souvenir arcades there is little to browse.

Yokohama offers more of almost everything else. It has department stores and underground arcades around the main station, waterfront malls in Minato Mirai and the long, smart Motomachi street with its leather goods. For luxury fashion, though, both cities send you on, to Osaka or to Tokyo.

Costs are much alike, and they come from different things. Nara has plenty of fairly priced business hotels because so many visitors leave by evening. Its temples charge small fees hall by hall, and the money goes on ryokan dinners and on rail fares if you use the city as a base.

In Yokohama many of the main sights are free, among them Yamashita Park, the Bluff houses and the promenades, and local trains are cheap. Rooms rise on summer weekends and when a big concert fills the city, and the family attractions charge admission.

Nara's stage is ritual and seasonal. Gagaku music and bugaku dance at Kasuga Taisha, the On-matsuri in winter and the Omizutori fire rites in early spring are remarkable if your dates fall right, but on most evenings there is little to attend.

Yokohama has a year-round programme. The Kanagawa Philharmonic plays at Minato Mirai Hall, there is opera and dance at the Kanagawa Arts Theatre, and touring acts fill the harbour arenas. Old jazz cafés in Noge and Kannai keep the port's jazz tradition going.

Nara's calm comes from its pace rather than its baths. It has no hot springs, only old bathhouses and a few complexes on the outskirts, but an early walk in the park or a tea house by a temple garden is restful in itself.

Yokohama gives you more of the Japanese soak. Neighbourhood sento and a large hot-spring complex on the Minato Mirai waterfront allow a whole evening of baths and saunas, Hakone's mountain onsen are about an hour or so away, and Sankeien's ponds provide the quiet.