Pai or Pokhara?

Neither town offers any beach time, since both lie far inland, but the swimming they do have is different. Pai has river dips, waterfall pools such as Mo Paeng and lazy inner-tube floats in the hot season. In Pokhara, Phewa Lake is for boating rather than swimming, so a hotel pool or a quiet shore of Begnas Lake is the better bet.

Both towns eat cheaply and pleasantly but without much depth, and neither has fine dining. Pai's strength is its evening walking street, with khao soi, grilled skewers and Shan dishes, plus vegan cafés for long-staying travellers and the Yunnanese noodles of Santichon.

Pokhara's Lakeside menus are built for hungry trekkers, and the meals worth looking for are Nepali: Thakali dal bhat with refills, momos and buffalo sekuwa grilled over charcoal. Its bakeries also do a slow breakfast with a mountain view and coffee grown in Nepal.

Pokhara has more to fill a sightseeing day, though neither town is a culture destination. Tal Barahi temple on its island in the lake, the World Peace Pagoda on the ridge, the International Mountain Museum and the Gurkha Museum are enough for a couple of days.

Pai's sights take about half a day: the white Buddha of Wat Phra That Mae Yen at sunset, a few small Shan temples, the old iron bridge from the war years and the mud-brick houses of Santichon. There are no museums worth seeking out.

Pai has the livelier evenings, which is surprising for a town its size. After the night market, reggae bars and bamboo gardens fill with backpackers who stayed longer than they meant to, and the odd party carries on outside town.

Pokhara's Lakeside is a gentler night out, with rooftop bars, long happy hours and trekkers celebrating a finished circuit. Both wind down around midnight and neither has proper clubs, so the difference is in the mood, not the size.

Pai's valley is lovely in a gentle way: rice fields ringed by forested hills, the eroded ridges of Pai Canyon at sunset, mist pooling below the Yun Lai viewpoint and the river cave of Tham Lod with its swiftlets. You explore it by scooter, and its bigger outings, wet-season rafting and hill-tribe treks, stay on a modest scale.

Pokhara is on another level altogether. Machhapuchhre's fishtail summit and the white peaks of the Annapurna range, above 7,000m, rise straight over Phewa Lake, and pilots come from all over the world to paraglide on the thermals off the Sarangkot ridge. The trailheads for Poon Hill, Mardi Himal and Annapurna Base Camp are only an hour or two away by road.

Both towns are remote, but Pokhara has one proper day out. Bandipur, a hilltop Newar town of brick houses with a car-free main street, is about two hours away, and Gurung villages such as Ghandruk can be reached with a drive and a walk.

From Pai, only Soppong and the Lahu and Lisu villages around it are an easy hour's ride away. Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai are around three hours of hairpin bends, so they work as a change of base, not a day out.

Neither town is built for children, and both work best for older children who like the outdoors. Pai has farm visits, hot springs, gentle tubing and a night market, but the road in makes many passengers sick, most sights need a scooter or driver, and its evenings lean towards backpackers.

Pokhara's lakeside is a little calmer for families. Traffic along the shore is light, rowing boats are easy to hire, and the mountain museum makes a good stop. Teenagers who meet the age and weight limits can try tandem paragliding.

Pokhara is the easier town to get about. Lakeside is flat and compact, the shore road is good on foot or by rented bicycle, and taxis or hired drivers take you to Sarangkot, the caves and the trailheads.

Pai's centre is only a few streets, but the canyon, waterfalls and hot springs are spread across the valley and no public transport reaches them. Most people rent a scooter, which leads to many accidents among beginners on the hill roads.

Pokhara's shopping has a purpose. Lakeside is lined with shops selling and renting trekking gear, and the craft shops carry pashmina, singing bowls and thangka paintings. The Tibetan settlements on the edge of town add carpets and jewellery, and you can visit the carpet workshops.

Pai's evening walking street is fun for loose cotton trousers, woven bags and hill-tribe textiles, but the same stock repeats from stall to stall. Neither town has boutiques or fashion streets.

Both are among the cheapest places to stay for a while, and a long stay costs little in either. Where the money goes differs. In Pai, spending goes up only with a resort that has a pool or the high season around the turn of the year. In Pokhara the bigger costs are paragliding, guided treks and Annapurna permits.

Pai has more live music. Most nights several bars put on acoustic sets and blues or jazz jams by local and travelling musicians. Pokhara mostly has cover bands playing rock standards, plus cultural dinner shows of Gurung and Magar dances staged for visitors. Neither town has a theatre or concert hall.

Pai is the more restful stay. Its natural hot springs, above all Tha Pai in its forest park, are something Pokhara does not have in town. Cheap Thai massage, yoga and detox retreats sit alongside hammocks and long afternoons with nothing planned.

Pokhara relaxes you in a different way, with slow lakeside mornings watching the cloud lift off the mountains. There are yoga retreats on the far shore and Ayurvedic massage aimed at trekkers' sore legs. Spas in both towns are mostly simple.