Penang or Taipei?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Penang at least has sand on the island. Batu Ferringhi is a resort strip with warm water in every month, though the sea is often cloudy and jellyfish appear in some seasons, and the cleaner coves inside the national park take a forest walk or boat ride to reach.

Taipei has no coast of its own, so a swim means a trip to Fulong or Baishawan, and only from about June to September. The open coast has rip currents and typhoons, which makes it something to look at for much of the year.

Both are among the best eating cities in Asia, and the difference lies in style. Penang's food comes from several cultures at once: Hokkien hawker dishes, Malay rice, Tamil Muslim nasi kandar and Peranakan cooking. Most of it is eaten at single-dish stalls and coffee shops, and breakfast matters most.

Taipei is centred on Taiwanese and mainland Chinese cooking and spreads further up the price scale, from night-market snacks and xiaolongbao to banquet halls and tasting menus. It also has a real drinks culture of hill oolong, speciality coffee and Taiwanese whisky, where Penang's evenings are about food rather than drink.

The two are close in what they offer and differ in shape. In Penang the townscape is the sight: George Town's UNESCO-listed shophouse grid, the carved clan houses, the stilted clan jetties, and a mosque, a Hindu temple and a church a few streets apart. Its museums are small, and two or three days covers it.

Taipei is a modern city with one world-class collection in the National Palace Museum, plus Longshan Temple, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and historic pockets such as Dihua Street. It suits museum-goers, and Penang suits people who like to wander old streets.

Taipei has a far better night out. Its cocktail bars in Da'an and Zhongshan are known well beyond Taiwan, Xinyi has proper dance clubs, and Ximending has cheap bars and craft beer, with karaoke rooms and beer halls on top. Penang has a few backpacker bars around Chulia Street and Love Lane and a short strip on Upper Penang Road. Evenings there end early, and alcohol taxes make each round costly.

Taipei has the wilder and more varied outdoors. Yangmingshan's volcanic slopes and fumaroles lie inside the city limits, Elephant Mountain is a short climb from Xinyi, and the gorges at Wulai, the Caoling trail and the long riverside cycle paths are all easy to reach.

Penang has green hills too, with the Penang Hill canopy walk, monkeys in the Botanic Gardens and the coastal jungle trails of the national park. The landscape is smaller, though, and the year-round heat limits walks to early mornings.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. From Taipei you can go to Jiufen's lantern-hung lanes, the old coal towns of the Pingxi line, Tamsui's fort, the potters of Yingge and Keelung's harbour, and high-speed rail puts Tainan's old temples within a day's reach.

Penang visitors mostly stay on the island. Ipoh's cave temples and old town are worth the two-hour trip, and Taiping and Kuala Kangsar are pleasant, but the list is short and the journeys are longer.

Taipei is easier with children. It is clean and safe, the metro has lifts, and there is a large zoo with pandas next to the Maokong gondola, plus science and astronomy museums for wet days and riverside playgrounds.

Penang can work well if the stay is split with a resort pool at Batu Ferringhi, and the butterfly park, Penang Hill and the street murals all appeal to children. Broken pavements, heavy traffic and the lack of a zoo or aquarium make it harder work.

Penang has no metro or tram for getting around the city, so moving about the island takes patience. George Town's old core can be walked or covered on the free shuttle, though broken five-foot ways and the midday heat slow you down. Beyond it, most visitors use cheap ride-hailing, because the buses crawl through traffic, especially on the road to Batu Ferringhi.

Taipei is far simpler. The MRT is spotless and signed in English, with lines running out to Beitou, Tamsui and the Maokong gondola, and the same stored-value card works on buses, bike share and regional trains. Taxis are plentiful, and in the central districts covered arcades keep walkers out of the sun and rain.

Taipei is the better place to shop. It has the department stores of Xinyi, the streetwear of Ximending, design shops in the old industrial parks at Huashan and Songshan, and high-mountain oolong and teaware to take home.

Penang's malls hold little you could not find elsewhere. Its appeal is browsing old trades: nutmeg goods at Chowrasta Market, spices and gold in Little India, and joss-stick makers and rattan weavers in the lanes around Campbell Street.

Penang is the cheaper trip, and the difference shows most in the room. Comfortable George Town hotels and guesthouses cost less than the small central rooms in Taipei, which rise in price at weekends and in Xinyi. Food and transport are cheap in both, so the gap comes mainly from accommodation. Drinking is expensive in both, and in Penang it is the one thing that pushes a day's spending up.

Taipei has a year-round programme: the National Symphony Orchestra and opera at Liberty Square, contemporary theatre at the Taipei Performing Arts Center, Cloud Gate dance, and indie live houses around Gongguan. Penang's stage life mostly follows its calendar, with the George Town Festival and street performances such as Chinese opera during Hungry Ghost month. Outside those times there is little more than bar bands.

Taipei sits on volcanic ground. Beitou's hot-spring hotels and public pools are a metro ride away, and there are rustic springs higher up on Yangmingshan and beside the river gorge at Wulai, which makes a few slow days easy to plan.

Penang has cheap reflexology, resort spas and cool evenings on Penang Hill. It has no bathing tradition, though, and the heat and traffic in town mean most people go to the coast for proper rest.