Perth or Sydney?

Both cities live by their beaches, but Sydney's are more varied and more woven into the city. Perth has a long, almost unbroken line of pale sand and very clear water. Cottesloe is the classic swim, the river has calm spots and Rottnest has turquoise bays, though the afternoon sea breeze makes mornings the time to go in.

Sydney gives you both surf and shelter. The Bondi to Coogee chain and the Northern Beaches have real waves, while harbour coves such as Balmoral and Camp Cove are calm and shaded by fig trees. Taking the ferry to Manly is an outing in itself, and although the best-known sands fill up on hot weekends, a quieter cove is rarely far away.

Sydney is the better place to eat, mainly because of its range. Each immigrant suburb is worth the train ride: Vietnamese in Cabramatta, Lebanese in Lakemba, Indian in Harris Park. Surry Hills and Potts Point add a serious fine-dining tier, and the coffee and brunch culture is excellent.

Perth's strength is its produce: rock lobster, Shark Bay prawns, marron and the Swan Valley cellar doors. Northbridge has cheap Asian food and Fremantle has harbour fish and chips and craft beer, but the restaurant scene is small and scattered and kitchens close early. Eating out is expensive in both.

Neither city has a dense old centre, but Sydney has more to fill the days. The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are landmarks in their own right, The Rocks and Hyde Park Barracks keep the convict-era past, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales leads a wider set of museums.

Perth's sights sit in one small precinct by Northbridge, where the WA Museum Boola Bardip and the state gallery's Indigenous art are the highlights. Its best history is in Fremantle. Fremantle Prison is part of the same World Heritage listing of convict sites as Hyde Park Barracks, and the limestone port town around it gives a fuller colonial picture than central Perth does.

Sydney offers more kinds of night out, and they run later. There are small cocktail bars in the CBD laneways, the LGBTQ scene around Oxford Street in Darlinghurst, and the more alternative inner west around Newtown and Enmore, which stays out longest. Clubs are few in either city.

Perth's night centres on Northbridge, with the CBD laneway bars busy after work and relaxed pubs and breweries in Fremantle. The summer beer gardens are pleasant, but most of the city is quiet by midnight.

Both have calm water for paddling, steady sea breezes and humpback whales passing the coast, but Sydney's setting is wilder. Clifftop paths such as Bondi to Coogee run right through the suburbs, the Royal National Park and Ku-ring-gai Chase sit at either edge of the city, and the Blue Mountains are about two hours west.

Perth's outdoors is gentler and flatter. It has the bushland of Kings Park above the Swan, river kayaking and cycle paths, kitesurfing in the afternoon breeze, and the quokkas and salt lakes of Rottnest. The Perth Hills add jarrah forest, winter waterfalls and the start of the Bibbulmun Track.

Neither city has many towns within easy reach, and both are easier with a car. Perth's outings are quieter and more scattered: Rottnest by ferry, the Swan Valley close by, Mandurah by train, and inland the old wheatbelt town of York and the monastery town of New Norcia. Margaret River is too far for a single day.

Sydney's list leans more towards scenery and wine. It has the Hunter Valley, Katoomba and Leura in the Blue Mountains, Bowral and colonial Berrima, and easy rail runs to Newcastle and Wollongong.

Both are easy with children, each with a zoo reached by ferry, an aquarium and calm water for small swimmers. Perth adds the free playgrounds and barbecues of Kings Park, a water and theme park in the south, and a cycling day on Rottnest looking for quokkas, though the distances often call for a car.

Sydney builds its family days around the harbour. Children can board real ships at the Maritime Museum, ride the 1930s rides at Luna Park and swim at netted harbour beaches, and the Australian Museum's dinosaurs round things off. It has no large theme park.

Sydney is the easier city without a car, at least near the harbour. One card works on trains, metro, light rail, buses and ferries, and the ferries to Manly, Watsons Bay and Taronga are a way to see the city as well. Bondi and the eastern beaches still need a bus, the suburbs spread well beyond the useful network, and most outings beyond the city are much easier by car.

Perth's centre is flat and easy to walk, with free CBD buses, and trains run to Fremantle and the northern suburbs. The city is very spread out, though. Services thin out in the evenings and at weekends, several beaches need a bus from the station, and the Swan Valley and the Hills really need a car.

Sydney is the better place to shop. The Queen Victoria Building and the Strand Arcade sit among the Pitt Street flagships, Paddington has local fashion and homeware, and there are weekend markets at Glebe and The Rocks. Australian swimwear and resort fashion are its real specialty.

Perth's malls and its short stretch of King Street offer little range. The things worth taking home are Western Australian: South Sea pearls, Argyle-region jewellery, Aboriginal art and the stalls of Fremantle Markets in their Victorian hall.

Both are costly, and the gap between them is small. Perth comes out a little cheaper, helped by free CBD buses, free museum and gallery entry, public barbecues and the Northbridge food courts, though alcohol and the Rottnest ferry soon add up.

Sydney's harbour and beach hotels are dearer still, especially in summer. Fare caps on transport, free coastal walks and galleries, and cheap meals in suburban Asian cafés keep daily spending in check.

Sydney has the deeper stage. The Opera House stages opera and symphony concerts most nights, and Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Bangarra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra give a visitor real choice, with live bands in the pubs of Newtown and Enmore.

Perth has its own state opera, ballet and orchestra, which perform at His Majesty's Theatre, but outside the Perth Festival and the fringe festival in late summer the programme is modest. Both cities put their big festival in summer, and Sydney's fills January.

Neither city has thermal springs, but Sydney has a bathing culture that Perth lacks. There are rock-cut ocean pools at Bondi, Bronte and Clovelly, old-fashioned baths such as Wylie's and McIver's, and a few Korean-style bathhouses for steam and soaking.

Perth offers hotel and day spas and a few retreats in the Hills. Its slower, uncrowded pace and early, quiet evenings still make it a calm place simply to rest.