Pokhara or Rishikesh?

Neither town is a place to swim, and in both the answer is a hotel pool. At Pokhara you take a painted rowing boat out on Phewa Lake, and the few swimmers go to Begnas Lake. Rishikesh has white sand banks on a cold, fast Ganges, where a dip means a ritual one at the ghats while holding the chains.

The two eat about as well as each other, but very differently. Pokhara serves meat and drink: Thakali dal bhat with refills, momos and buffalo sekuwa off the charcoal, plus a slow breakfast facing the mountains with coffee grown in Nepal's hills.

Rishikesh is strictly vegetarian and alcohol-free, so you eat thalis at dhabas, puri and jalebi in the morning and chai by the bridges. Both towns have the same traveller café menu of pizza and Israeli plates, and in both the choice starts to feel narrow after a few days.

Rishikesh gives a visitor more to take in. The Ganga aarti each evening at Triveni Ghat and Parmarth Niketan, the painted ashrams of Swarg Ashram across Ram Jhula, the tiered Tera Manzil temple and the overgrown Beatles ashram add up to a religious town that is still in daily use, rather than a list of monuments.

Pokhara's sights are scattered and modest: the island temple of Tal Barahi, the World Peace Pagoda, the International Mountain Museum and the Gurkha Museum. They make a pleasant day or two, but most of the town is modern.

Pokhara has a night out and Rishikesh does not. Lakeside's rooftop bars, cover bands and long happy hours are friendly rather than wild, and most close around midnight, but they are there.

In Rishikesh no alcohol is sold, there are no bars or clubs, and an evening means the aarti, a long café dinner and perhaps a chant session before an early night.

Pokhara lies in a valley in Nepal's middle hills, right under the high Himalaya. Rishikesh sits much lower, where the Ganges leaves the mountains for the plains. From Pokhara, Machhapuchhre and the Annapurnas rise above 7,000m straight over the lake. The trailheads for Poon Hill, Mardi Himal and Annapurna Base Camp are a short drive away, so serious trekking starts from town.

In Rishikesh the outdoors is lower and centred on the river: whitewater rafting from Shivpuri, waterfall walks in the forested Shivalik hills and jeep safaris in Rajaji National Park. The snow peaks are something you watch at sunrise from Kunjapuri, and getting to them takes several days.

Rishikesh is far better placed for days out. Haridwar and its huge aarti at Har Ki Pauri are under an hour away and Dehradun about an hour, while the hill station of Mussoorie and the river confluence at Devprayag make longer days.

From Pokhara the mountain roads are slow, and Bandipur, a car-free Newar hill town about two hours away, is the one easy outing. Gurung villages and Gorkha work better as part of a trek or as an overnight stop.

Pokhara is the gentler choice with children. Lakeside has light traffic and rowing boats for hire, the caves and waterfall make easy outings, and older children can try tandem paragliding.

Rishikesh is harder going with small children, with a fast, cold river, steep lanes shared with motorbikes, and macaques that snatch food. Teenagers do well in both, rafting and on safari in Rishikesh, walking and paddling in Pokhara.

Getting around takes about the same effort in both, but the towns are laid out differently. Pokhara's Lakeside is a small, flat strip you can walk or cycle, and beyond it you rely on taxis, rented scooters or a driver.

Rishikesh stretches along both banks of the Ganges, so you walk uphill and cross by footbridge or ferry, with shared vikrams running along the main road. In both, the viewpoints, trailheads and rafting put-ins mean hiring a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each sells to the people who come for its main draw. Pokhara serves trekkers, with down jackets and boots to buy or rent, plus pashminas, singing bowls and carpets from the Tibetan settlements, where you can visit the workshops. Rishikesh sells to yoga students: cotton yoga clothes, malas, incense, Ayurvedic oils and philosophy books, much of it the same from stall to stall.

Both are among the least expensive places anywhere to spend a week or a month, with modest guesthouse rooms, low-cost meals and local transport that costs very little. The difference is what the money goes on. In Pokhara it is paragliding, guided treks and Annapurna permits, and in Rishikesh it is rafting, multi-week teacher trainings and the smarter riverside retreats.

Neither town has a theatre or concert season, but Rishikesh has a little more live music, and it comes out of the place itself. There are drums and singing at the evening aarti, kirtan sessions in ashrams and cafés, and now and then a sitar or bansuri recital. Pokhara has Lakeside cover bands and Gurung and Magar dance shows put on for diners.

Rishikesh is built for this in a way Pokhara is not. Its ashrams offer everything from drop-in classes to silent retreats and long teacher trainings, Ayurvedic clinics run multi-day detox programmes, and the International Yoga Festival comes round each spring. The quiet is in the ashram gardens and upriver, away from the noisy bridges.

Pokhara relaxes you through its pace more than through practice: coffee while the clouds lift off the Annapurnas, slow afternoons on the lake, retreats on the far shore and massages for trekkers' legs.