Pokhara or Sapa?

Neither town is a place to swim. Pokhara at least has a lake: you spend time out on Phewa in a painted rowing boat, and the odd swimmer heads to Begnas Lake for a dip. In Sapa the only water is cold, shallow streams and waterfalls, so a hotel pool is your only option in either town.

The food in the two towns is on a level, but the cooking is very different. In Pokhara the best meals are Thakali dal bhat with refills, momos and charcoal-grilled buffalo sekuwa. Lakeside's long menus cover hungry trekkers, and its bakeries do a slow breakfast with Nepali coffee and a mountain view.

Sapa's food is built for cold evenings. You get hotpots of salmon and sturgeon farmed in the mountain streams, skewers and bamboo-tube sticky rice from the grills by the lake, and Hmong thang co washed down with corn wine. Neither town has a fine-dining scene.

The two are about even here, and in both a couple of days covers the sights. Pokhara's culture is in its monuments and museums: the island temple of Tal Barahi, the World Peace Pagoda on the ridge, and the Mountain and Gurkha museums.

Sapa's culture is in its people. Beyond the French-era stone church, you meet it by walking to Black Hmong, Red Dao and Giay villages to watch indigo dyeing and weaving. Go further than Cat Cat if you want daily life rather than a show.

Pokhara is clearly livelier after dark. Its rooftop and lakefront bars fill with trekkers celebrating, there are cover bands and long happy hours, and a couple of small dance bars keep going until about midnight.

Sapa's evenings are hotpot, a drink by the fire and the grill stalls by the lake. A few travellers' bars with pool tables are as far as it goes, and most people are asleep early before the next walk.

Both are first-rate mountain bases, but Pokhara has the bigger scenery and more to do in it. Snow peaks above 7,000m stand over the lake, Sarangkot gives you sunrise and world-class paragliding, and the Annapurna trails start an hour or two away. Kayaking and mountain biking fill the other days.

Sapa's landscape is gentler and shaped by people. The Muong Hoa terraces step down the valley, and trails lead from the edge of town straight to the villages. Fansipan, Indochina's highest peak at 3,143m, can be climbed or reached by cable car. The terraces turn gold before the September harvest.

Sapa has the better outings. The Sunday market at Bac Ha is a real highlight, with its Flower Hmong traders and an odd early 20th-century palace, and smaller markets such as Can Cau and Coc Ly have the same feel with fewer visitors.

From Pokhara, Bandipur's car-free Newar main street is the one easy day out, about two hours away. Gorkha and Tansen work better as overnight stops on the road to or from Kathmandu.

Both towns suit older, active children better than toddlers, and neither has attractions built for children. With small children, Pokhara's flat lakeside, light traffic and easy rowing boats make it the gentler of the two. Teenagers can try tandem paragliding there.

Sapa's steep streets, mud and persistent vendors are harder with young children. Children who can walk, though, will remember the buffalo in the paddies, a night in a valley homestay and the cable car up Fansipan.

Pokhara is the easier town to get around. Lakeside is flat and compact, so guesthouses, restaurants and jetties are a short walk or bike ride apart. For Sarangkot and the trailheads you take a taxi or rent a scooter.

Sapa's centre is small but steep, with uneven pavements. Apart from the short tram to the cable car, getting anywhere means a trekking trail, a hired driver or the back of a motorbike taxi. The town is also a long way from anywhere: five or six hours by road from Hanoi.

The two are close, and the difference is in what you buy. Pokhara's shopping is practical, with Lakeside's trekking shops selling and renting gear. You will also find pashmina, singing bowls and Tibetan carpets from workshops in the refugee settlements that you can visit.

Sapa is all about textiles: indigo-dyed cloth, embroidery, brocade and silver from Hmong and Dao makers. Machine-made copies are common, and the sellers are more insistent here.

Both are very cheap by any international standard, for rooms and for meals alike. In Pokhara the bigger spends are the activities: paragliding, guided treks and Annapurna permits.

In Sapa, guided village treks cost little, and the Fansipan cable car is the main splurge. Hotels in the busiest part of the centre charge a little more than in the lowlands, and you are expected to bargain at craft stalls.

Neither town has theatre or a concert season, so the choice comes down to small things. Pokhara has cover bands in its bars and dinner shows of Gurung and Magar dances. Sapa has short performances of Hmong and Dao pan-pipe music and dance in the town square at weekends.

Pokhara is the more restful place to stay. Lakeside is slow and easy, yoga and meditation retreats line the far shore, and Nepali and Ayurvedic massage is everywhere. What it lacks is a bathing tradition, as the hot springs are far up the trails.

Sapa does have one: the Red Dao herbal bath, a hot soak in wooden tubs of forest plants, at Ta Phin and elsewhere. The calm, though, is in the valley homestays, not in the town, where traffic and selling make it hard to switch off.