Pokhara or Thimphu?

Neither city is a place to swim. Pokhara at least has a lake to be on: Phewa Lake is for painted rowing boats, and the occasional dip happens at Begnas Lake or on quieter shores. Thimphu has only the cold, fast Wang Chhu, and few of its hotels even have a pool.

Both run on momos and neither has much fine dining, but the food tastes very different. Pokhara's Lakeside feeds hungry trekkers pizza, curries and apple pie. The better meals are Thakali dal bhat and buffalo sekuwa grilled over charcoal away from the lake, and breakfast with a mountain view is a daily pleasure.

Thimphu's cooking is hotter and less familiar to most visitors: ema datshi, red rice and dried pork with radish, though tourist buffets tone it down. It also has something Pokhara lacks, a real market. The Centenary Farmers' Market by the river is piled with chillies and cheese at weekends.

Thimphu is clearly the stronger choice here because its heritage is still in use. Tashichho Dzong houses both the government and the monk body, residents circle the Memorial Chorten from dawn, and students learn the thirteen traditional arts at Zorig Chusum. Even ordinary buildings follow traditional design.

Pokhara has enough for a day or two: the island temple of Tal Barahi, the Peace Pagoda, the old bazaar and the International Mountain Museum. It is mostly a modern town, and its sights are something to do between mountain days rather than a reason to come.

Pokhara has the more sociable evenings. Lakeside's rooftop bars fill with trekkers celebrating a finished circuit, cover bands play rock standards, and a couple of dance bars carry on until around midnight.

Thimphu is quieter again. It has a few lounges, small clubs busy at weekends, karaoke taken seriously and drayangs where singers take requests, but many guided visitors are back at the hotel after dinner.

Both are mountain bases, but Pokhara has the grander setting. Machhapuchhre and the Annapurna range rise straight above Phewa Lake, and Sarangkot is the place for sunrise and for some of the world's best paragliding. The classic treks, from Poon Hill to Annapurna Base Camp, start a short drive away.

Thimphu's outdoors is closer and greener. It offers pine forest, walks to Tango, Cheri and Phajoding monasteries, and the takin preserve. For snow peaks you drive up to Dochula, and on the longer routes such as the Druk Path a guide is required.

Thimphu has the better day out by a wide margin. Paro is about an hour and a quarter away, with its dzong, the National Museum, the ancient Kyichu Lhakhang and the morning climb to the Tiger's Nest. Dochula fits easily into half a day as well.

From Pokhara the choice is thinner. Bandipur, a car-free Newar hill town about two hours away, is the one easy outing. The Gurung villages are better reached on a trek.

Neither city is built around children, though people in both are warm towards them. Pokhara has more for children to do, with rowing boats, the caves and waterfall, and tandem paragliding for those who meet the limits. In Thimphu the takin preserve, the prayer wheels and the market amuse younger children for a while, but itineraries lean on temples, long drives and altitude.

In both cities the centre is easy on foot and almost everything beyond it needs wheels. Pokhara's flat Lakeside suits a rented bicycle or scooter, so you can roam on your own. Thimphu's compact Norzin Lam, where a white-gloved policeman stands in for traffic lights, is pleasant to walk, but its hillside sights mean a car and driver, usually as part of a guided itinerary.

Both are places for crafts, with no fashion streets. Pokhara's shopping is practical: trekking gear to buy or rent, pashminas and singing bowls, and carpets from the Tibetan settlements, whose workshops you can visit. Thimphu's real prize is handwoven textiles, from kira fabric to yak-wool pieces, sold at the government handicraft emporium and along Norzin Lam alongside masks and wooden bowls.

This is the sharpest difference between the two. Pokhara is very cheap. Rooms with a view, dal bhat lunches and taxis cost little, and the only real expenses are paragliding, guided treks and permits.

Everyday prices in Thimphu are modest too. But most foreign visitors pay Bhutan's daily fee, and the usual guide, driver and tourist-standard hotels come on top, so a stay is costly however simply you live. A shorter trip lowers the bill, but there is no budget way to do it.

Thimphu has a performance worth travelling for: the autumn Tshechu, when masked cham dances fill the courtyard of Tashichho Dzong for several days. The rest of the year, the Royal Academy of Performing Arts and the drayangs keep folk music and dance alive. Pokhara has only Lakeside cover bands and dinner shows of Gurung and Magar dances staged for visitors.

Pokhara eases sore bodies with yoga and massage, Thimphu with a hot-stone bath. Around Pokhara, retreats on the quieter hillsides and the far shore of Phewa Lake range from drop-in classes to residential courses, and Nepali and Ayurvedic massage is offered on almost every Lakeside street, much of it aimed at trekkers' legs. Outside a few resort hotels the spas are simple, and the real cure is the unhurried pace after Kathmandu.

Thimphu's speciality is the dotsho, a wooden tub of river water warmed with stones from the fire and scented with artemisia, which farmhouses and many hotels will prepare after a hike. Meditation sessions at a monastery are easy to arrange, and upscale lodges add full spas. Neither town has hot springs of its own. Pokhara's nearest, at Jhinu Danda, lie far up the Annapurna trails.