Puerto Iguazu or Salta?

Neither city is anywhere near the sea, so a swim means a hotel pool in both. Around Puerto Iguazu the rivers are fast and brown with red earth, and bathing below the falls is not allowed. Salta has one extra option, the Cabra Corral reservoir about an hour south, though it is used more for boating than for swimming.

Puerto Iguazu feeds you well on standard Argentine fare: grilled beef, milanesas, pasta and river fish such as surubi and dorado. The Feirinha market turns an evening into a long picada of cheeses, cured meats and wine, but most restaurants exist to serve the people visiting the falls.

Salta has a cuisine of its own, and it is reason enough to eat out. The baked empanada salteña, humitas, tamales and slow-cooked locro come from the Andean highland tradition rather than the steakhouse, and crisp Torrontés from the high valleys goes with it. The central market and the simple places around it are where it tastes most local.

Puerto Iguazu is a modern gateway town with little to visit beyond the Hito Tres Fronteras obelisk, where you look across the rivers to Brazil and Paraguay, and the chance to arrange a visit to a Mbya Guarani community. There are no historic streets or museums worth planning around.

Salta is among the best-preserved colonial cities in Argentina. The cathedral, the arcaded Cabildo and the balconied houses around the Plaza 9 de Julio, the San Francisco bell tower and the old Convent of San Bernardo make a fine walk. The Museum of High Mountain Archaeology, with its preserved Inca children from Llullaillaco, is a sight you will not forget.

Nights in Puerto Iguazu are short. A few bars and beer gardens fill after a late dinner, mostly with travellers comparing notes on the falls, and most people turn in early to reach the park when it opens. Anyone wanting more crosses to the Brazilian city on the other bank.

Salta has a real going-out strip on Calle Balcarce by the old railway station, where bars and a few dance clubs fill with students and locals on Friday and Saturday nights. It suits a late drink rather than serious clubbing, and midweek it is quiet.

Puerto Iguazu has one of the great natural sights on earth on its doorstep. The falls, some 275 cascades along a horseshoe nearly 3km wide, are reached by catwalks, the forest train and the walkway to the Devil's Throat, with boats running into the mist below. Coatis, toucans, capuchin monkeys and clouds of butterflies come with it.

Salta's landscapes are wider and more varied but less concentrated. The cloud forest at San Lorenzo and Cerro San Bernardo give easy walks close by, while the red rock of the Quebrada de las Conchas, the cactus slopes of Los Cardones and the salt flats of the puna need long hours on the road.

From Puerto Iguazu the list is short and every outing crosses a border or a fair distance: the Itaipu Dam tour in Brazil, the duty-free sprawl of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay and the amethyst mines at Wanda about an hour south.

Salta is the natural base for the whole northwest. Cafayate and its Torrontés bodegas, the adobe villages of Purmamarca and Humahuaca in the UNESCO-listed Quebrada de Humahuaca and the white colonial village of Cachi are all within reach, and the Tren a las Nubes starts here. Most are full days leaving at dawn, and many visitors stay a night or two away rather than return the same evening.

Puerto Iguazu is easier with children because its best days are built for them: a little train through the forest, boardwalks over thundering water, soaking boat rides and animals at every turn, with the bird park on the Brazilian side for younger ones. Keep small hands away from the bold coatis and expect long, hot hours on foot.

Salta is welcoming to children, with families filling the plazas in the evening and the cable car up Cerro San Bernardo as a treat. The trouble is that the region's highlights mean long, winding drives and real altitude, which small children tolerate less well.

Both towns have compact centres you can cover on foot, and the difference lies in reaching the sights. In Puerto Iguazu a regular bus covers the half-hour run to the park and no car is needed, though trips into Brazil or Paraguay mean taxis, transfers and sometimes slow border queues.

In Salta the churches, museums, market and cable car are all within walking distance, but the valleys and gorges beyond are served only by long-distance buses. Most visitors join tours or hire a car for mountain roads, some of them gravel, that take longer than the map suggests.

Puerto Iguazu's best buys are edible, with cheeses, salamis, wine and yerba mate at the Feirinha, plus Guarani carvings, baskets and amethyst from the local mines. Bargain hunters cross the border to the electronics stalls of Ciudad del Este.

Salta has much more to take home in the way of crafts. The red-and-black poncho salteño, llama and alpaca weaving, silver, leather and carved wood fill the artisan market in its old colonial house and the stalls around the plaza. Neither city is a place for fashion.

Puerto Iguazu's costs gather around the falls. Foreign visitors pay a higher park entry, the Brazilian side means a second fee, boat trips and guided excursions add up, and the jungle lodges charge international resort rates, although town guesthouses and parrilla meals are reasonable.

Salta is cheaper day to day. Central guesthouses, empanadas, market meals and taxis cost little, and the money goes on exploring instead: tours, car hire and the high-altitude train. In both places Argentina's exchange rate can shift what visitors pay, so it is worth checking before you go.

Live performance barely features in Puerto Iguazu. A restaurant may stage a folk dinner show with regional dance, and with luck you could hear chamamé, the accordion music of north-east Argentina, at a local get-together. There is no theatre or regular stage to plan an evening around.

In Salta, by contrast, folk music is part of an ordinary night out. In the peñas around Calle Balcarce and the old centre, guitars and the bombo drum keep zambas and chacareras going into the small hours, diners get up to dance, and local players often pick up an instrument for a song or two. For something more formal, the Salta Symphony Orchestra plays at the provincial theatre near the main square, while the mid-June vigil at the Güemes monument and the carnival season take the music outdoors.

Neither city has a spa or bathing tradition, so the difference is in the kind of calm on offer. Puerto Iguazu's forest lodges give pools, massage rooms and terraces where birdsong replaces traffic, which suits a slow few days after the park. Salta offers a gentler town rhythm, with the long siesta, slow evenings in plaza cafés and peaceful stays in San Lorenzo or on rural estancias, while its nearest hot springs at Rosario de la Frontera are a long drive away.