Rio de Janeiro or Salvador?

Both cities live on the beach, but Rio's shoreline is the bigger stage. The long sweep of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon sits right outside the main hotel districts, and Prainha and Grumari to the west add wilder sand and surf under forested hills. Swim near the lifeguards on the open beaches, and leave the bay shore to the view.

Salvador's sea is warmer all year, and the sheltered cove of Porto da Barra is calmer for a swim than anything on Rio's ocean front. Its busier city stretches can turn murky after rain, though, so the best sand lies north towards Stella Maris or an hour out at Praia do Forte.

Salvador has the cooking you will remember, while Rio's appeal is the ritual of eating out. In Rio that means the boteco, with ice-cold draught chopp, shared pastéis and bolinhos, Saturday feijoada and a juice bar on every corner. Leblon and Botafogo add a wider spread of modern restaurants.

Bahian food is a regional cuisine in its own right, built on dendê oil, coconut milk and dried shrimp. It means acarajé from baianas at street stalls and moqueca simmered in a clay pot, with the São Joaquim market's fruit and spice stalls to wander. Beyond these classics there is less choice, and little high-end dining.

Salvador has the stronger historic core. The Pelourinho is a whole colonial upper town of cobbled streets and baroque churches, led by the gilded São Francisco. Its Afro-Brazilian heritage, which runs through its churches, museums and squares, is unlike anything elsewhere in Brazil.

Rio's great sights are about setting: Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf are icons as much for their views as for themselves. The São Bento monastery, the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura and the port museums reward a visit, but they are scattered among modern blocks and fill a few days rather than a week.

Rio has more to do after dark and keeps going later. Crowds gather under the Lapa Arches, the pavement bars of Botafogo and Humaitá spill across the corners, Leblon has its smarter cocktail bars, and baile funk and big club nights run until dawn.

Salvador's evenings are open-air and easygoing, centred on the bars and late acarajé stalls of Rio Vermelho and on the Pelourinho squares on Tuesdays and at weekends. Outside Carnival week, though, the club scene is small. In both cities, take taxis between districts at night.

This is the widest gap between the two. Rio has mountains and rainforest inside the city: the Tijuca forest with its waterfalls and marmosets, steep hikes up Dois Irmãos and Pedra da Gávea, rock climbing on Sugarloaf and hang-gliding from Pedra Bonita. Serious trekking in the Serra dos Órgãos is about two hours away.

Salvador's setting is low and coastal. Its draws are sailing on the Bay of All Saints, the dunes and dark lagoon of Abaeté, and watching humpback whales from roughly July to October. There is no hiking country nearby, and the Chapada Diamantina needs several days.

Salvador has a slightly better spread of outings within reach. The colonial river towns of Cachoeira and São Félix in the Recôncavo, Praia do Forte to the north and the ferry to Itaparica all make easy days out, and boats tour the smaller islands of the bay.

From Rio, the standouts are imperial Petrópolis in the cool hills and the ferry across to Niterói. Paraty, Búzios and Ilha Grande are too far for a day, and weekend traffic out of the city eats into the time.

Neither city is easy with children, but Rio gives them more to do. Besides the beach, there are the Sugarloaf cable car, the Corcovado railway, AquaRio, the BioParque zoo and the lagoon cycle path, and Leme and Praia Vermelha have calmer water for small swimmers.

Salvador has the shallow cove at Porto da Barra, the turtles at Praia do Forte and the drumming of the Pelourinho, but little else made for families. The steep cobbles of the old town are hard going with a pushchair, so families there usually settle at a beach resort.

Rio's metro runs along the line a visitor uses most, from the centre through Botafogo and Copacabana to Ipanema and Leblon, and the flat beachfront districts are pleasant to walk. Santa Teresa, the Tijuca forest and the western beaches lie off that line and mean a taxi or ride-hailing, often through slow tunnels.

Salvador is built on two levels, with the Lacerda Elevator and a funicular linking the upper town to the port below. The old centre is walkable but steep and cobbled, and its metro mostly serves the airport and bus station. Beyond Barra and the Pelourinho the city spreads far up the coast, so cheap ride-hailing does most of the work.

Rio has the wider choice, and most of it is for the beach: Brazilian swimwear, linen and resort wear in the boutiques of Ipanema and Leblon, crafts at the Sunday hippie fair and Carnival gear in the crowded Saara streets.

Salvador is better for handmade souvenirs. The Mercado Modelo and the Pelourinho sell carved wood, lace, berimbaus and percussion instruments, but fashion shopping there means malls of Brazilian chains.

Salvador stretches a budget further. Simple guesthouses in Barra and the Pelourinho are cheap, street food and meals at beach shacks cost little, and many churches and museums charge a small fee or nothing.

Rio's everyday costs are low too, and its beaches and forest trails are free. But hotels near the sand in Copacabana and Ipanema are dear for what they offer, and the smarter restaurants in Leblon come close to European prices. In both cities room rates rise steeply around Carnival.

Both are music cities first, and the difference is in the beat. Rio has samba and choro in the old houses of Lapa, rodas de samba in squares and small rooms devoted to bossa nova, plus opera and ballet at the Theatro Municipal.

Salvador is about drums: samba-reggae and axé bloco rehearsals in the Pelourinho and Liberdade, Afro-Brazilian dance by the Balé Folclórico most evenings and capoeira breaking out in the squares. Its classical programme at the Teatro Castro Alves is thinner.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and in both the spas belong to the big hotels and resorts. In Rio, calm comes from the sea, yoga on the sand, an evening walk round the lagoon and the cooler hills of Santa Teresa. In Salvador, it comes from the slow Bahian pace, a quiet guesthouse in Santo Antônio or a resort up the coast.