Samarkand or Tbilisi?

Neither city is a swimming destination. Samarkand sits in a doubly landlocked country with nothing better than the shallow Zarafshan river, so a hotel pool is the only real plan. Tbilisi has a little more to offer locals in July, with the Tbilisi Sea reservoir, Lisi Lake and Turtle Lake on the hills, though the Black Sea is a separate trip.

Tbilisi is the better place to eat. Khinkali, cheese-filled khachapuri, walnut and pomegranate sauces and shoti bread from clay ovens give real variety, and qvevri wine from Kakheti turns dinners in Sololaki into an event.

Samarkand's cooking is satisfying but narrow: its own layered plov at lunchtime, the famous glazed non from Siab Bazaar, shashlik and somsa. You will eat well for a few days, then notice menus repeating, and wine here is a curiosity rather than a culture.

Samarkand is on another level for sights. The Registan's three facing madrasas, the tilework of Shah-i-Zinda and the gilded interior of Gur-e-Amir are among the great achievements of Islamic architecture, backed by Ulugh Beg's observatory and the Afrasiyab murals.

Tbilisi's appeal is in walking rather than landmarks: carved wooden balconies in the old city, sixth-century Anchiskhati, Art Nouveau halls in Sololaki and the Colchian gold of the National Museum. It is a pleasant few days, but nothing in it stops you the way the Registan does.

This is the widest gap between the two. Tbilisi has a techno scene known across Europe, clubs in industrial spaces running past dawn, plus wine bars in Sololaki and courtyard bars near Marjanishvili.

Samarkand's evenings end with a long dinner, perhaps beside a wedding band, and a stroll past the lit Registan. A few hotel bars aside, there is nowhere to go late.

Tbilisi has the better outdoors, starting in town with the funicular to Mtatsminda and trails from Turtle Lake into Tbilisi National Park. The Greater Caucasus is the real prize, with Gudauri, the Jvari Pass and Kazbegi offering skiing, paragliding and high hiking.

Samarkand's countryside is gentler: juniper and walnut woods in the Aman-Kutan valley and above Urgut about an hour out, and homestay treks in the Nuratau. Pleasant in spring, but without high mountains on hand.

Both make good bases, with different kinds of outing. From Samarkand the draw is more Silk Road architecture: Bukhara by fast train, Shakhrisabz over a mountain pass, plus the Urgut Sunday bazaar and the paper-makers of Konigil, after which the options run out.

Tbilisi gives more variety: Mtskheta half an hour away, the rock-cut town of Uplistsikhe, wine villages and monasteries in Kakheti, the cave monastery of David Gareja and the Military Road into the mountains.

Tbilisi is easier with children, mainly because there is more for them to do: the Mtatsminda amusement park and its Ferris wheel, the cable car, the zoo and Turtle Lake. Steep cobbles and stepped underpasses make pushchairs a struggle, though.

Samarkand is flat and calm around the Registan, but its sights are mausoleums and madrasas, and summer afternoons are too hot to be outside. It suits older children who are curious about history.

Samarkand is the slightly simpler of the two, because its main monuments sit along one pedestrian street from the Registan to Shah-i-Zinda, with app taxis for the observatory and station. Tbilisi's centre is walkable too, but hilly and broken underfoot, with heavy traffic. In return it has a two-line metro, and ride-hailing covers the hillsides.

The two are evenly matched, and both are about crafts rather than fashion. Samarkand sells suzani embroidery, ikat silk, ceramics and hand-knotted carpets from workshops in old madrasa cells, plus mulberry paper from Konigil.

Tbilisi's finds are more eclectic: Soviet badges and old silver at the Dry Bridge market, cloisonné enamel, qvevri wine and chacha to take home, and a handful of local designers in Vera and Sololaki.

Both are easy on the budget, so the difference lies in where the money goes. In Samarkand, bazaar food, taxis and family guesthouses cost little, and costs climb only at upmarket hotels near the Registan. In Tbilisi, generous Georgian meals with wine and free churches keep spending down, while boutique hotels and cocktail bars run closer to European levels.

Tbilisi has far more to see on stage. There is a full opera and ballet season at the Moorish-style theatre on Rustaveli Avenue, athletic national dance ensembles, UNESCO-recognised polyphonic singing in church services, and the Gabriadze marionette theatre, which needs no translation.

Samarkand offers mostly folk-costume shows and sound-and-light at the Registan. The Sharq Taronalari festival is the exception, held in some years only.

Tbilisi is built on its warm springs, and an hour in a private sulphur pool under the brick domes of Abanotubani, with a kisi scrub, is one of the city's defining experiences. Samarkand has a single old domed hammam near Bibi-Khanym and some hotel spas, so its calm comes more from slow chaikhana afternoons than from any bathing tradition.