Swakopmund or Windhoek?

Neither city is a beach destination, but only Swakopmund has a shore at all. Its long sandy beaches and the sheltered stretch by the Mole are good for walks, fishing and sunsets, though the cold Benguela water, morning fog and rough surf mean almost nobody swims.

Windhoek sits on an inland plateau about four hours from the sea. Swimming there means a guest-house pool, which is welcome in the dry summer heat.

The two eat in a similar way, with German bakeries, beer brewed to the purity law, and oryx and kudu on most menus. The difference is what comes with that. Swakopmund has the sea: lagoon oysters from Walvis Bay, kob and kingklip, and a café culture built around cake and coffee.

Windhoek has street food instead. Kapana grilled over open fires in Katutura is its most local meal, and the better sit-down restaurants are out in Klein Windhoek and the suburbs. Neither city has much variety for a long stay.

Both are an afternoon or a day of sightseeing, but of different kinds. In Swakopmund the town itself is the sight: half-timbered gables, the Woermann House tower and the old station stand against the desert. The local museum and a Mondesa township tour add some depth.

Windhoek has fewer pretty streets and more meaning. The Christuskirche, the Tintenpalast and the Alte Feste stand together on one ridge, and the Independence Memorial Museum deals with colonial rule and the Herero and Nama genocide in a way nothing on the coast does.

Windhoek has more going on after dark, though not a great deal. Beer gardens and lounge bars in Klein Windhoek fill up for long dinners, a few clubs play amapiano and kwaito at weekends, and the Katutura shebeens are where much of the city really goes out, best with a local guide. You will need taxis, since walking between places at night is not advised.

Swakopmund's evening is a sundowner by the jetty and a beer in a German-style pub, and the town is mostly asleep before midnight.

This is where Swakopmund clearly wins. The Namib dunes start where the streets end, so sandboarding, quad biking, skydiving and living desert tours are all on the doorstep. Flamingos, pelicans, seals and dolphins are on the Walvis Bay lagoon a short drive south, and Sandwich Harbour, the Moon Landscape and the Cape Cross seal colony are all within reach.

Windhoek's landscape is gentler: the thornbush and granite koppies of the Khomas Hochland, with hiking among zebra and oryx at Daan Viljoen half an hour away. The dunes and wildlife Namibia is famous for are an overnight trip away.

Neither city has much within a day's reach, but Swakopmund has a little more. Walvis Bay's waterfront is half an hour south, Henties Bay and the Portuguese cross at Cape Cross lie up the coast, and the rock paintings at Spitzkoppe make a proper cultural outing about two hours inland.

From Windhoek, the realistic day out is Okahandja, an hour north, for its woodcarvers' market and Herero chiefs' graves, plus a soak at Gross Barmen. Nearly everything else is four hours or more away.

Swakopmund is clearly better with children. The National Marine Aquarium's tunnel, the snake park, sandboarding and the seal and dolphin boats give you several days of things to do, and the town is flat, calm and never very hot. Long gravel drives to the outings tire younger children, and the sea is only good for sandcastles.

Windhoek has no zoo, aquarium or theme park. A game drive to see giraffe and zebra is the highlight, and a suburban guest house with a pool does the rest.

Swakopmund is simpler to get around. The seafront, jetty, museum and most restaurants are a few flat minutes' walk apart, and activity operators collect you from where you stay, so you only need a car for independent trips into the desert.

Windhoek's walkable part is the centre around Independence Avenue and the church ridge, by day only. The rest of the city spreads over hilly suburbs where the shared taxis take some confidence, so most visitors book taxis or drive themselves.

The two sell much the same Namibian crafts: Herero dolls, baskets, woodcarvings, karakul wool, gemstones and game-leather shoes. What differs is the setting. Swakopmund has open-air stalls near the lighthouse, specialist gemstone shops and a few German bookshops and delicatessens.

Windhoek gathers its crafts under one roof at the Namibia Craft Centre in the old brewery and along the Post Street Mall. Its suburban malls are useful for stocking up before a long drive.

Day-to-day costs are similar, with fairly priced guest houses, meals and beer in both, and in both the hire car is a big part of the bill. In Swakopmund the money goes on activities, since dune tours, boat trips and especially scenic flights and skydives are priced for overseas visitors, and rooms are hard to find in December and January.

In Windhoek the city stay is good value, with cheap kapana and local cafés. The cost comes from the taxis and the safaris and lodges you go on to.

Windhoek has a real if modest stage. The National Theatre of Namibia puts on local drama, dance and choirs, the College of the Arts holds student concerts, and you can sometimes catch shambo or Namibian kwaito in a bar, though it pays to check what is on.

Swakopmund offers little beyond an occasional show at its small theatre and weekend bands in the pubs.

Swakopmund's calm comes from the sea. After the heat of the interior, the cool Atlantic air and the slow walks along the promenade are a rest in themselves, and the quiet streets set an unhurried pace. Treatments are limited to a few day spas and rooms in guesthouses, so it suits a pause in a road trip rather than a wellness stay.

Windhoek has the warm water instead. The thermal pools at Gross Barmen are about an hour north, and some game farms just outside the city have lodge spas. Like the coast, it has no bathing tradition of its own, but its garden guest houses in low-rise suburbs and clear, cool winter nights make it an easy place to rest for a day.