Tashkent or Ulaanbaatar?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Tashkent at least has somewhere proper to swim. Charvak reservoir is about an hour and a half away in the foothills, with pebbly shores and clear mountain water in July and August, and the city's water parks help in the heat.

Ulaanbaatar has nothing comparable. The Tuul River and the streams around Terelj are shallow and cold, fine for a paddle and little more, so a hotel pool is the only real swim.

Tashkent eats much better. Plov cooked in huge cauldrons at midday, tandir samsa, hand-pulled lagman and the bread and spice halls of Chorsu Bazaar make food one of the pleasures of a visit, and on tea-house platforms lunch can last all afternoon.

Ulaanbaatar's buuz, khuushuur and salty milk tea are filling herders' food rather than a reason to come, though the capital's Korean barbecue and Russian places add some variety. Both cooking traditions lean heavily on mutton, and vegetarians will struggle in either city.

Each capital gives two or three days of sightseeing around a Soviet-built core, but the heritage is different in kind. Tashkent's is Islamic: the Hazrat Imam complex with its ancient Quran, the Kukeldash Madrasa and the carved rooms of the Museum of Applied Arts. Its chandeliered metro is a sight in its own right.

Ulaanbaatar's heritage is Buddhist and still in use at Gandan Monastery, where monks chant beneath the towering standing Buddha. Around it are the Choijin Lama Temple, the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan and the gilded bronzes of the Zanabazar Fine Arts Museum.

Ulaanbaatar is the livelier of the two after dark. Around Sukhbaatar Square and Seoul Street, a young crowd fills pubs, karaoke rooms and a few large clubs that play hip-hop until late at weekends, and vodka sets the pace.

Tashkent's evenings are quieter: beer gardens, lounge bars and long dinners with friends, with most places closing around midnight. In both cities summer is the best time to go out, and in neither is the nightlife a reason to travel.

This is where Ulaanbaatar pulls ahead, and for many visitors it is the point of the trip. You can hike Bogd Khan Uul's larch forest straight from the southern suburbs. Terelj and Hustai offer horse riding across open steppe and the chance to see takhi, gazelle and marmots, though only in the green summer months.

For Tashkent the outdoors starts further out, in the Chimgan range and Ugam-Chatkal National Park above Charvak. There are ridge hikes and paragliding in summer and skiing at Chimgan and Amirsoy in winter. The city itself is a hot plain of parks and avenues.

Tashkent has by far the better day out: Samarkand, with the Registan and the Shah-i-Zinda, is just over two hours away by high-speed train. Beyond that, the outings are to the mountains and Charvak.

From Ulaanbaatar the outings are to landscape and people rather than towns: the steel Chinggis Khaan statue at Tsonjin Boldog, the ruined Manzushir Monastery and visits to herding families. Kharkhorin, the country's great historic site, needs an overnight stay and a hired driver.

Tashkent is the easier city with children. A zoo, amusement parks, water parks and big evening parks keep them busy, and cheap taxis and the metro save small legs. Summer heat above 35°C makes spring and autumn the better choice.

In Ulaanbaatar the dinosaur museum with its Gobi fossils is the highlight in town, and the real fun lies outside it: sleeping in a ger, riding gentle horses and spotting marmots. Broken pavements, stressful road crossings and smoky winter air make the city itself hard work.

Tashkent is much simpler to get around. Its long Soviet blocks are tiring on foot, but the metro is frequent and stops near the old town and the main squares, and app taxis cheaply cover the rest.

Ulaanbaatar has no metro or tram, its buses are crowded and labelled in Cyrillic, and traffic on its few east-west roads is severe. The compact centre is walkable and taxis reach Gandan and Zaisan, but any trip into the countryside means booking a driver or a tour.

Both cities reward a souvenir hunt more than a fashion one, and both are thin on designers and luxury. In Tashkent the draw is craft: suzani embroidery, ikat silk and Rishtan ceramics around Chorsu Bazaar, though much of it costs less in Samarkand or Bukhara.

Ulaanbaatar's draw is cashmere, sold in factory outlets and the long-established State Department Store, along with felt goods, deel robes and horse-head fiddles. Narantuul market is rougher and more sprawling than Chorsu, so watch your pockets there.

Both are inexpensive, but your money goes further in Tashkent. Meals, metro rides, taxis and even opera tickets cost very little, and only the international business hotels are expensive.

Ulaanbaatar's canteens and museums are cheap too, but its Western-style restaurants and central hotels cost more, and summer is the expensive season. The driver and guide you need for the countryside can cost more than the rest of the trip.

Each city has a grand opera and ballet house where tickets are easy to get: the Alisher Navoi Theatre in Tashkent, and the salmon-pink State Academic Theatre on Sukhbaatar Square. The difference lies in what else is on. Tashkent adds conservatory and philharmonic concerts, drama in Russian and Uzbek, and maqom singing.

Ulaanbaatar's unmissable evening is the traditional show of khoomei throat singing, horse-head fiddle, tsam dance and contortionists, which runs most summer nights. Naadam in July brings ceremony and music to the city.

Neither is a spa destination, but Tashkent is the more restful city. Shaded tea-house platforms, the Botanical Garden and neighbourhood bathhouses in the hammam tradition slow the day down, and the mountain sanatoria around Chimgan are within reach.

Ulaanbaatar is tiring, with its traffic, noise and smoky winter air, and the country's hot springs are a long drive away. There, rest means a night at a ger camp in Terelj, with silence, wide skies and a wood stove.