Tokyo or Yokohama?

Neither is a swimming city, and both send their beachgoers south by train to the same Shonan coast. Yokohama has a slight edge because it is closer: Zushi, Kamakura and the Miura Peninsula are 30 to 60 minutes away, and it has its own man-made beach at Umi no Koen by Hakkeijima.

From Tokyo the Shonan beaches are about an hour away, and the bay shore at Odaiba and Kasai is for walking along, not swimming. In both cases the season is July and August, and weekends get crowded.

Tokyo is one of the great places in the world to eat. It runs from standing noodle bars to sushi counters and kaiseki of the highest refinement, it has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city, and the depachika and the Tsukiji outer market are worth a visit for their own sake.

Yokohama eats well, but it is narrower and more local. Chinatown's dim sum halls and steamed-bun stalls, iekei ramen, sanma-men and the ramen museum at Shin-Yokohama give it a clear identity, and Noge's grill bars are good fun. For serious fine dining, though, the money and talent have gone to the capital next door.

Tokyo has far more to see. The Tokyo National Museum and the other Ueno collections, Senso-ji in Asakusa, Meiji Jingu and the Imperial Palace moats could fill a week, and its modern architecture is a sight in itself.

Yokohama's heritage is smaller but has a story Tokyo lacks: the port opened to foreign trade in the 1850s. That shows in the merchant houses and foreigners' cemetery on the Yamate Bluff, the Red Brick Warehouses and the liner Hikawa Maru. Sankeien, with historic buildings brought from Kyoto and Kamakura, is the highlight, and two days covers the rest.

This is where the two differ most. Tokyo offers the tiny bars of Golden Gai, whole buildings of whisky and vinyl bars, smoky Omoide Yokocho, and clubs in Shibuya and Roppongi that keep going until the first morning trains.

Yokohama's night is mostly about eating and drinking at a counter. Noge's izakaya and standing bars are lively after work, and Minato Mirai has bars looking over the lit harbour. Clubs are few and the city quietens early, so locals who want a big night take the train to Tokyo.

There is little to choose between them, but the landscapes differ. Tokyo's rail lines run west into the mountains: Mount Takao for an easy first hike, the river gorges and cedar ridges of Okutama, and the Fuji Five Lakes for the classic views.

Yokohama looks to the coast. It has temple-to-temple trails on the wooded ridges around Kamakura, the rocky shore of the Miura Peninsula and the sea cliffs of Enoshima, with the Tanzawa mountains for harder day hikes. Hakone is easy to reach from both.

Both are first-rate bases, and the difference is which way they face. From Yokohama, Kamakura is about 25 minutes away and pairs well with Enoshima, and Tokyo itself is close enough to visit day after day.

Tokyo reaches further north and inland. Nikko's Toshogu shrine in its cedar forest, the Edo canal town of Sawara and Karuizawa by shinkansen are all easier from the capital, and Yokohama's harbour and Sankeien garden make an easy half-day out.

Tokyo has the bigger line-up. Disneyland and DisneySea are just across the bay, and the Ghibli Museum, Miraikan, Ueno Zoo and the toy and character shops of Akihabara and Ikebukuro add many more days, with spotless toilets and baby rooms everywhere.

Yokohama is just as safe and clean and in some ways more relaxed. The Cup Noodles Museum, the Anpanman museum for toddlers, Hakkeijima Sea Paradise and Zoorasia are good outings, and the flat harbour is easy with a pushchair. It also spares you Tokyo's giant stations and packed rush-hour trains.

Tokyo's network has no equal: the Yamanote loop, overground lines and metro put nearly every sight a short walk from a station, and the neighbourhoods in between are good for walking. The cost is that huge stations such as Shinjuku can be confusing at first.

Yokohama is simpler and smaller. The Minatomirai Line and a flat walk along the harbour from Minato Mirai to Chinatown cover most visits, and water buses cross the bay, but Sankeien and the zoo need a bus and the Bluff is a steep climb. Both use the same tap-on card, and neither needs a car.

What separates the two is depth. Tokyo gives whole districts over to a single trade, so a morning among the kitchen knives of Kappabashi can lead to an afternoon in the bookshops of Jimbocho. Its lacquer, ceramics, washi and indigo are worth carrying home, and the design boutiques of Daikanyama and Nakameguro give it a quieter side. The care that goes into wrapping even a small purchase is part of the pleasure.\n\nYokohama is good for practical shopping and rarely a reason to go.

Most of it is under one roof, in the malls and underground arcades by the main station and along the Minato Mirai waterfront, and Chinatown is the place for tea and tableware. Motomachi, below the Bluff, is the street with real character: for generations it has sold leather goods with a Western touch to the port's well-off families.

Yokohama is a little easier on the wallet, mostly because of where you sleep. Business hotels in Kannai, Sakuragicho and Shin-Yokohama offer moderate rates, and the harbour promenades and Bluff houses are free to visit.

In Tokyo, central rooms are small and not cheap, and they get much dearer in cherry-blossom season and Golden Week. In both cities, ramen, set lunches and food-hall meals cost little, so it is the room that makes the difference.

Tokyo has the far wider stage. Kabuki at the Kabuki-za, a strong classical scene led by the NHK Symphony and halls such as Suntory Hall, and opera and ballet at the New National Theatre mean there is a serious programme on almost any night. The one gap for visitors is spoken drama, which is nearly all in Japanese.\n\nJazz is where the two come closest.

In Tokyo it runs from international club stages to listening bars built around record collections, with bands every night in the small live houses of Koenji. Yokohama treats jazz as part of its port history, with old record cafés in Noge and Kannai and a festival each autumn. Beyond jazz, the Kanagawa Philharmonic at Minato Mirai Hall and the Kanagawa Arts Theatre give the harbour city a modest season of its own, but Kabuki and the big musicals belong to the capital.

Tokyo's bathing culture is deeper. Hundreds of neighbourhood sento, many with a painted Fuji on the wall and some drawing dark mineral water in the south of the city, sit alongside large sauna complexes and calm temple gardens.

Yokohama has fewer bathhouses but a slower pace, with a hot-spring complex on the Minato Mirai waterfront, Sankeien's ponds and teahouses, and evening walks by the harbour. Hakone's mountain onsen inns are a similar trip from either, and many baths in both still turn away guests with tattoos.