Both have their pros and cons.

IMHO, realism is significantly more difficult and I very much appreciate the skill required. What I like most is when they make room for personal expression in their compositions rather than strict renditions of existing scenes.

Painting a realistic, perfect rendition of natural, outdoor scenes usually involves including some areas and features that are less appealing than your imagination could come up with. If you are commissioned to painting it to capture precisely what is there, we'll then do it exactly as is, warts and all.

However, if you are painting for pleasure, take the excellent bone structure of the scene and make it your own, keeping nice features, discarding others, and adding as desired.

The problem with realism is that it can lack lively interplay, feeling, and mood.

Impressionism can be incredibly lovely when it fully captures the essence of something rather than its perfect replication. Capturing how a scene feels, sounds, and even smells can be far more rewarding than a photographic replication without those things.