From the comments, I guess some people prefer the emptiness. I, on the other hand, like having things to do. TOTK has so much to do. It also tells the story way better. BOTW was amazing when it was new, but it didn't hold my attention for more than 30 hours. There wasn't enough quests, no reason to explore the map other than the sake of seeing what was there (which was nothing 90% of the time), and even the combat was not quite as good because the powers were uninteresting and nothing Zelda games hadn't done before along with the fact you go through weapons like popcorn so most combat just ends up being throwing your bombs at them.

TOTK fixed everything that was wrong with BOTW. It has so much stuff to do, and I don't just mean the boring-ass shrine puzzles. The powers are interesting, the building aspect is super fun, there is even more map to explore, it's easier to get around and there are reasons to explore it, quests up the wazoo, weapons last a bit longer and you can craft your own or just make a tank or something which is awesome, etc. It makes BOTW look like crap by comparison, even after being blown away by BOTW initially.

Well over 300 hours in BotW here, loved it. It feels a lot more “grounded” in comparison to totk, which feels a lot more “sandboxy” at times. Both great games, just different vibes

I would also say, there were a TON of times in TotK where they riff on previous things from BotW. A lot of the enjoyment I got was the subversion of expectations. In the lead up to the game we all thought they just copy/pasted the map to save time but they actually did a TON of work to it, and it’s very interesting and nostalgic to retread over places that have changed so much.

I would guess your best bet is playing them in order, altho it’s probably fine either way