Aberdeen or Edinburgh?

Neither is a place for swimming, as the North Sea stays cold all summer off both. The difference is in how you reach the sand. In Aberdeen the long beach and its dunes are a stroll from the centre, with the empty strands at Balmedie a short drive north.

Edinburgh's Portobello is a bus ride out but has more of a seaside town about it, with a Victorian promenade, a cold-water swimming crowd and the fine East Lothian beaches further along the coast.

Edinburgh eats noticeably better. Ambitious modern kitchens in Leith, Stockbridge and the New Town cook west coast scallops, langoustines and game, and its whisky bars carry hundreds of malts.

Aberdeen's strengths are simpler: North Sea fish, Aberdeen Angus beef, the buttery at breakfast and serious fish and chips down the coast in Stonehaven. Both are pleasant places to eat, but the capital gives you more choice.

Edinburgh is the far richer city for sightseeing. The Old Town on its volcanic ridge and the Georgian New Town together make a World Heritage townscape, and the National Museum, the Scottish National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery add real depth.

Aberdeen has a sterner beauty in its silver granite, and its highlights are Marischal College, the medieval lanes of Old Aberdeen around King's College and the Maritime Museum. That is a rewarding couple of days, but Edinburgh holds more and holds it longer.

Both are pub cities, but Edinburgh has more range. It mixes Victorian bars on Rose Street, Grassmarket dens, Leith harbour pubs, Georgian basement cocktail bars and the late Cowgate strip, and in August the whole centre stays out into the small hours.

Aberdeen's evenings gather around Belmont Street and are lively with students in term time. Outside term and midweek it goes quiet early.

The two are level, but the outdoors means different things in each. Aberdeen is the gateway to high country, with the Cairngorm plateau, Lochnagar and the pinewoods of Braemar within about an hour, winter skiing, cliff walks to Stonehaven, and seals at the Ythan estuary.

Edinburgh's great asset is a wild volcanic hill, Arthur's Seat, a short walk from the Royal Mile, with the Pentland ridges at the city's edge and the gannets of the Bass Rock out from North Berwick.

Edinburgh has the edge, mainly because its excursions run by train. Glasgow, Stirling, Linlithgow, St Andrews and the Borders abbeys are all easy without a car.

Aberdeen's surroundings are just as tempting in their way: Dunnottar on its sea stack, the Castle Trail through Crathes and Fyvie, Balmoral and the Speyside distilleries. Most of them, though, really need you to drive.

Edinburgh keeps children busy for longer. They have the castle's cannons, the hands-on galleries of the National Museum, Dynamic Earth, the illusions of Camera Obscura and the zoo, though the Old Town's steps and cobbles are hard work with a buggy.

Aberdeen is calm and safe but has less built for children: the Science Centre, the beach funfair, the Duthie Park glasshouses and dolphin spotting at the harbour mouth.

Both centres are walkable, but Edinburgh is easier to get around as a whole. It has a dense bus network, a tram from the airport to Leith and Waverley station right in the middle, though its ridges and stairways test the legs.

Aberdeen's flat, compact core around Union Street is simple on foot, and buses do the rest adequately. The countryside that makes the city worth visiting, however, is far easier to reach with a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Edinburgh offers more to browse. Upmarket labels on George Street, independents on curving Victoria Street, Stockbridge boutiques and specialist kiltmakers give it some character.

Aberdeen is mostly practical, with two indoor centres and Union Street's chains. Its knitwear, tartan and whisky are often better bought out in the Deeside villages or at the distilleries.

Aberdeen is the more affordable stay, mainly because its business hotels often drop their rates at weekends and in summer. Eating and drinking cost much the same in both.

Edinburgh's rooms are expensive all year, and during the August festivals and Hogmanay they become extreme. Its free national museums, Arthur's Seat and cheap buses soften the bill, while in Aberdeen the main extra cost is a hire car.

This is where the two differ most. In August Edinburgh's Fringe and International Festival fill hundreds of venues, and the Tattoo plays on the castle esplanade. Through the rest of the year the Usher Hall, the Festival Theatre, the Lyceum and the Traverse host Scottish orchestras, opera, ballet and home-grown drama.

Aberdeen's His Majesty's Theatre and Music Hall offer a decent programme, but almost all of it is visiting companies.

Aberdeen has no bathing tradition to speak of, so unwinding there means a hotel spa in town or a country-house hotel with treatments out in Deeside. Its restfulness comes mostly from the slow pace and the quiet of the hills nearby.

Edinburgh gives you more ways to relax. You can sweat in the tiled hot rooms of the Victorian Turkish baths at Portobello, swim lengths in the Royal Commonwealth Pool, or join the cold-water swimmers and their shoreside saunas at Wardie Bay. Out of season the Botanic Garden and the Water of Leith walkway are quietly restorative, though in August the crowds take that calm away.