Andorra la Vella or San Marino?

Andorra la Vella has no shore at all. The Mediterranean is around three hours' drive away and the glacial lakes are too cold for a real swim, so swimming means a hotel pool or the thermal lagoons in Escaldes-Engordany.

San Marino isn't a beach town either, but you can see the Adriatic from its walls, and the sandy beaches of Rimini and Riccione are about half an hour down the hill. Expect the usual Romagna set-up of numbered umbrellas, beach clubs and shallow water. It is good for a day out in high summer rather than a seaside stay.

Neither is a place to travel to for the food, and both have the same problem: the busiest streets cater to passing shoppers or day trippers, so the better meals are a little way out. The real difference is the cooking. Andorra la Vella eats like a Catalan mountain town, with escudella stew, trinxat, grilled lamb and river trout, and its best tables are the bordas in the side valleys, old barns where meat is cooked over a wood fire.

San Marino serves the pasta and grilled meats of Romagna: hand-rolled tagliatelle, passatelli in broth and piadina, with Sangiovese from the republic's own small vineyards. Skip the view terraces on the summit and go to the family trattorias in Borgo Maggiore.

San Marino has the stronger sense of place. The whole summit is the sight: a walled medieval town along the crest of Monte Titano, with towers you can climb and a cliffside path between them. The Palazzo Pubblico tells the story of one of the world's oldest surviving republics. Half a day covers it, but it stays with you.

Andorra la Vella's heritage is smaller and more spread out. The Barri Antic and the fortified Casa de la Vall, for centuries the seat of parliament, sit above a modern town of shops and apartment blocks. The best pieces are the Romanesque churches out in the valleys, such as Santa Coloma with its round bell tower.

Both go to bed early. Andorra la Vella at least has pubs, wine bars and a few late bars around the centre and in Escaldes-Engordany, busier on winter weekends, though the après-ski crowd gathers up in the resort villages rather than in the capital.

San Marino's summit goes quiet once the coaches leave, and an evening means a glass of wine on a terrace above the lights of the coast. For a real night out you drive down to the Riviera clubs of Rimini and Riccione.

Andorra la Vella is the outdoor base by a wide margin. The town sits at about 1,000m in a valley ringed by high Pyrenean summits, so in winter the lift-linked pistes, ski touring and snowshoe routes are close by. Once the snow leaves the lower slopes, the same country is used by hikers, mountain bikers and road cyclists riding the long climbs. The high passes stay snowy into spring, though, and summer afternoons can turn stormy.

San Marino's Monte Titano is a limestone ridge of about 740m, with cliffs on its eastern face, woodland paths linking the towers and wide views over the plain to the Adriatic. It makes a fine morning walk, and the Montefeltro hills suit a quiet bike ride or a drive, but there are no high peaks, long trails or adventure sports within reach.

San Marino is much the better base for outings. Rimini lies just below, the rock fortress of San Leo and Renaissance Urbino are within an hour's drive, and once you are down on the coast the train takes you to Ravenna's mosaics and to Bologna. A car opens up the hill towns of Santarcangelo and Verucchio and the castle at Gradara.

From Andorra la Vella the choice is narrower. There is the cathedral town of La Seu d'Urgell half an hour south, Puigcerdà and the enclave of Llívia in the Cerdanya, or Ax-les-Thermes and Foix's castle over the pass into France. Beyond those, the mountain roads put most places too far away for a day.

Andorra la Vella has the edge for families who come to be active. In winter there are ski schools and gentle beginner slopes. In summer there are toboggan runs, rope courses and a Pyrenean animal park, with Caldea's family pools for a wet day. The downside is the busy main road through town, and children who don't ski or hike may get bored.

Children love San Marino's battlements and the cable car, but the summit has little built for them and the steps are hard work with a pushchair. The theme parks, waterparks and shallow beaches are on the coast below, so it works best for a family with a car who can split the day.

Andorra la Vella is easier to get around once you are there. The compact centre runs along the river into Escaldes-Engordany, and national buses go up the valleys to the other parishes, with ski buses in winter. Getting there is the hard part: there are no trains, it is a long drive from the airports in Spain or France, and the valley road jams at weekends.

San Marino's car-free core takes under half an hour to walk, but nearly every street climbs, often by steps, and a cable car runs down to Borgo Maggiore. The bus from Rimini is the only regular link to Italian trains and the village buses are infrequent, so a car does most of the work.

Shopping is one of the main reasons people come to Andorra la Vella. The low-tax strip running into Escaldes-Engordany is long, with department stores, perfume, electronics and, above all, ski and outdoor gear. It is about stocking up, not style.

San Marino has a smaller version of the same thing, with lower-tax perfume, watches and leather goods, plus an outlet centre on the valley floor. Its more distinctive buys are souvenirs, from ceramics and decorative crossbows to the stamps and coins that collectors look for.

The two cost about the same overall, so the difference is in what drives the bill up. In Andorra la Vella it is the ski season: lift passes, equipment hire and peak winter hotels cost what they do in any mountain resort. Rooms outside those weeks and set lunch menus are fair, and spirits are cheap.

In San Marino you pay for location. Summit terraces and the most convenient hotels cost more than trattorias and rooms a few kilometres down the slope, and hotels cost more in August.

Neither has much of a stage, though Andorra la Vella offers a little more: a small national classical orchestra, a summer jazz festival in Escaldes-Engordany, a classical music festival in Ordino and the odd concert in its congress and cultural halls.

San Marino has a small theatre and local ensembles. Its best-known event is the summer Medieval Days festival, with costumed musicians, crossbow contests and flag-throwers. For opera or a proper concert season, go to Bologna or Pesaro.

Andorra la Vella has much more to offer, thanks to Caldea, the thermal complex fed by Escaldes-Engordany's hot springs. Its lagoons, saunas and adults-only area are a natural end to a day outdoors. The town itself is busy with traffic, so for real quiet go to the villages in the side valleys.

San Marino has only a few hotel spas. What it has instead is the calm of the summit in the evening, walking the walls after the day visitors have gone. The thermal spas of Romagna and the Apennines are a separate outing.