Bari or Zadar?

Zadar makes swimming more of a daily habit. You can climb into clear water straight off the stone promenade on the peninsula, and ferries open up quiet island coves, with Nin's shallow sand and the pale beach at Sakarun on Dugi Otok as the standouts. The catch is that the city beaches are pebble and concrete, and they get crowded.

Bari has the sandier city beach in Pane e Pomodoro, but it is an ordinary urban strip. The swimming worth travelling for is half an hour south, at Polignano's cliff-walled cove and the rocky inlets around Monopoli, so beach time there tends to be a half-day outing rather than the rhythm of the trip.

Food is one of the main reasons to choose Bari, and here the gap is wide. The city has its own street food, focaccia barese, panzerotti and fried sgagliozze, alongside raw urchins and octopus at the old pier and generous plates of tiella, burrata and orecchiette with turnip tops, all at fair prices.

Zadar eats well enough on grilled fish, black risotto and lamb under the peka, and Maraschino and Pag cheese give it some local character. But the restaurants on the peninsula mostly serve the same menu, so after a few days there is less to discover than in Bari's lanes.

These two are evenly matched: in either one, a compact old town on a peninsula can be covered in a couple of days. What differs is the character. Bari's draw is religious and Romanesque, with the Basilica di San Nicola and its pilgrims, the cathedral and the Norman-Swabian castle, plus the nineteenth-century grid and promenade of the Murat quarter.

Zadar packs in more layers of time, from the open Roman forum and round St Donatus to the UNESCO-listed Venetian walls. It also has the better small museums, ancient glass in particular, and two modern waterfront pieces, the Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun, that have no equivalent in Bari.

Bari has the busier nights out. Students and young locals pack Piazza Mercantile and Piazza Ferrarese late into the evening, bars in the Umbertino streets and along the seafront stay open past midnight, and in high summer beach clubs south of the city take over. It is mostly a local crowd, and it calms down on winter weeknights.

Zadar's evenings are gentler: sunset at the Sea Organ, then café-bars along Kalelarga and a few terraces on the walls. Anyone after proper clubbing has to make the hour's trip to Zrće on Pag, and outside summer the town is very quiet.

Zadar is far stronger for the outdoors. The Velebit rises right behind the coast, with Paklenica's limestone gorges for serious hiking and climbing, and the islands offer sailing to Kornati and Telašćica, sea kayaking and birdwatching at Lake Vrana. Krka's waterfalls and Plitvice are both within reach.

Around Bari the land is flat, with olive groves and stone walls. The Alta Murgia plateau and the Valle d'Itria suit quiet walks and gentle cycling, and the Castellana caves make a good outing, but there are no mountains and nothing as wild as the Croatian coast.

Bari is one of the best bases in southern Italy for day trips. Matera's cave dwellings, the trulli of Alberobello, Ostuni and the Valle d'Itria towns, Castel del Monte, Trani's seafront cathedral and Baroque Lecce are all reachable in a day, many of them by train.

Zadar has a good list too, with Šibenik's UNESCO cathedral, little Nin and the island villages by ferry. Its big names, Split and Trogir, make long days, though, and you will mostly need a car or an organised excursion.

Both work about equally well with children, and neither has much built for them. In both, children join the evening stroll and the old towns are traffic-free. Bari gives you a sandy city beach and outings to the Castellana caves and the Fasano safari park.

Zadar's appeal for children is the sea. The Sea Organ and the light-up tiles of the Greeting to the Sun, Nin's shallow sandy beaches and short ferry rides to the islands make easy, cheerful days out.

Both centres are small and flat enough to cover on foot, and in both the local buses are of little use to visitors. Bari has the edge for public transport. A rail link runs to the airport, and regional lines run to Polignano, Trani, Matera and Alberobello, though they are slow enough that many people still hire a car for the inland towns.

Zadar's advantage is the water: island ferries leave from the edge of the pedestrian peninsula. For the national parks and the wider coast, though, a car or a tour is almost essential, and parking near the old town is difficult in summer.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Bari offers more. Via Sparano and the Murat streets around it have Italian chains and a few upmarket boutiques, and the old town's pasta, taralli, olive oil and Puglian ceramics make good gifts to take home.

Zadar offers jewellers and souvenir shops along Kalelarga and malls on the edge of town. The best of it is the market by the walls and local produce: Maraschino, Pag cheese, figs and Pag lace.

Bari is the easier city on the wallet. Street food, trattoria lunches and local wine are cheap, the old town and basilica cost nothing, and rooms stay moderately priced except in high summer.

Zadar is better value than the famous towns further down the Dalmatian coast, but it is still priced roughly like a mid-range Western European city. The old town's main streets are expensive to eat on, and national park tickets and boat trips quickly add to the cost of the outdoor days that are its main draw.

Bari has the stronger stage. The Teatro Petruzzelli, one of Italy's largest opera houses, runs a full season of opera, ballet and concerts, and in summer a long-running jazz festival and open-air concerts fill the piazzas and the castle.

Zadar's highlight is narrower but memorable: early and chamber music in the ninth-century St Donatus during the summer series, with the chance of hearing klapa singing in the squares. Outside July and August there is little on.

Neither city has a spa tradition, so in both relaxing means slowing down. Zadar edges it, with resort spas at Borik, the old mud-bathing custom in Nin's lagoon and sunset on the Sea Organ steps.

In Bari, unwinding means long lunches and the evening walk along the promenade. For real pampering, visitors head out to the restored country estates beyond the city.