Bath or Limerick?

Neither city is a beach destination, and from both the coast is about an hour away. What you find there is very different. From Bath it is Weston-super-Mare on the Bristol Channel, with brown, shallow water and a tide that goes out a very long way. From Limerick it is the wide Atlantic sand of Kilkee, Lahinch and Ballybunion, with surf that rewards a wetsuit.

Bath has the closer option for a summer dip, with river swimming in the Avon at a weir east of the city. In Limerick nobody swims in the tidal Shannon, so the coast is the only choice.

Bath eats a little better. More independent restaurants and gastropubs are packed into the lanes around the Abbey and up Walcot Street, and the city has its own baked goods in the Bath bun and the Sally Lunn bun. Afternoon tea in a Georgian tearoom is a ritual Limerick has no answer to.

Limerick's strength is the produce of the Munster farmland, best seen at the Milk Market at the weekend, along with its long tradition of cured ham and a well-poured stout. Both lack range. Bath has little street food and empties early, and Limerick serves plenty of solid meals but few memorable ones.

Culture is one of the widest gaps between the two. All of Bath is a World Heritage Site. Its Georgian set pieces, the Circus, the Royal Crescent and Pulteney Bridge, are a few minutes' walk from the Roman Baths and the Abbey. The Holburne, No. 1 Royal Crescent and the Herschel Museum fill in the rest, and the honey-coloured streets are worth seeing in their own right.

Limerick has fewer sights, and they are smaller in scale. King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral stand on King's Island, the Treaty Stone is across Thomond Bridge, and the Hunt Museum keeps its medieval collection in the old Custom House. The brick terraces of the Georgian Quarter are pleasant for a walk, but they are a backdrop to a stay rather than the reason for it, as Bath's streets are.

Limerick is the better night out. Its pubs around O'Connell Street and Thomas Street range from snugs with open fires to loud late bars, and a few clubs stay open into the early hours at weekends. Students from its three colleges keep weeknights busy during term, and a Munster match at Thomond Park fills the whole centre.

Bath's evenings are quieter and end earlier: coaching inns and real-ale pubs, a handful of student clubs, and on weeknights little to do after dinner. Its answer is that Bristol is a short train ride away for a bigger night.

Both cities sit in green, rainy country, and they differ in how you reach it rather than in quality. From Bath you can walk straight out of the centre onto the Skyline loop or the Kennet and Avon towpath, or cycle the Two Tunnels Greenway, with Cheddar Gorge within an hour. All of it is gentle, rolling English landscape.

Limerick's own outdoors is mostly riverside paths along the Shannon. With a car you reach wilder country: kayaking on Lough Derg, hill walking in the Galtees, and the Burren's limestone and the Cliffs of Moher on the Atlantic.

Bath has the better day trips, and more of them are easy to reach. Bristol and Cardiff are both on the railway. Stonehenge and Avebury are about an hour away, and Wells, Glastonbury, Lacock, the southern Cotswolds and Salisbury are all within reach. In a short stay you could see Roman, prehistoric and medieval England.

Limerick is a sound touring base. Bunratty and Adare are close and the Rock of Cashel is about an hour off, but Galway, Cork and Killarney are long drives, and almost everything depends on a car or a coach tour.

Bath has a little more for children. The Roman Baths, with rising steam and costumed characters, are a real hit, and Royal Victoria Park has a large playground. Bristol's science centre, aquarium and wildlife park are a short train ride away, and Longleat's safari park is a drive off. The steep streets are hard work with a pushchair.

Limerick is flat and easy with a buggy, and King John's Castle and Bunratty Folk Park make good outings. There is no zoo, aquarium or theme park nearby, though, and rain often decides the day.

Bath is the easier place without a car. The centre takes about twenty minutes to walk end to end, much of it is pedestrianised, and direct trains run to London as well as Bristol. The only real effort is the hills up to the outer viewpoints.

Limerick's centre is flat and just as easy to walk, with buses to the university and trains to Dublin, Ennis and Galway. Beyond the city, though, rural buses are infrequent, so most visitors hire a car, often from Shannon Airport. Bath's country villages need a car too, but far more of its outings work by rail.

Shopping is a real reason to visit Bath. It has fashion on Milsom Street in Georgian buildings, antiques on Bartlett Street, furniture makers and salvage dealers on Walcot Street, the centuries-old Guildhall Market and the little shops along Pulteney Bridge. Browsing is half the pleasure.

Limerick's shopping is mostly high-street names on O'Connell Street and a suburban shopping centre. The Milk Market's craft and secondhand stalls are the most interesting stop, and Limerick lace takes some finding. For Irish woollens and design you will find more choice in Clare or Kerry.

Limerick is the cheaper place to stay. Hotel rooms are fairly priced for Western Europe outside high summer and big rugby weekends, and the main sights cost little. Eating, drinking and car hire are still expensive, and the car is often the biggest bill.

Bath's central hotels are dear, and very dear on summer weekends and around Christmas, and the Roman Baths and the spa add up. You do save on transport because you need no car. Staying midweek, or sleeping in Bristol, does the most to bring the bill down.

The two are broadly level, but the evenings feel different. Bath's stage life centres on the gilded Georgian Theatre Royal, with touring drama, opera, dance and a Christmas pantomime. There are also concerts in the Abbey and the Assembly Rooms, and long-running festivals of literature and Mozart.

Limerick has something Bath lacks: a resident ensemble, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, which plays at the University Concert Hall. Its best offer, though, is the traditional music sessions in its pubs. For opera or a big production you would go to Dublin.

Bath was built on its hot springs, and bathing in them is the core of a visit. You can soak in the rooftop pool at Thermae Bath Spa, which looks across to the Abbey, or in the quieter Georgian Cross Bath. Tea in the Pump Room and a walk in the parade gardens fill the rest of a slow day.

Limerick has no bathing tradition of its own, so relaxing in town means a hotel spa or a stroll along the Shannon. For more, go out to the country-house spas around Adare and Lough Derg, or to the hot seaweed baths on the Atlantic coast.