Bath or Liverpool?

Neither city is a swimming destination, but Liverpool at least has sand close by. Merseyrail runs straight out to Crosby, where Gormley's iron men stand on the flats, and on to the dunes and pines of Formby, and New Brighton is just across the river. These are beaches for walks and sunsets rather than a swim in the Irish Sea.

Bath sits in a river valley and has nothing like this. Weston-super-Mare is an hour away and its sea is brown and shallow. A summer swim means the Avon near the weir, or a long day out to the Dorset and Devon coast.

The two are close here and differ in what you eat rather than how well. Bath relies on West Country produce and its own baking: Somerset cider and cheese, the Sally Lunn bun, afternoon tea in Georgian tearooms and the farmers' market at Green Park station. The range is narrow, though, with little cooking from other cuisines and almost no street food.

Liverpool has its own dish, scouse, and a long-standing Chinatown. Its more interesting eating is found in the international kitchens of Bold Street and the street-food halls of the Baltic Triangle. Neither is a fine-dining city, and Liverpool's Victorian gin palaces are the more memorable places to sit with a drink.

Both cities fill two or three days well, but in very different ways. The whole of Bath is a World Heritage Site and reads as one complete eighteenth-century set piece. The Royal Crescent, the Circus and Pulteney Bridge sit above the Roman Baths and beside the Abbey, and Jane Austen turns up at every corner.

Liverpool's sights tell the story of a great port: the Three Graces at the Pier Head, the maritime and slavery museums in the Royal Albert Dock warehouses, and the Walker's Pre-Raphaelites on William Brown Street. Add the Beatles and two striking twentieth-century cathedrals, and Liverpool offers weightier history and bigger museums, where Bath offers unbroken Georgian streets.

Liverpool is by far the better night out. Concert Square, Seel Street and Wood Street fill with bars and clubs at weekends, the Baltic Triangle's warehouses hold late electronic nights, and Lark Lane has a calmer run of local bars. Many nights finish well after 2am.

Evenings in Bath centre on old coaching inns, real-ale pubs on Walcot Street and a handful of cocktail bars. On weeknights the city goes quiet soon after dinner, and anyone wanting more takes the short train to Bristol.

Bath has the slight edge, mainly because its countryside starts at the end of the street. The Skyline loop follows the green ridges above the city, the Kennet and Avon towpath heads into the Limpley Stoke valley, and the Cotswolds and Cheddar Gorge are within an hour.

Liverpool is flat and its green spaces are gentler: Sefton Park with its palm house, the breezy promenade along the Mersey, and the protected dunes of Formby, where red squirrels live. Real hills in North Wales or the Lake District are about two hours away.

Bath is clearly the better base for day trips. Stonehenge and Avebury, Wells and Glastonbury, Lacock, Bradford-on-Avon and the southern Cotswolds are all within about an hour, and Bristol is a quarter of an hour away by train. Many of the villages, though, need a car or a tour.

From Liverpool you can reach Chester's walls and Rows, Manchester in under an hour and Port Sunlight close by, with Conwy and Llandudno for a longer day. After that the options run out, while Bath could fill a week of outings.

The two are broadly level, though Liverpool is a little easier on parents. Its free museums do much of the work, with dinosaurs and a planetarium at the World Museum and a play gallery at the Museum of Liverpool. The waterfront is flat, the Mersey ferry makes an easy outing, and Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park are both close.

Bath has the Roman Baths, which children usually love, and a large playground in Royal Victoria Park. Beyond those, its steep streets are hard work with a pushchair and most of the city is built for adults. Families usually add Longleat's safari park or Bristol's science centre and aquarium.

Both centres are easy to walk, so the difference lies in the shape of each place. Bath is tiny, about twenty minutes from end to end and largely pedestrianised, but its hills are steep and a car is a burden, so drivers use the park-and-ride.

Liverpool spreads a little wider, with its sights within about 2km of each other. Its real advantage is Merseyrail, with frequent trains to the beaches and the Wirral. Liverpool's buses are confusing for visitors, while most of Bath's country sights need a car.

Little separates the two, and the choice comes down to style. Bath is a city for browsing: independent bookshops and jewellers in the lanes by the Abbey, antiques on Bartlett Street, makers and salvage dealers on Walcot Street, and the Guildhall Market, which has traded for centuries. Fashion is along Milsom Street.

Liverpool is the high-street city, with the chains and department stores of Liverpool ONE's open-air streets balanced by vintage clothes and records on Bold Street. Beatles and football souvenirs are the local speciality, and neither city has much luxury shopping.

Liverpool is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotel rooms cost noticeably less for most of the year, except on big match weekends, during the Grand National and around large concerts. Free entry to the major museums keeps sightseeing cheap.

Bath is expensive. Central rooms are costly in a small, popular city, and the Roman Baths and the spa charge high entry. Staying midweek or sleeping in Bristol helps, and in both cities pub lunches keep the cost of food down.

Liverpool has the fuller programme. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic plays a full season in its hall on Hope Street, and the Everyman and the Playhouse produce their own theatre. Live bands play most nights around Mathew Street and the Baltic Triangle, including in the famous Cavern cellar.

Bath's stage life centres on the gilded Georgian Theatre Royal, with touring drama, opera and pantomime. There are also concerts in the Abbey and the Assembly Rooms and long-running literature and music festivals. Bath has no resident orchestra, though, and on most nights there is little live music to choose from.

This is Bath's defining strength and Liverpool's weakest point. Bath is the one place in Britain where you can bathe in natural thermal water, which rises at about 46°C. You can soak in the rooftop pool looking over the Abbey or in the small Georgian Cross Bath, and the whole town moves at a slow pace of tea in the Pump Room and walks in the gardens.

Liverpool has hotel and day spas but no bathing culture, and its weekend nights are loud. Rest there means a walk in Sefton Park, a ferry crossing or a quiet afternoon in a gallery.