Belfast or Kilkenny?

Neither is a beach destination, but Belfast is at least close to the sea. Helen's Bay and Crawfordsburn are a short train ride along the County Down shore, so a bracing afternoon on the sand is easy without a car.

Kilkenny is inland, and Tramore or the coves of the Copper Coast are about an hour away by car. In both places a swim is a brisk dip for hardy swimmers, and most visitors go to the coast to walk, not to lie on the beach.

Belfast has more to offer at the table. Seasonal tasting menus in the Cathedral Quarter and on the Lisburn Road are built around Strangford oysters, Mourne lamb and dry-aged beef, and St George's Market is a good weekend place to graze. Pubs pour careful stout and stock plenty of Irish whiskey.

Kilkenny makes good use of the county's dairy, lamb and cheese, but its most ambitious cooking is in country-house kitchens outside town. In the centre you mostly eat in gastropubs. Its drinking story is red ale and the old brewery by St Francis Abbey, and there is little street food or cooking from abroad.

The two tell very different stories, and Belfast gives you more to fill several days. Its heritage is industrial and recent: the shipyard cranes and Titanic Belfast, the domed City Hall, the Ulster Museum and Crumlin Road Gaol. The political murals and peace walls of the Falls and Shankill, best seen with a local guide, show a side of Irish history that Kilkenny has nothing to match.

Kilkenny is medieval and all in one place. The Medieval Mile links the castle on the Nore with St Canice's Cathedral, with Rothe House, the Black Abbey and the narrow slips in between. It is lovely and coherent, but most visitors have seen it in a day or two.

Both are pub towns, but Belfast has more range and more people out. The Cathedral Quarter's cobbled entries, the Victorian Crown Liquor Saloon and the student bars around Botanic Avenue give you several areas to choose from, though clubs are few and closing times early.

In Kilkenny the low-ceilinged bars on High Street and Parliament Street are full on Fridays and Saturdays, often with wedding and birthday groups. Midweek and out of season the town goes quiet early.

This is where Belfast pulls furthest ahead. Cave Hill's basalt cliffs and the Black Mountain are a bus ride from the centre, and the Lagan towpath runs south for walking and cycling. The granite Mournes are about an hour south, and the Causeway Coast, with its columns and cliff paths, is one of the finest coastlines in these islands.

Around Kilkenny the country is softer: the wooded Nore Valley Way, modest climbs on Brandon Hill and the Blackstairs, and forest trails at Castlecomer. For real mountains you drive an hour to the Comeraghs.

Both make good bases, with Belfast offering a slightly wider mix. From Belfast you can take the train to Dublin, follow the Antrim coast past Dunluce and Bushmills, or visit Carrickfergus Castle, Armagh's cathedrals and the walled city of Derry.

Kilkenny's day trips centre on monastic and Norman ruins: the Rock of Cashel, Jerpoint's carved cloister, Kells Priory and Glendalough, with Waterford's Viking quarter under an hour south. Apart from Dublin and Waterford, you need a car to reach them.

Belfast has more for children to do. W5's hands-on science and Titanic Belfast fill a rainy day, the zoo sits on Cave Hill, and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum has trams and steam engines.

Kilkenny is relaxed and safe, with castle lawns and a playground. Its best family outings, the tree-top courses near Castlecomer and Dunmore Cave, need a drive, and busy weekend nights in the centre are best avoided with small children.

Both centres are walkable, but Belfast backs its walkable centre with the Glider rapid buses and suburban trains along the lough. That makes Holywood or Carrickfergus easy without a car, though buses thin out in the evening.

In Kilkenny everything is on foot along a 1km spine, and the station is close by. Beyond the town, rural buses are sparse, so a hire car or a tour is close to essential.

Belfast has the wider range: high-street chains around Donegall Place, the glass-domed Victoria Square, independents on the Lisburn Road, and Irish linen as the souvenir to look for.

Kilkenny's strength is craft. The old castle stables and studios around the county sell pottery, glass, silver and woollens made locally. Beyond that, a stroll along High Street fills an afternoon.

Belfast is the easier of the two on the budget, because the everyday costs stay moderate: pub food, buses and taxis. The money goes on the headline paid attractions and coach tours up the coast, on restaurant meals and drinks at UK prices, and on rooms during big concert and event weekends.

The cheapest way to do Kilkenny is a guesthouse or B&B on the edge of town midweek. Walking the Medieval Mile costs nothing, and the castle and heritage sites charge only modest entry. The bill climbs with each pint and dinner in town, and with any day spent exploring the county beyond it.

Belfast has music and theatre all year round. Traditional sessions play in pubs most nights, the Ulster Orchestra performs at the Ulster Hall, and the Grand Opera House, the Lyric and the MAC cover musicals, Irish drama and mixed arts.

Kilkenny's pubs also have fiddles and bodhráns most evenings, but its stage life centres on its festivals. The August arts festival brings classical concerts to St Canice's Cathedral, and there are comedy and roots music weekends in early summer. Outside those weeks there is far less on.

Neither has a bathing tradition, so the difference is in setting. Belfast offers hotel spas, cold dips with the lough-shore swimmers and slow walks in the Botanic Gardens.

In Kilkenny the best option is a country-house estate on the edge of town, with a pool set in parkland. The centre itself is noisy on weekend nights.