Bled or Mostar?

Neither city is on the sea, but Bled has a lake you can spend whole summer days in. In July and August the water reaches about 24°C. People swim from the lidos and piers below the castle and at the shallow western end, and some swim out to the island. Lake Bohinj is a colder, wilder alternative nearby.

In Mostar the Neretva stays cold all summer. It is good for a quick plunge, not a long afternoon. The main swim is a 40km trip to the Kravica waterfalls, and the Adriatic at Neum is more than an hour's drive away, so swimming is a day out rather than part of daily life.

Mostar is the better place to eat, though neither city is a food destination. Its cooking has a clear identity: ćevapi grilled over charcoal and served in somun bread, burek, stuffed peppers, Žilavka and Blatina wines from the nearby valleys, and the slow ritual of Bosnian coffee.

Bled has kremšnita on a lakeside terrace and a few inns serving trout and žlikrofi, but much of the food is hotel and pizzeria cooking aimed at day visitors. Its better meals are out in the farm inns of the surrounding valleys.

Mostar has the stronger set of sights. Stari Most and its UNESCO-listed old town, the bridge divers, the bazaar street, a mosque with a minaret you can climb and the carpeted Ottoman houses make up a place whose layered and sometimes painful history is still visible on its walls.

Bled's culture comes down to the castle museum on its cliff and the baroque island church reached by pletna boat. Both are lovely to look at, but you will have seen them within a day. For anything deeper, a stay in Bled relies on Ljubljana.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Mostar at least offers some. After long dinners facing the lit bridge, a few cocktail bars and student clubs stay open later at weekends, more so in summer. In Bled the evening is a drink by the lake and a walk along the shore, and the village is asleep before midnight.

Bled is the better base for the outdoors, mainly because the Julian Alps are so close and so easy to reach. The level lake circuit, the short climbs to Ojstrica and Osojnica, the Vintgar Gorge, Bohinj and Pokljuka are all within about half an hour, with rafting on the Sava in summer and skiing in winter.

Mostar's landscape is harsher and more remote: the bare Velež and Prenj ranges, rafting in the Neretva canyons and the Buna spring at Blagaj. It rewards experienced hikers, but the summer heat in the valley pushes most walking into spring and autumn.

Bled has bigger places within reach. Ljubljana is under an hour away and Radovljica is next door, while Postojna, Predjama Castle, Piran and Austrian Carinthia each make a full day, so a week here can cover much of Slovenia.

Mostar's excursions are smaller and full of atmosphere: the dervish tekke at Blagaj, hillside Počitelj, the stećci tombstones at Stolac and Tito's bunker at Konjic. Sarajevo is the only big city in range, and the train ride through the Neretva gorge makes it a long day.

Bled is much easier with children. The flat lake path works for pushchairs, the lidos are shallow, and rowing to the island, the toboggan run on Straža and the gorge walkways give several days of outings. The weak point is a rainy day, as there is little to do indoors.

Mostar is fine for a day or two. The bridge divers and the swim at Kravica are the highlights, and restaurants welcome children warmly. But the slippery stone lanes and the summer heat are hard on young children.

You can walk around the centre of both towns, but Bled is better connected beyond it. The lake path links the whole village, buses run to Ljubljana and Bohinj, and there are two railway stations nearby, although the high mountain areas still call for a car.

In Mostar the old town and the Austro-Hungarian centre are a short walk apart, on cobbles worn slippery. Almost every excursion, from Blagaj to Kravica, needs a car, taxi or tour, and the train to Sarajevo is the main public transport link.

Mostar has a real shopping street in the Kujundžiluk, where a few coppersmiths still hammer coffee sets by hand among the kilims and lamps, though imported souvenirs fill many of the stalls. Bled has little beyond the lakeside stalls selling honey, lace and painted beehive panels, and anyone wanting more has to go to the capital.

Mostar is much cheaper. Family guesthouses, grilled food, local wine and coffee all cost little, and only the terraces with bridge views and old-town rooms in midsummer push prices up.

Bled charges the premium of Slovenia's best-known resort, especially in July and August, and the boat trips, the castle and the gorge all charge entry. Its best sights, the shore path and the mountain trails, are free, and staying in Bohinj or Radovljica lowers the bill.

You wouldn't plan an evening in either town around a performance, but Mostar at least has stages that stay open all year. In Bled there is nothing you can book ahead. A summer concert or a folk show may happen during your stay, or it may not. If you want to see a play or hear an orchestra, you spend the evening in Ljubljana, under an hour away.

Mostar has a small programme in its national theatre and youth theatre through most of the year. Most plays are in the local language, so they suit visitors who enjoy the setting more than the script. Summer is the easier season for visitors, when concerts move outdoors. The rest of the time, live music means whichever band is playing in a café bar that night.

Bled grew up as a health resort, and it still feels like one. Mild springs warm the eastern end of the lake and feed hotel spas and pools, some of them open to day guests, and quiet early mornings on the shore do the rest.

Mostar has no working bathing tradition. Its Ottoman hammam is a historic building rather than a working bath, and spa options are limited to treatments in a few hotels. The calm there comes from long coffees in the shade and the quiet hours after the coach groups leave.