Bled or Piran?

In both places you go for a swim rather than to lie on sand. At Bled the water is a lake, reached from grassy lidos and wooden piers, and the shallows at the western end suit nervous swimmers. Bohinj is close if you want colder, wilder water. The season is short, from late June to early September.

Piran comes out a little ahead because it has the sea. You climb down ladders and concrete platforms off the Punta into clear Adriatic water, Fiesa has a pebble cove, and there is some sand at Portoroz or on the quieter shore at Strunjan. The swimming season also starts earlier, in June.

Piran eats better, though neither is a food destination. Its strength is fish and shellfish from the gulf, such as scampi buzara and grilled squid, with Malvazija and Refosk wine from the hills behind and salt from the pans next door.

Bled serves mountain food such as trout, žlikrofi dumplings and buckwheat dishes, alongside pizzerias and hotel dining rooms, and its one famous item is the kremšnita cream slice. The best cooking near Bled is in the farm inns out in the valleys, so plan on driving for a good dinner.

In Piran the whole peninsula is the sight: a tight web of Venetian Gothic houses around Tartini Square, the campanile of St George's and the old walls on the ridge, with a maritime museum and a monastery cloister for slower hours. You can wander it for a day and still find new corners.

Bled has fewer sights, but they are more dramatic. There is the clifftop castle with its printing workshop, and the island church, reached by pletna boat, where visitors ring the wishing bell. Each takes a morning or an afternoon, and what draws people here is the setting more than the buildings.

Neither suits a big night out, but Piran at least offers a sunset glass of wine on the Punta or Tartini Square. Portoroz next door has beach bars, a casino and a few summer clubs. In Bled the evening ends with a drink on a terrace and a walk along the lit shore, and the village is quiet well before midnight. A real night out from Bled means going to Ljubljana.

This is Bled's great strength. It sits at the edge of the Julian Alps, with the Osojnica and Ojstrica viewpoints, the Vintgar Gorge and Triglav National Park nearby. Multi-day hut routes, rafting on the Sava, paragliding and winter skiing are all within easy reach.

Piran's outdoors is lower and gentler: cliff walks and sea kayaking at Strunjan, wading birds among the Secovlje salt pans, and cycling the Parenzana trail through olive groves. It is lovely in spring and autumn, but there are no real mountains within reach.

Both are good bases, and Piran is slightly ahead because three countries meet at its door. Trieste is under an hour away, Rovinj, Porec and Motovun in Croatian Istria are an easy drive, and in summer boats cross the gulf to Venice.

Bled's day trips are more Slovenian and Alpine. Ljubljana is within the hour, medieval Radovljica is just down the road, and Austria's Wörthersee is through the Karawanks tunnel. The Postojna cave and Predjama Castle take a full day from Bled but are only about an hour from Piran, and each town can be visited as a long day trip from the other.

Bled suits families slightly better, especially those whose children like being outside. Rowing out to the island, the toboggan run and rope park on Straža, the flat lake path for pushchairs and the shallow lidos fill several easy days.

Piran is car-free and safe, the aquarium keeps small children happy and Portoroz has a sandy beach. But swimming means climbing down ladders and the lanes are steep, so it works best for a short seaside stay. In both places a rainy day is hard to fill.

Both are small and easy to walk around, so the difference is what lies beyond the centre. Piran's old town is entirely car-free. Cars stay in a garage outside town and a shuttle runs to Portoroz, so once you are there you will not need any transport, but there is no railway.

Bled has trains on two lines and buses to Ljubljana and Bohinj, but the trailheads, Pokljuka and the Vršič pass are poorly served. From either town, a car hired for a day or two opens up most of the trips.

Bled's shopping comes down to a few lakeside stalls and gift shops selling honey, lace and painted beehive panels, plus a small supermarket for the basics. Piran has a little more to browse, with galleries and craft shops in its lanes. It also has better things to take home: salt flower from the Secovlje pans, Istrian olive oil and bottles of coastal wine.

For anything more, people staying in Bled go to Ljubljana, and those in Piran go to Trieste, just over the Italian border.

Costs are much the same, and so is the pattern. Each is the expensive address in its part of Slovenia, dearest in July and August, and the view is reflected in the bill. The way to save is different. Around Bled you stay in a village guesthouse, at the lakeside campsite, or in Radovljica or Bohinj. On the coast you sleep in Portoroz, eat in simple konobas and come out of season.

In both, the main pleasures are free: the lake path and mountain trails at Bled, and the swimming and seafront walks at Piran. At Bled, though, the boat to the island, the castle and the gorge all charge entry.

Piran has a modest summer programme built around Giuseppe Tartini, the violinist born in the town. There are classical concerts in its churches, the monastery cloister and on the main square, and the small Tartini Theatre puts on occasional plays and recitals. Bled has no venue at all, only an odd summer concert at the castle or a folk evening for visitors, so music lovers staying there end up in Ljubljana.

The two are close here and differ in kind. Bled's tradition goes back to Arnold Rikli's air and sun cures. Here that means hotel spas fed by the mild springs at the lake's eastern end, which day guests can sometimes use, and quiet mornings on still water below the mountains.

The coast offers sea-based treatments instead: seawater pools and brine baths in Portoroz, salt mud treatments in the open air at the Secovlje pans, and the seawater health resort at Strunjan. Piran adds its car-free lanes and long evenings by the bay, at their best in May, June and September.