Bled or Zadar?

Zadar is the place for swimming. Bled's lake reaches about the same warmth in high summer, and swimming there means grassy lidos, wooden piers and the long swim out to the island. Lake Bohinj nearby is colder and wilder, and the whole season lasts only about ten weeks.

Zadar has the open Adriatic. Locals swim off the stone promenade, and Kolovare and Borik are within easy reach, though they are pebble and concrete rather than sand and get crowded. The real draw is further out: the shallow sandy beaches at Nin, and ferry trips to Ugljan, Pašman and the pale sands of Sakarun.

Neither town is a destination for food, but Zadar gives you more to enjoy. In Bled you get kremšnita on a lakeside terrace, trout and žlikrofi in the inns and a lot of hotel and pizzeria cooking. The better meals are out in the valley farm inns.

Zadar has proper Dalmatian coastal cooking: grilled fish, black risotto, octopus or lamb under the peka bell, and Pag cheese with pršut. Maraschino, the local liqueur, and the market by the walls add something you can't get in Bled, even if the menus on the peninsula start to look alike after a few days.

Zadar has much more history to explore. Its walled peninsula packs in an open Roman forum, the round church of St Donatus, a Romanesque cathedral with a bell tower you can climb and UNESCO-listed Venetian walls. The museums of ancient glass and archaeology are small but good, and the Sea Organ adds a modern note. It is a solid two days of sightseeing.

Bled's sights are fewer but make lovely pictures: the castle on its cliff with a small museum, and the pletna boat ride to the island church with its wishing bell. One day covers them.

Bled's evenings mean a terrace drink after dinner and a stroll along the lit shore. There are no clubs, and anyone after a night out has to go to Ljubljana.

Zadar has a small but real summer scene. It starts at sunset by the Sea Organ and moves on to café-bars along Kalelarga and terrace bars on the walls, with warm nights going on fairly late. Serious clubbing means the party beach at Zrće on Pag, about an hour away. Outside the summer months both towns go quiet.

There is little to choose between them for the outdoors, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Bled is Alpine country: the lake circuit and the steep climbs to Osojnica, the green river below the Vintgar walkways, and Triglav National Park with Bohinj and the Pokljuka plateau. Add rafting on the Sava, the Soča valley over the Vršič pass, and skiing at Vogel and on Pokljuka in winter.

Zadar's outdoors is limestone and sea. You get gorge hiking and climbing in Paklenica, sailing to the bare Kornati and Telašćica, sea kayaking, and the waterfalls at Krka and Plitvice. Its high walks are best in spring and autumn, because the summer heat makes them hard work. At Bled, summer is the season for the high hut routes in the mountains.

From Bled you can tour a whole small country and cross its borders too. Ljubljana is under an hour away and medieval Radovljica is just down the road. Postojna's cave with cliff-built Predjama Castle makes a full day, as does Piran on the Adriatic, and Villach and the Wörthersee in Austria are through the Karawanks tunnel.

Zadar's outings stay on the Dalmatian coast and out among the islands. Šibenik's cathedral and Nin's tiny royal church are close by. Split and Trogir make long but rewarding days, and ferries go straight from the harbour to car-free Silba.

Both work about equally well for families, in different ways. Bled is for active children: rowing out to the island to ring the bell, the summer toboggan and rope park on Straža, and the Vintgar walkways. A wet day is hard to fill.

In Zadar, family time centres on the sea, with Nin's shallow sand the best choice for small children and ferry rides that feel like an adventure. The lit-up Greeting to the Sun and late family evenings out are a bonus, but the midsummer heat can wear children down.

Bled's strength is the railway. Lesce-Bled is on the main line and Bled Jezero is on the scenic Bohinj line, so the trains are useful to visitors in a way that Zadar's sparse rail services are not. In the village, the lake path links everything on foot. The trailheads and mountain passes, though, are poorly served without a car.

In Zadar, the water does that job. Ferries leave from the edge of the flat, car-free peninsula, which takes about a quarter of an hour to cross, so island hopping is easy. For the national parks and the wider coast, a hire car or an organised excursion is far more practical than the buses.

Zadar has more to browse, though neither is a shopping town. Kalelarga's marble street has jewellers, chains and galleries, and the market by the walls is good for Maraschino, Pag cheese, figs, olive oil and Pag lace.

Bled has little more than a few lakeside stalls selling honey, painted beehive panels and lace, plus a supermarket. For real shopping you go to Ljubljana.

Zadar is a little easier on the budget. Bled charges for being Slovenia's best-known resort, and lakeside rooms and terrace restaurants cost more. Staying in Radovljica, Bohinj or at the lakeside campsite brings costs down, and the trails and viewpoints are free.

Zadar's private apartments are good value outside high summer, and it costs less than the famous towns further south along the coast. In both places, July and August push prices up, and paid extras soon add up: boat trips and gorge entry at Bled, national park fees and excursions from Zadar.

Zadar has the one regular cultural event either town can offer: the Musical Evenings in St Donatus, a long-running summer series of early and chamber music inside the ninth-century church. Add to that summer concerts in churches and squares, klapa singing and a small Croatian-language theatre.

Bled has no venue of its own and only the occasional summer concert in the castle or a church, so opera and theatre mean a trip to Ljubljana.

Bled is the better place to unwind. It grew up around Arnold Rikli's air and sun cures, and warm springs feed the indoor pools of several lakeside hotels, some of which let in day guests. Outside the summer peak, the lake is very quiet.

Zadar's relaxation is more about a rhythm of the day than any spa tradition. There are long café mornings, a siesta and sunset on the Sea Organ steps. Spas are limited to the hotels at Borik, plus the mineral mud of the Nin lagoon.