Bologna or Pula?

Pula is a real swimming destination and Bologna is not. In Pula you swim straight off rocks, platforms and pebble coves around Verudela and Stoja, in very clear water. The best of it is at Cape Kamenjak, and the sheltered bays of Medulin suit small children. Bring water shoes, as there is no sand.

From Bologna, the sea means about an hour on the train to Rimini or Cervia. There you find shallow, warm water, often greenish, and long rows of rented umbrellas. It works as an escape from the city heat but not as a beach vacation.

Eating is one of the main reasons to go to Bologna. Ragù, tortellini in brodo, mortadella and hand-rolled pasta are made in the city where they come from, and the delicatessens of the Quadrilatero are stacked with Parmigiano and Parma ham from towns less than an hour away. The weak spot is variety, since almost everything is Emilian.

Istrian cooking in Pula is distinctive, with truffle fuži, scampi buzara and Malvazija wine. But the city's own restaurants are limited and lean towards tourist menus around the Arena, so the best meals often mean a drive to a village konoba inland.

Bologna's appeal is the whole medieval brick centre. It has kilometres of UNESCO-listed porticoes, the Two Towers, the seven churches of Santo Stefano, the anatomical theatre of Europe's oldest university and a strong gallery of Bolognese painting, enough for two or three full days.

Pula's sights are fewer but very good. The Arena is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres there is, with the Temple of Augustus on the Forum and the Arch of the Sergii close by. Habsburg naval buildings and forts add a second layer, but a day or two covers it all.

Bologna's student population keeps the city out late for most of the year. Crowds spill out of cheap bars around Piazza Verdi, small taverns line Via del Pratello, and wine bars fill after aperitivo. It is casual rather than glamorous, and clubs are a taxi ride out.

Pula's nights are terrace drinks around the Forum and beach bars on Verudela and in Medulin, and only in summer. The two cities peak at opposite times: Pula is at its liveliest in August, just when Bologna's students have left and its streets go quiet.

Pula has more outdoors on its doorstep. Kamenjak's car-free headland has cliffs, wild flowers and dinosaur footprints. You can kayak among the islets, windsurf at Premantura and dive on naval-era wrecks, and the Učka range offers proper hiking.

Bologna's outdoors means hills rather than sea. You can walk the Colli Bolognesi and up to San Luca, see the gypsum caves of the Parco dei Gessi, and set out on the Via degli Dei trail to Florence from Piazza Maggiore itself. There is modest skiing at Corno alle Scale in winter.

Bologna is about as good a base as Europe offers. Florence is barely half an hour away by fast train. Ravenna's mosaics, Ferrara, Modena and Parma are all short rides, and Venice and Verona are close enough for a day, all without a car.

From Pula, Rovinj, the Euphrasian Basilica at Poreč, the hill towns of Motovun and Grožnjan, and the Brijuni islands make a fine programme. But buses are thin, so most of these trips depend on hiring a car.

Pula is easier with children, mostly because of the sea. The shallow bays around Medulin, the aquarium inside a Habsburg fort and the Arena's underground passages fill the days, and there is a dinosaur park and a water park within an hour. Rocky shores and the need for a car take some effort.

Bologna is pleasant to walk with a pushchair, being flat, traffic-calmed and shaded by porticoes, and gelato never fails. Climbing the Asinelli tower is a treat for older children. Otherwise the city is churches and museums, and Mirabilandia or the Rimini beach means a day out.

In Bologna you can do without a car altogether. The centre is flat and walkable under the arcades, much of it is closed to traffic, and the main station sits at its edge with fast trains in every direction. There is no metro, but buses and an airport shuttle cover the gaps.

Pula's old town is just as easy on foot, and city buses reach Verudela. Beyond that, rail and regional buses are of little help, so Kamenjak, the wider coast and inland Istria really need a car or a scooter.

In both cities the best things to take home are edible. Bologna has more besides: the luxury houses along Via Farini and in the Galleria Cavour, the Montagnola market, an antiques market at Santo Stefano and vintage and book shops in the university quarter.

Pula has truffle products, olive oil, rakija and pršut from the market hall, and not much else beyond chain stores and souvenirs on the main pedestrian street.

The overall cost is much the same, but it adds up in different ways. In Bologna the meals are good value and the sights are mostly free churches and squares, while rooms are the expense, especially during the big trade fairs.

In Pula the season matters most. Apartments and konobas are reasonable in spring and autumn, but July and August rooms cost as much as on Western European coasts, and you need to budget for car hire and boat trips.

Bologna has a music scene all year. The Teatro Comunale is one of Italy's historic opera houses, the city is a UNESCO City of Music, and there is jazz in basement clubs on most nights and student gigs in small venues.

Pula has one great setting: concerts and film festival screenings inside the Roman Arena on summer nights. The rest of the year there is little beyond Croatian-language theatre.

Neither city is a spa destination, but Bologna has real thermal water close by. Castel San Pietro Terme is twenty minutes away and the old spa town of Porretta Terme an hour into the Apennines, both good for a calm half day.

In Pula, wellness means the spa areas of the resort hotels on Verudela and in Medulin. The slower pace helps too, with evening walks on the pine-shaded coastal paths outside high summer.