Bologna or Zagreb?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Bologna is closer to a real sea. Rimini and the Romagna Riviera are about an hour away by train, with shallow, warm Adriatic water lined with organised lidos and sunbeds, so a seaside day fits easily into a hot week.

From Zagreb the coast is about two hours' drive over the hills, too far for a casual outing. In return it has swimming inside the city at Lake Jarun and Bundek, pebbly former gravel pits that are good for cooling off in the afternoon, which Bologna has nothing to match on its doorstep.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Bologna is worth the trip for the food alone: hand-rolled tagliatelle and tortellini, mortadella, and Parmigiano and Parma ham from towns down the road, eaten in old osterie and bought in the delicatessens of the Quadrilatero.

Zagreb eats well in a heartier, Central European way, with štrukli, turkey with mlinci and the farmers' stalls of Dolac market, but the range is narrower and serious kitchens are few. Its real ritual is coffee, above all the Saturday morning promenade around Flower Square. Bologna's equivalent comes in the evening, with aperitivo.

Bologna has more to see. There are close to 40km of UNESCO-listed porticoes, Piazza Maggiore and San Petronio, the Two Towers, the seven churches of Santo Stefano and the anatomical theatre of Europe's oldest university, enough for two or three full days.

Zagreb rewards a slower look. The Upper Town has St Mark's tiled roof and the Stone Gate, the Austro-Hungarian Green Horseshoe lies below, and the museums are likeable rather than famous, from naive art to the Museum of Broken Relationships. Mirogoj cemetery is its finest single sight, and two days cover most of the city.

Both cities run on students and terraces rather than clubs, but Bologna's evenings are livelier. Crowds of young people fill Piazza Verdi and Via Petroni outside cheap bars, the taverns of Via del Pratello stay open late, and aperitivo gets the night off to a proper start. The catch is August, when the students leave and the city goes quiet.

Zagreb's nights grow out of its café-bars. The terraces of Tkalčićeva are the main strip, and there are smaller cocktail and craft beer bars around Flower Square. Summer is its stronger season, when the lakeside clubs at Jarun take over, just as Bologna empties.

Zagreb has the greener surroundings. Medvednica's beech forests and mountain huts begin at the northern edge of the city, a tram and bus ride from the centre, Maksimir has old oak woods inside the city, and the lakes and waterfalls of Plitvice make a long day out.

Close to Bologna the outdoors are gentler: the walk up to San Luca and the Colli Bolognesi. Further out it has the Via degli Dei trail to Florence and higher Apennine country at Corno alle Scale. Its humid summers push outdoor plans into spring and autumn.

Here Bologna is in a different league. Florence is barely half an hour away by fast train, Ravenna's mosaics and Ferrara's walls an hour or less, and Modena, Parma, Verona, Padua and Venice are all easy rail outings, so the city works as a base for much of northern Italy.

Zagreb's outings are pleasant and more rural: the Zagorje castle at Trakošćan, baroque Varaždin, cream cake in Samobor and the fortress town of Karlovac, with Ljubljana as a long day. Several are easier by car, and none compares with Florence or Venice.

Both are easy cities to be in with children, and both are short on attractions made for them, but what they offer differs. Zagreb has more within the city: the zoo in Maksimir, the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum with its old trams and mock mine, the funicular ride and summer swimming at Jarun and Bundek.

Bologna's centre is flat, largely free of traffic and shaded by porticoes, and climbing the Asinelli tower suits older children. For bigger outings, families head out to the Mirabilandia theme park or the beach at Rimini. Its summer heat is harder on small children than Zagreb's milder summers.

Both centres are compact, and neither city needs a car. Bologna is slightly easier on foot because it is flat and arcaded, so you can walk in shade or out of the rain. Its station at the edge of the old town is the big advantage for onward travel. There is no metro, and buses cover the rest.

Zagreb relies more on its blue trams, a dense network that, together with the short funicular, saves the climb to the Upper Town. The cobbles up there are steep, though, and trams slow down at rush hour. A car only becomes useful for the Zagorje castles and Plitvice.

Most of what people carry home from Bologna is edible: mortadella, aged Parmigiano, fresh tortellini and balsamic vinegar from the Quadrilatero. It is also better for browsing beyond food. There is a small, refined cluster of Italian fashion houses on Via Farini and in the Galleria Cavour, the Montagnola market for clothes and bric-a-brac, and an antiques market in Piazza Santo Stefano on some weekends.

Zagreb's souvenirs are more distinctly local: red licitar honey-dough hearts, Croatian neckties, lace and truffle products. Ilica is a high street of chains and a few design shops, with little at the luxury end, so shopping fits in around the sightseeing and won't fill a day.

Zagreb is the cheaper stay, mainly because rooms cost less. Central apartments and small hotels are reasonably priced, and trams, museums and market food are easy on the budget. Eating out in Bologna is good value for Italy and most of its sights are churches and squares that cost nothing to enter, but old-town hotels are priced like the rest of prosperous northern Italy, and trade fairs can make rooms scarce. At the top end, smart restaurants and cocktails cost much the same in both.

Bologna has the richer musical life. It has the historic Teatro Comunale for opera, ballet and concerts, a long jazz tradition kept up in basement clubs, recognition from UNESCO as a City of Music, and summer concerts and films in Piazza Maggiore.

Zagreb has a solid season of its own: opera and ballet at the Croatian National Theatre, the Zagreb Philharmonic at the Lisinski hall, the Zagreb Soloists in churches and a large summer rock festival at Jarun. In both cities, spoken theatre is in the local language and of little use to most visitors.

Bologna has the edge, because thermal water is so close. Castel San Pietro Terme, with its spring-fed pools, is about twenty minutes away. Porretta Terme, an old spa town in a green Apennine valley, is an hour south by train. Either makes an easy half day away from the city. In town, wellness in both cities mostly means hotel spas.

Zagreb's spa resorts, such as Tuheljske and Stubičke Toplice, are in the Zagorje hills about an hour away, so getting there takes more planning than reaching Bologna's nearest springs. What Zagreb offers in return is a slower pace within the city, with long café mornings and quiet Upper Town lanes. In Bologna, the university quarter is noisy and the summers are heavy.