Brasov or Plovdiv?

Neither city is a swimming destination. Both are inland, and the Black Sea coast is a separate trip of several hours from either. The difference is how you cool off: Brasov has its big indoor and outdoor water park and cold mountain lakes, while Plovdiv, which is much hotter in summer, has outdoor pools, the rowing canal and reservoirs up in the Rhodopes.

Plovdiv eats and drinks better. You can have its Bulgarian home cooking, from shopska salad to clay-pot kavarma, in the wooden-beamed Old Town mehanas or in the modern bistros of Kapana. Thracian Valley reds such as Mavrud give every meal a local wine to match, with wineries a short drive away.

Brasov's Transylvanian food is hearty and filling, mixing Romanian, Saxon and Hungarian dishes such as sarmale, mici and papanasi, served in cellar rooms around Council Square. It lacks Plovdiv's modern side and its wine, so here food is a pleasure along the way rather than a reason to come.

Plovdiv has the deeper past and more to see. The Roman theatre, the stadium under the main street, the basilica mosaics and the painted National Revival houses on the three hills fill two or three days, and the Thracian finds in the Archaeological Museum add more.

Brasov's appeal is a single, unified medieval Saxon town: Council Square, the Black Church with its Anatolian carpets, the towers and bastions along the foot of Tampa, and the Romanian Schei quarter beyond the walls. It is handsome but narrower in scope, its museums are modest, and a day or two covers it.

Evenings are low-key in both, and neither suits anyone who wants to dance until dawn. Brasov's are spent in cellar bars and craft beer pubs around Council Square, with an après-ski crowd in winter. Plovdiv's play out on the pavements of Kapana, where wine bars and cocktail places keep going later on summer weekends.

Brasov is the stronger choice by a wide margin. Forest begins at the old town walls on Tampa, Poiana Brasov is about 12km away for skiing or biking, and the high plateaus of the Bucegi and the limestone ridge of Piatra Craiului are within an hour. Watching bears from hides is a real highlight.

Plovdiv has rocky hills inside the city and the Rhodopes about 20km south, with gorges, forest trails and, further on, skiing at Pamporovo. It is good walking country, but it takes more driving to reach, and summer on the plain is too hot for comfortable hiking.

Brasov has the better-known set of excursions. Bran and Rasnov are half an hour away, the Saxon fortified churches of Prejmer, Harman and Viscri are in the surrounding countryside, and you can reach Peles Castle and walled Sighisoara by train.

Plovdiv's options are good but more spread out: Bachkovo Monastery, Roman Hisarya, the Thracian tomb at Kazanlak and the Revival village of Koprivshtitsa, with wine estates across the plain. From either city, a hire car makes the outlying places far easier.

Brasov gives children much more to do: the Tampa cable car, a forest rope park, a small zoo, a water park for rainy days, castles to explore, the rescued bears near Zarnesti and sledging in winter.

Plovdiv is friendly, and its flat main street is easier with a pushchair than Brasov's steep lanes. But family outings mostly come down to parks, the singing fountains and the rowing canal, and midsummer heat wears small children out.

You get around both cities on foot. Almost all of Brasov's sights are inside its walls or just outside them, and its buses are useful for the station and the ski resort. Plovdiv's centre runs along a long car-free street linking the ruins, Kapana and the Old Town, and taxis are plentiful because the buses are of little use to visitors.

Both old quarters have steep, polished cobbles, and both cities need a car or tour for the countryside, although Brasov also has trains to Sinaia and Sighisoara.

Neither is a shopping destination, and neither has luxury stores. Brasov's best buys are things to eat and drink, such as sheep's cheese, plum brandy and honey, alongside the souvenir shops of Republicii Street. Plovdiv has more character in the small design studios and galleries of Kapana, and its rose oil cosmetics and local wine make good things to take home.

Both are cheap by European standards, and Plovdiv is a little easier on the wallet. In Brasov the extra costs are the Council Square restaurants and peak-season ski passes. In Plovdiv much of the pleasure, from the ruins along the main street to evenings in Kapana, costs nothing, and a mehana meal with local wine stays modest.

Each city has a philharmonic, an opera company and a drama theatre performing in the local language, so the difference comes down to one standout experience. In Brasov it is an organ recital in the Black Church on a summer evening. In Plovdiv it is opera or a concert under the stars in the Roman theatre, which is the more spectacular night out, and the city also has an established jazz festival.

Plovdiv is the more restful stay. Aylyak, the local art of taking things slowly over long coffees under the plane trees, sets the pace, and the warm mineral pools of Hisarya are about 45 minutes away, with Velingrad further into the Rhodopes.

Brasov has no bathing tradition of its own, so relaxing there means a hotel spa up at Poiana Brasov or the saunas at the water park. Even so, an afternoon on a quiet terrace below the mountains is easy to find.