Bratislava or Cortina d'Ampezzo?

Neither place is for a beach trip, but Bratislava at least gives you somewhere to swim in summer. The sandy lake shore at Zlate piesky is a tram ride from town and the Senec lakes are close by, both warm in July and August.

Cortina's lakes, Ghedina and Pianozes, are fed by snowmelt and stay cold even in midsummer, so they are for walking round, not swimming in. In practice a swim there means the hotel pool, and the Adriatic is a long drive away.

The two are about level, with very different tables. Bratislava means hearty Slovak pub food such as bryndzove halusky and roast duck with lokse, beer brewed on the premises and, best of all, Small Carpathian wines that rarely leave the country, at everyday prices.

Cortina cooks Ampezzan mountain food with a Venetian touch, like casunziei and polenta with game, and its best meals are on rifugio terraces among the peaks. It has more ambitious kitchens than its size suggests, but it costs more and has almost nothing cheap or casual.

Bratislava gives a sightseer far more. Its Old Town centres on St Martin's Cathedral, where Hungarian monarchs were crowned for nearly three centuries, and the Primate's Palace, the Blue Church, the castle museum and the ruins of Devin add a full day or two of history.

Cortina has a pleasant centre, a basilica with a tall bell tower, the 1956 Olympic ice stadium and three small museums, enough for a rainy afternoon. Its most powerful heritage is the First World War tunnels and trenches on Lagazuoi and the Cinque Torri, but those are a mountain day out, not a stroll.

Bratislava is the livelier choice after dark. On weekends the Old Town fills with pubs, wine bars and cocktail bars open until late, though it is a pub crawl rather than a club scene, and weeknights are much quieter.

Cortina's evenings are après-ski drinks, a walk along the Corso Italia and a long dinner. Only in the peak winter weeks do a few smart bars and clubs stay open late, and in summer the town goes quiet early.

Cortina's setting is far grander. The pale Dolomite peaks of the Tofane, Cristallo and Cinque Torri ring the valley, lifts climb from town, and the Tre Cime and Lago di Misurina are under an hour away. It offers world-class skiing in winter and hut-to-hut hiking, via ferrata and climbing in summer.

Bratislava's outdoors are gentler and easier to reach. There are beech-wood trails up to Kamzik in the Little Carpathians, steppe meadows on Devinska Kobyla, Danube floodplain forests and a flat cycle route into Austria. It is good for a half-day walk or ride, not a mountain vacation.

Bratislava is by far the better base for outings. Vienna is about an hour by train, the wine villages of Svaty Jur, Pezinok and Modra are close, and Roman Carnuntum, Lake Neusiedl and Lednice-Valtice put Austria and the Czech Republic within a day.

From Cortina most excursions lead deeper into the mountains. The towns of South Tyrol, such as San Candido, Brunico and Bolzano with its Iceman, are attractive, but they take longer by road, and Venice is a long day by coach.

Cortina works better for families who ski or hike. It has ski schools and beginner slopes at Socrepes, public skating at the Olympic stadium, a forest rope park and easy trails to huts with meadows. Rainy days drag, though, and costs mount quickly.

Bratislava is calm and safe, with a pedestrian Old Town, bronze statues to spot, the Kamzik forest park with its chairlift, a hillside zoo and the Senec water park. It suits a short stay well but runs out of ideas after a few days.

Bratislava is much easier. The Old Town, castle and riverfront are all within walking distance, and trams and buses on one ticket reach Kamzik, the zoo and Devin. There is no metro, but you rarely need a car, and the train station is close to the centre.

Cortina's centre takes minutes to walk, and in winter the ski buses work well. The trouble is getting there and beyond. There has been no railway since 1964, the coach from Venice is long, and buses to the passes are infrequent, so many visitors hire a car.

Cortina has a little more to offer, all on one polished street. The Corso Italia has luxury fashion, jewellers and upmarket mountain wear, anchored by the Cooperativa di Cortina, which has traded since 1893.

Bratislava is more modest. Its malls carry international chains, and the most distinctive buys are Modra majolica and blue-print cloth from the folk-craft centre, plus a bottle of Small Carpathian wine. For serious fashion, people take the train to Vienna.

This is the widest gap between the two. Bratislava is good value by Western standards, with cheap transport, museums and local drinks and reasonably priced central rooms. Only the main squares and the glossy riverside complexes charge more.

Cortina charges luxury-resort prices for hotels and restaurants in winter and August, and lift passes and equipment hire add to the bill. Rifugio meals and the shoulder weeks of June and late September help, but it is never cheap.

Bratislava has a real season. The Slovak National Theatre stages opera and ballet in its ornate house on Hviezdoslav Square, the Philharmonic plays in the Reduta, and the autumn music festival and a jazz festival add highlights. Tickets are easy to find.

Cortina has no theatre and no regular venue. Its live music comes from summer chamber festivals in churches and occasionally on the mountainsides, plus a few concerts around New Year.

Cortina is the better place to unwind, though neither has thermal springs. Its hotels have Alpine spas with saunas, hay baths and indoor pools, and in June or September an afternoon on a hut terrace in clear mountain air is restful in itself. In the peak weeks the crowds take some of that away.

Bratislava offers hotel spas, café afternoons and quiet forest paths. For proper bathing, you would go out of town to the Senec water park or the old spa town of Piestany, about an hour away by train.