Bristol or Galway?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation, but Galway at least has a seafront you can walk to. Salthill's strands and the Blackrock diving tower are a short stroll from the centre, and year-round sea swimming is part of local life, even if the Atlantic stays cold.

Bristol faces a muddy, silt-brown estuary with an extreme tide. The nearest proper swim is in the Victorian marine lake at Clevedon, and Weston-super-Mare's sands depend on catching the tide.

Bristol gives you more range. St Nicholas Market, the container kitchens on the harbourside and the independent bakeries and restaurants along Gloucester Road and North Street cover far more cuisines, and West Country cider and the taprooms in old warehouses give the drinking a local flavour.

Galway is narrower but has a clearer identity. Galway Bay oysters, mussels and chowder, together with Connemara lamb and Burren cheeses at the Saturday market, are the things to eat. Away from the seafood, meals are mostly pub food and café dishes.

Bristol has far more to fill your days. Brunel's SS Great Britain and his bridge over the Avon Gorge, the Gothic splendour of St Mary Redcliffe, Clifton's Georgian crescents and M Shed's frank account of the port's history add up to two or three full days.

Galway's heritage takes an afternoon. The Spanish Arch, Lynch's Castle and St Nicholas' Collegiate Church are pleasant fragments of the medieval Tribes' town, but the appeal lies in wandering the Latin Quarter rather than in any major museum.

Bristol is the place for a big night out. Its sound-system heritage of trip hop, drum and bass and dubstep lives on in warehouse and railway-arch clubs around Temple Meads and the harbour, and weekends run late.

Galway's night is the pub: snugs and open fires, students filling the centre midweek, drinkers spilling onto the pavements in summer. When the pubs close, only a few late bars and small clubs remain, and most nights end earlier than they do in Bristol.

Galway sits at the edge of genuinely wild country. Connemara's Twelve Bens, lakes and island-strewn coast lie about an hour west, the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher are across the bay, and Lough Corrib begins at the edge of town. Come prepared for wind and rain.

Bristol's outdoors is gentler and closer to hand: the Downs and the climbing cliffs of the Avon Gorge, the woods of Ashton Court and the railway path to Bath. Further out are the Mendips and Cheddar Gorge, with real upland walking a couple of hours away.

Bristol is one of England's best bases for day trips. Bath is a quarter of an hour by train and Cardiff under an hour, while Wells, Glastonbury, the southern Cotswolds, Stonehenge and Avebury are all within reach. The choice mixes cities, cathedrals and prehistoric sites.

Galway's outings are memorable but fewer and more of a kind. They include Inis Mór's cliff fort, Kylemore Abbey and Cong, Dunguaire and Clonmacnoise. They are mostly villages and single sites, and apart from Ennis and Limerick most need a coach tour or a car.

Bristol has far more built for children. We The Curious and its planetarium, the aquarium next door and the child-friendly SS Great Britain are linked by little harbour ferries, and a wildlife park and Noah's Ark Zoo Farm are close by. The steep hills are hard work with a pushchair.

Galway is relaxed and welcoming but thinly provided for. Salthill's aquarium, playgrounds and summer funfair are the main attractions, and a rainy day can be hard to fill.

Both centres are easy on foot, but in different ways. Galway's core is small, flat and largely pedestrian, from Eyre Square to the Spanish Arch, with a pleasant walk along the prom to Salthill. The difficulty is the region, where Connemara and the Burren mean coaches, tours or narrow roads by car.

Bristol's centre is walkable and has harbour ferries, but the climb to Clifton is steep and the buses get stuck in traffic. In its favour, Temple Meads puts several day trips within reach by train without a car.

Bristol has more ground to cover. Cabot Circus and Broadmead handle the chains, while Gloucester Road's long run of record shops, delis and vintage stores, Park Street's boutiques and Clifton's arcades make a varied afternoon.

Galway's shopping fits along one pedestrian street, but it has a local craft Bristol lacks. Claddagh rings made where the design began and Aran knitwear are worth taking home, along with good bookshops and Irish design.

Neither is a cheap destination, but Bristol is the easier on the budget. Its main museums and churches are free and there is good-value street food, although hotel prices rise at weekends.

Galway costs more. It has few hotel rooms for the number of visitors, so prices climb steeply in summer and during race week and the arts festival, and drinking and eating out cost Irish prices. Tours or car hire for the west add a significant extra cost.

The two are evenly matched but play different music. Bristol leans towards stage and venue: the Georgian Old Vic, touring productions at the Hippodrome, concerts at the Bristol Beacon and St George's, and small venues hosting bands and electronic acts most nights.

Galway's strength is the traditional session, with fiddles and bodhráns around a pub table across the Latin Quarter, along with serious theatre from Druid and the Irish-language An Taibhdhearc. July's arts festival is the peak of its year.

Bristol has the better options for unwinding, largely because of its neighbour. Bath's rooftop thermal pool, fed by Britain's only natural hot springs, is a short train ride away, and Clifton's heated Victorian lido with its spa makes a calm half day in town.

Galway's way to reset is cold and outdoors: a dip at Blackrock, a windy walk along the prom, or seaweed baths on the coast within a drive. Its centre is loud at night, so for real quiet you need to stay in Connemara or on the islands.