Cambridge or Cardiff?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Cardiff at least has sand within easy reach. Barry Island's bay, with its promenade and funfair, is about half an hour by train, Penarth has a pebble shore and a Victorian pier, and the Gower and Porthcawl's surf beaches are a longer drive west.

From Cambridge the Norfolk and Suffolk coast is roughly an hour and a half by car, so a seaside day takes real planning. Swimming there usually means fresh water instead, in the 1920s lido on Jesus Green or the river at Grantchester Meadows.

Food is a modest draw in both, and the difference is one of character. Cardiff has a regional thread you can actually taste: Welsh cakes off the griddle in the Victorian market, cawl, laverbread with cockles, and Welsh lamb and cheese. Its better bistros are in Pontcanna and Canton, and City Road has a long run of Middle Eastern and South Asian cooking.

Cambridge has no local cuisine to seek out. Its pleasures are the low-beamed pubs by the river and around the colleges, the daily market on Market Hill, riverside scones and the mixed kitchens of Mill Road. Either city is covered in a few meals.

Cambridge has the deeper historic fabric. Its colleges along the Backs span eight centuries, with King's College Chapel's fan vaulting, Trinity's Great Court and the Wren Library at the core. Behind them stands a group of university museums led by the Fitzwilliam, unusually fine for a city of its size.

Cardiff's sights are worth two or three days too, but they are mostly Victorian. The highlights are the lavish Gothic Revival rooms inside the castle walls, the Impressionists at the National Museum and the rebuilt Welsh buildings at St Fagans, which have no real equivalent in Cambridge.

Cardiff is the place for a night out. St Mary Street fills with large groups on Saturdays, rugby international days turn the centre into one red crowd, and Womanby Street, facing the castle, has small alternative bars that stay open late.

Evenings in Cambridge are about old inns and riverside pub gardens, with a few livelier bars on Regent Street and Mill Road. Its clubs serve students and go quiet out of term, and locals who want a bigger night take the train to London.

Cardiff is far better placed for the outdoors. The Taff Trail runs north from Bute Park towards the hills, and Pen y Fan, the highest peak in southern Britain, is a half-day hike about an hour's drive away. The Wales Coast Path follows the cliffs past Penarth, though wind and rain come with the territory.

Cambridge offers gentle, level country instead: punting through the Backs, water meadows on the way to Grantchester, and the birds and wild ponies of Wicken Fen. Cyclists will enjoy it, but anyone looking for hills or drama will not find them.

Both are good bases, and Cambridge has the slight edge because London is under an hour by train. Ely Cathedral is fifteen minutes away, and Norwich, the Suffolk wool towns of Lavenham and Long Melford, Audley End and Bury St Edmunds' abbey ruins add plenty of variety.

Cardiff's trips are built around castles: Caerphilly by train, Castell Coch in the woods, and Chepstow paired with Tintern Abbey. Bath and Bristol across the Severn and the Big Pit mine at Blaenavon broaden the choice, though several of these are easier with a car.

Both cities are small, flat and easy with children, but they keep them busy in different ways. Cambridge's best outing is the historic aircraft at Duxford, backed by punting and the whale skeleton at the free zoology museum. Cardiff counters with the hands-on Techniquest by the Bay, farm animals at St Fagans, rowing boats on Roath Park lake and Barry Island's sands and funfair for a seaside day. Neither has a zoo or theme park.

Cambridge is the easier city on foot. Colleges, market, museums and river are packed into one compact, largely car-free centre, and a hired bike takes you out to Grantchester. Its one weakness is the station, which is about twenty-five minutes' walk from the middle.

In Cardiff the station is right in the centre, but Cardiff Bay is a half-hour walk away, so you will often need the shuttle train, a bus or the water taxi. Local trains to Penarth, Barry and Caerphilly are a real help for outings.

Cardiff makes the better shopping stop, mainly because of its glass-roofed Victorian and Edwardian arcades, such as the Royal, Morgan and Castle. They are lined with independent record, vintage and book shops, and Welsh lovespoons, blankets and slate make distinctive souvenirs.

Cambridge works on a smaller scale. Its speciality is books, from old academic booksellers to second-hand dealers in the lanes, along with the daily market and a few independents on Green Street and Trinity Street.

Cardiff is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotels are moderate on ordinary dates, though they climb sharply when the stadium hosts a match or concert, and short train fares keep day trips inexpensive.

Cambridge's limited hotel stock is in steady demand, so rooms are costly, especially in summer and at graduation time, and the famous colleges charge for entry. Free museums and free evensong soften the bill, and an out-of-term college room can be the best way to save.

The two are broadly level, but they offer different evenings. Cambridge's distinctive sound is sacred choral music, sung by the choirs of King's, St John's and Trinity at evensong. Around that are the Arts Theatre, student comedy in the Footlights tradition and the long-running summer Folk Festival.

Cardiff has the larger stages. Welsh National Opera is based at the Wales Millennium Centre, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales is resident, small venues around Womanby Street book bands most nights, and the national stadium hosts major touring concerts.

Neither city has a spa or bathing tradition, but Cambridge is better at slow, restful hours. You can drift down the river in a punt, sit in a college garden or the Botanic Garden, or walk across the meadows to an orchard tea at Grantchester, as long as you avoid the summer crowds on King's Parade.

In Cardiff, relaxing mostly means a hotel spa, a Pontcanna café morning or a stroll along the Taff, and few visitors come to unwind.