Cardiff or Dublin?

Cardiff has no sand of its own. Beyond the barrage the Bristol Channel is brown and tidal, and the Bay behind it is a lake for walking round, not for swimming. For a beach you take the train to Barry Island's promenade and funfair or to Penarth's pebbles under the pier, or drive an hour or more west to the surf at Porthcawl and the wide sands of Gower.

Dublin has the sand close by, with Dollymount, Sandymount and Killiney on or near the DART, but its water is colder. What it has instead is a swimming culture, the all-year dips at the Forty Foot and Seapoint, which are fun to join for a few bracing minutes.

Eating is broadly level and neither city is a reason to go, but the character differs. Cardiff's best moments are Welsh cakes off the griddle in the Victorian market, laverbread and cockles, the bistros of Pontcanna and Canton, and the long run of Middle Eastern and South Asian cooking on City Road.

Dublin leans on its produce, Atlantic shellfish and grass-fed beef in the bistros of Dublin 2 and Dublin 8, and above all on drink: slow-poured stout and whiskey distilleries. Cardiff's local ales are good, but Dublin's pubs are what visitors remember.

Dublin has the richer sightseeing. The Book of Kells and the Long Room at Trinity, the Chester Beatty Library, two medieval cathedrals and Kilmainham Gaol give it older layers and more weight, all set among Georgian terraces and steeped in Joyce and Wilde.

Cardiff's highlights are fewer but distinctive. The castle's Victorian Gothic interiors and the strong Impressionists in the National Museum reflect its coal-port wealth, and St Fagans' open-air village of rebuilt Welsh buildings has no real equal in Dublin. Most of Cardiff's fabric, though, is Victorian or later.

Dublin is the better night out, built around pubs and conversation: mahogany bars near Grafton and Baggot Streets, younger late bars on Camden and George's Streets, and Temple Bar for the crowds. Clubbing is thin, as venues close soon after the pubs.

Cardiff goes out in a louder, more mainstream way, with big groups on St Mary Street on Saturdays and the whole centre in red on rugby days. Womanby Street's small alternative bars are the best of it, but the scene is seen in a couple of nights and goes quiet midweek.

The outdoors are equally good, and the difference is height and coast. Cardiff's Bute Park leads into the Taff Trail, and the Brecon Beacons, about an hour's drive, offer the proper hill walk up Pen y Fan across open moorland.

Dublin keeps more of its nature within reach by train: deer in Phoenix Park, birdlife on North Bull Island, the cliff path at Howth and the Bray to Greystones walk. The Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough are gentler granite hills, softer country than the Beacons.

Cardiff's outings are castles and English cities, Dublin's are prehistoric tombs and monastic ruins. From Cardiff, Caerphilly's huge fortress is twenty minutes by train, Castell Coch stands in the woods just north, Chepstow and Tintern Abbey pair up in the Wye Valley, and Bath and Bristol are about an hour away. Most of it is easy without a car.

From Dublin the pull is further back in time: Newgrange and Knowth in the Boyne Valley, older than the pyramids, and Glendalough's round tower in the Wicklow Mountains. These reward the effort but often need a tour or a hire car, while Kilkenny and Belfast are simple by train.

Techniquest's hands-on science at the Bay and the farm animals and craft demonstrations at St Fagans are Cardiff's main draws for children, and there is no zoo. Roath Park's rowing boats and, in summer, Barry Island's sands and funfair round it out, all within a compact, flat city.

Dublin's anchor is its long-established zoo inside Phoenix Park, with deer to spot in the park around it, plus Dublinia's Vikings and a theme park half an hour's drive away. Its beaches are for rock pools and kites rather than swimming, and in both cities a rainy day needs an indoor plan.

Both centres are small, flat and walkable, and neither has a metro. Cardiff gets by on local trains, buses and a water taxi down the Taff to the Bay, which sits about half an hour's walk from the centre.

Dublin has more of a network, with two Luas tram lines and the DART along the bay, all on one card, which makes the coast especially easy. Away from those lines its buses can crawl in rush hour, including to the airport.

Shopping is about even and largely high-street in both. Cardiff's distinctive feature is its glass-roofed Victorian arcades, the Royal, Morgan and Castle, full of record shops, vintage clothes and books, with lovespoons and Welsh blankets to take home.

Dublin has Grafton Street, the Brown Thomas department store and the Georgian Powerscourt Townhouse, and better souvenirs in Aran knitwear, linen, tweed and whiskey from the design shops around Drury Street.

Cardiff is much the cheaper of the two. Its hotels are moderate on ordinary weekdays, pubs charge normal British prices, and free museums and short train rides keep the days inexpensive. Just check for rugby internationals or stadium concerts, when rooms jump.

Dublin is one of Europe's expensive cities, with room rates the biggest hit and few budget options. Free national museums, lunch menus and staying out along the DART or Luas soften the bill, but drinks and dinners still add up quickly.

Dublin has the stronger stage life, led by theatre: the Abbey, founded by Yeats and Lady Gregory, the Gate's classic productions, and the autumn Dublin Theatre Festival. Add traditional sessions in pubs almost every night and the National Concert Hall, and evenings are well filled, though opera is limited to short seasons.

Cardiff turns that around on opera, as the Wales Millennium Centre houses Welsh National Opera. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, student shows at the Royal Welsh College and the small band venues of Womanby Street give it a good, if smaller, musical life.

Neither city is built for unwinding, and both offer little beyond hotel spas. Cardiff's calm is in slow café mornings in Pontcanna and riverside walks through Bute Park.

Dublin has the one real ritual of the two, the cold sea dip at the Forty Foot or Seapoint, often followed by a seafront sauna, and quiet afternoons in its Georgian squares or bayside villages.