Cardiff or Galway?

Neither city is a beach destination. The difference is in how close the sea feels. Cardiff's tidal brown water at the Bay is for looking at, so a beach day means the train to the sand and funfair at Barry Island or the pebbles at Penarth.

Galway's shore is right there. The Salthill prom is a walk from the centre, and swimmers use the Blackrock diving tower all year. The Atlantic there is a little colder than the Bristol Channel, so it suits a quick, bracing dip rather than a lazy afternoon on the sand.

Both cities eat well rather than memorably, but the food comes from different places. In Cardiff, start at the Victorian market, with Welsh cakes from the griddle and cawl. Then try the neighbourhood bistros of Pontcanna and Canton, or the long run of Middle Eastern and South Asian cooking on City Road.

Galway eats from the sea: Galway Bay oysters, mussels and chowder, best found at the Saturday market by St Nicholas'. There is little beyond Irish and modern European cooking, so Cardiff has more range and Galway the stronger local speciality.

Cardiff has far more to see. Its central castle has lavish Victorian Gothic rooms inside Roman and Norman walls. Add the National Museum's Impressionists in Cathays Park and the open-air St Fagans, and you have two or three full days.

Galway's heritage takes an afternoon on foot: the Spanish Arch, Lynch's Castle and St Nicholas' Collegiate Church, the surviving fragments of the medieval town of the Tribes. The pleasure there is the street life of the Latin Quarter rather than any museum, so anyone after serious collections will do better in Cardiff.

Cardiff saves its big nights for the weekend. On Saturdays, large groups fill St Mary Street and the lanes around it, and Womanby Street, facing the castle, has the alternative bars and late venues. Midweek is quiet. The clubbing is mainstream, but there is more of it than in Galway.

In Galway the pubs stay full even midweek during term, from old bars with snugs and open fires to louder places with DJs. When they close, a few late bars and small clubs take the overflow, and most nights are over by the early hours.

Galway has the wilder setting. Connemara's bogs, lakes and the Twelve Bens are about an hour west. The bare limestone of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher lie to the south, and the Aran Islands are a ferry ride away.

Cardiff's outdoors is gentler and closer. Bute Park and the Taff Trail start at the castle, the coast path runs past the Penarth cliffs, and Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons, about an hour's drive away, makes a fine half-day hike. Expect rain and wind in both.

Cardiff has the richer list and the easier travel. Caerphilly's huge fortress is twenty minutes by train, and Castell Coch is just north of the city. Bath and Bristol are each about an hour away, and Tintern Abbey, Chepstow and the Blaenavon mining landscape are all within reach.

Galway's outings are memorable, but they are villages and single sites: Dún Aonghasa on Inis Mór, Kylemore Abbey, Cong and Clonmacnoise. Most of them need a coach tour or a hire car, while many of Cardiff's are a simple train ride.

Cardiff is the easier choice with children. Techniquest at the Bay is made for them, St Fagans has farm animals and craft demonstrations, Roath Park has rowing boats, and the sand and funfair at Barry Island are a short train ride away.

Galway has the national aquarium and playgrounds on the Salthill prom, and buskers in the pedestrian streets, but little else in town is made for children. Most family days are out in Connemara or the Burren, and there are few indoor options on rainy days.

Both centres are small, flat to walk and largely pedestrian, so the difference is in getting further out. From Cardiff, local trains run to Penarth, Barry Island, Caerphilly and the valleys. Shuttle trains, buses and a water taxi go to the Bay, and you only need a car for the national park and the remoter castles.

Galway's trains run only east to Dublin and south to Ennis and Limerick. For Connemara, the Burren and the Aran ferry port you need a coach, a day tour or a car on narrow, winding roads.

Cardiff has more shopping and more character. Its glass-roofed Victorian and Edwardian arcades, such as the Royal, Morgan and Castle arcades, have independent record shops, bookshops and vintage clothing. Queen Street and a large mall cover the chains.

Galway's shopping runs along one pedestrian street from Eyre Square to Quay Street. It is good for books, Irish design, Aran knitwear and Claddagh rings made where the design began, but Quay Street leans towards souvenirs.

Cardiff costs noticeably less. Hotels are moderately priced on ordinary weekdays, the national museums including St Fagans are free, and the train trips to castles and the coast are short and inexpensive. Watch out for rugby internationals and big stadium concerts, when hotel prices jump.

Galway has too few hotel rooms for its visitors, so prices climb in summer, at weekends and during the arts festival and race week. Eating and drinking cost the usual high Irish prices. The streets and the music in the pubs are free, but coach tours or a hire car for the west add up quickly.

The two are equally strong, but in very different ways. Cardiff has the formal stages: Welsh National Opera at the Wales Millennium Centre and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, plus a grassroots band scene around Womanby Street.

Galway's music is traditional and informal, with fiddles and bodhráns playing in Latin Quarter pubs most nights. Its theatre is strong too, led by Druid and the Irish-language An Taibhdhearc, but opera and classical concerts are rare.

Neither city is a place to come for spas, and both offer little beyond hotel spas. In Cardiff, slowing down means a lazy morning in a Pontcanna café or a walk along the Taff through Bute Park.

Galway's version is wilder: cold-water swimming at Blackrock, windy walks on the Salthill prom, and seaweed baths along the coast within a drive. The centre is loud at night, so for real quiet stay in Connemara or on the Aran Islands.