Cardiff or Killarney?

Neither is a beach destination, but Cardiff gets you to the sand more easily. Barry Island's bay and seaside funfair are half an hour away by train, and Penarth's pebble shore and Victorian pier are just along the coast. Porthcawl's surf beaches and the Gower are better again, though you need a car for them.

Killarney is inland, and Inch and Rossbeigh are about 40 minutes away by car. They are wide, wild Atlantic strands for walks, kites and beginner surf lessons rather than lying in the sun, and the water is colder than in the Bristol Channel.

Eating out is better in Cardiff, mostly because there is more choice. Start at the Victorian market for Welsh cakes off the griddle and laverbread with cockles. Then try the neighbourhood bistros of Pontcanna and Canton, or the long run of Middle Eastern and South Asian kitchens on City Road, and finish with good local ales in the pubs.

Killarney cooks well with Kerry produce: lamb, seafood landed at Dingle and Kenmare, farmhouse cheeses, and chowder with brown bread in nearly every pub on High Street and Main Street. It is a small town, though, and the choice runs out quickly, so people who care about food often drive to Kenmare or Dingle for dinner.

Cardiff has several days of sights. There is the castle with its lavish Victorian Gothic rooms, the National Museum and its Impressionists in Cathays Park, the farmhouses and miners' institute brought to St Fagans, Llandaff Cathedral, and the Senedd by the Bay. Little of it is older than Victorian, but there is plenty to see.

Killarney has fewer sights, and they sit at the edge of the park rather than in town: Muckross House and its gardens, Ross Castle on Lough Leane, and the abbey ruins with a yew growing in the cloister. Add Pugin's cathedral and a day or two covers it.

Cardiff is the bigger night out. St Mary Street fills with large groups on Saturdays, Womanby Street has alternative bars and late venues, and rugby international days turn the whole centre red. For a quieter evening there are the pubs and wine bars of Pontcanna.

Killarney's nights revolve around the pub. In summer the bars on High Street and Plunkett Street are packed and friendly, and a few hotel venues stay open late. There are no clubs or cocktail bars, though, and winter weeknights are quiet.

This is where Killarney comes out ahead, and it is the main reason to go. Lakes, ancient oak woods, Torc Waterfall and Ireland's only native red deer begin at the edge of town on flat paths. Carrauntoohil and the Gap of Dunloe lie beyond, and the Kerry Way starts in the centre.

Cardiff has good options of its own: Bute Park and the Taff Trail in the city, the coast path past the Penarth cliffs, and Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons. But its big walks are a day out by car, not something on the doorstep.

For outings without a car, Cardiff is far easier. Caerphilly's huge fortress is twenty minutes away by train, and Castell Coch stands in the woods just north of the city. Across the Severn, Bristol is under an hour away and Bath about an hour. Tintern and Chepstow in the Wye Valley, along with the Blaenavon ironworks and Big Pit, make the list longer still.

Most of Killarney's day trips are drives through scenery: the villages of the Ring of Kerry, Kenmare over Moll's Gap, and the fishing port of Dingle. Skellig Michael is the great prize, but only if the summer boats are running and the sea is calm enough to land. Cork is about an hour and a half away.

Cardiff has more for children to do, especially in the rain. There is Techniquest at the Bay, farm animals and craft demonstrations at St Fagans, rowing boats on Roath Park lake, and Barry Island's sands in summer. Killarney is safe and gentle, with buggy-friendly lake paths, jaunting cars, deer to spot and Muckross Traditional Farms, but a wet day there leaves few indoor options.

Both centres are small and easy to walk, but Cardiff copes far better beyond them. Local trains reach Penarth, Barry Island, Caerphilly and the valleys, and a shuttle train or water taxi runs to the Bay. You only need a car for the national park and the more remote castles.

Killarney's station is central, and bikes take you round the lakes on traffic-free paths. Beyond that, the Ring of Kerry, Dingle and the far end of the Gap of Dunloe mean a hire car or a tour, on narrow roads busy with coaches in summer.

Cardiff is the better place to shop, though there is no luxury shopping. Queen Street covers the chains, and the glass-roofed Royal, Morgan and Castle arcades hold the independent record, book and vintage shops that make an afternoon worthwhile. Killarney has a few streets of knitwear, tweed and Celtic jewellery for passing visitors: good for an Aran sweater and an hour's browsing, and not much more.

Neither is cheap, but your money goes further in Cardiff. The national museums, St Fagans included, are free, and the train trips to castles and the coast cost little. Hotel rates jump on rugby and stadium concert dates, though.

In Killarney the park is free to walk or cycle, and family-run B&Bs keep rooms reasonable out of season. Meals and drinks come at full Irish prices, July and August are expensive, and seeing the region usually means paying for a car or tours.

Cardiff has a full arts calendar. Welsh National Opera is based at the Wales Millennium Centre, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales is in the city, the Sherman and the New Theatre stage drama, and the Royal Welsh College puts on student shows. The small venues around Womanby Street book bands most nights.

Killarney does one thing and does it well: sessions of fiddle, tin whistle and bodhrán in the pubs most nights in season. For staged folk performance, Siamsa Tíre is in Tralee, about half an hour away.

Killarney is the easier place to slow down. Its many lakeside and country hotels have full spas and pools looking out over the water and mountains, and plenty of people come just for long walks, treatments and early dinners, best enjoyed out of season. Cardiff has hotel spas and the leisure pools at the Bay. Its calm is mostly found in Pontcanna's cafés and walks along the Taff rather than in any retreat.