Cardiff or Limerick?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Cardiff at least has the seaside within easy reach by train. Barry Island's sandy bay and funfair are about half an hour away, and the pebbles and pier at Penarth are closer still. Porthcawl and Gower are better beaches but take a drive.

Limerick sits on the Shannon, and its beaches at Kilkee, Lahinch and Ballybunion need a car and an hour or more each way. They are wild Atlantic sands, better for surfers in wetsuits than for a lazy afternoon on a towel.

Neither is a place to come for the food, though Cardiff has more range. Pontcanna and Canton have bistros and brunch places, City Road has a long run of Middle Eastern and South Asian cooking, and Welsh cakes come off the griddle in the Victorian market.

Limerick's strength is local produce: Munster beef and lamb, cheese and cured ham, best seen at the Milk Market at the weekend. Around the Georgian streets there are a few modern Irish restaurants and gastropubs. Expect a good pint of stout in Limerick and local ales in Cardiff's pubs.

Cardiff has clearly more to see. Its castle shows off the city's coal-age wealth inside Roman and Norman walls, the French Impressionists at the National Museum are a genuine surprise, and St Fagans can fill half a day on its own. Together that makes two or three days of sightseeing.

Limerick's sights are older but fewer. King John's Castle, St Mary's Cathedral from 1168 and the Treaty Stone all sit on or beside King's Island, and the Hunt Museum holds medieval objects. If medieval stone appeals more than Victorian splendour, Limerick has the older fabric, but a day or two covers it.

Cardiff's nights are bigger. Saturday crowds fill St Mary Street, rugby international days take over the whole centre, and Womanby Street adds small alternative bars and late venues for those who want something less mainstream.

Limerick is a pub town first, with snugs and open fires around O'Connell Street and Thomas Street and only a handful of clubs. Students keep weeknights busy in term and a Munster match fills the bars, but it suits a few pints and conversation rather than a long night out.

Cardiff has more of the outdoors close at hand. Bute Park runs from the castle into the Taff Trail, and the barrage loop and the coast path at Penarth need no car. Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons, about an hour's drive, is a classic half-day hike.

Within Limerick the outdoors means riverside walks. A drive opens up Lough Derg for kayaking and sailing, the Galtees for hill walking, and the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher, which are a different and wilder kind of scenery. Rain and wind come with both cities.

Both are good bases, and Cardiff's trips are easier to make by train. Caerphilly is twenty minutes away, Castell Coch is on the city's edge, and Bath and Bristol are each about an hour. If you drive, Tintern, Chepstow and the Blaenavon mining landscape are also in reach.

From Limerick most outings mean a car or a coach tour. Bunratty and Adare are close by, the Rock of Cashel is about an hour away, and Galway and Cork are further out. It makes a fine starting point for the west of Ireland if you are happy to drive.

Cardiff is the better city with children. Techniquest is built for them, St Fagans has farm animals and craft demonstrations, and Roath Park's rowing boats and the Barry Island funfair fill out the days, mostly free or cheap.

Limerick is pleasant with children but has little aimed at them beyond the battlements and siege displays of King John's Castle, with Bunratty Folk Park outside town. Neither city has a zoo or theme park, and in Limerick the rain often decides how the day goes.

Both centres are compact, flat and easy to walk. Cardiff's transport reaches further without a car: local trains run to Penarth, Barry Island, Caerphilly and the valleys, and a shuttle train or water taxi links the centre with the Bay.

Limerick's trains head for Dublin, Ennis and Galway, but rural buses are infrequent, so seeing the region usually means hiring a car at Shannon Airport. In Cardiff you need a car only for the national park and the remoter castles.

Cardiff's Victorian and Edwardian arcades, among them the Royal, Morgan and Castle arcades, make for an afternoon of records, books and vintage clothing, on top of the usual chains on Queen Street. Limerick's shopping is mostly practical, around O'Connell Street, and the Milk Market, with its food, craft and secondhand stalls, is the one stop with real character. Cardiff also makes local crafts such as lovespoons and slate easy to find, whereas Limerick lace takes some hunting.

Cardiff's free national museums, St Fagans among them, and the short, inexpensive train rides to castles and the coast keep its days out cheap, so your money goes a little further there. Restaurants and pubs charge ordinary British prices, and hotels are moderate on weekdays.

In Limerick, hotel rooms are reasonable, but eating, drinking and above all the hire car most visitors need push the total up. In both cities, check the rugby calendar before booking, because big match weekends drive hotel prices up.

Cardiff has the bigger stage. The Wales Millennium Centre brings Welsh National Opera, musicals and dance, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales is based in the city. Small venues around Womanby Street book bands most nights, and the stadium hosts major touring concerts.

Limerick's programme is decent for its size, with the Irish Chamber Orchestra at the university and drama at the Lime Tree and the Belltable, but for opera you go to Dublin. Its real draw is the traditional music sessions in the pubs.

If you want to slow down without leaving town, Cardiff gives you a little more. Besides the hotel spas there are a few day spas and the leisure pools of the waterfront hotels at the Bay, and you can spend an unhurried morning in a Pontcanna café before walking along the Taff through Bute Park.

In Limerick itself, relaxing comes down to a hotel spa or an afternoon by the Shannon. Its proper spas are outside the city, at the country-house hotels around Adare and Lough Derg, and the Atlantic seaside towns keep up the old tradition of hot seaweed baths. These are worth a detour if you are touring by car, though neither city has a bathing culture of its own.