Dublin or Kilkenny?

Dublin at least has sand on its doorstep. Dollymount, Sandymount, Killiney and Portmarnock all lie along the DART line, and the sea pools at the Forty Foot and Seapoint draw year-round swimmers whose cold morning dip is worth trying once.

Kilkenny is inland, and the nearest beaches at Tramore and on the Copper Coast are an hour's drive away, better suited to a walk than a swim. The water is cold in both places, so neither is a beach destination, but in Dublin the sea is part of the city.

Dublin offers more choice. Bistros in Dublin 2 and Dublin 8 cook Atlantic seafood and grass-fed lamb well, there are whiskey distilleries to tour, and a Saturday market in Temple Bar adds some street food. It is still more solid than memorable, and expensive for what you get.

Kilkenny punches above its size, with a few serious restaurants and country-house kitchens using the county's dairy, lamb and cheese, and a long brewing story told at the old abbey brewery site. The range is narrow, though: little food from abroad, almost no street food and standardised menus on busy weekends.

Dublin has the national institutions: the Book of Kells and the Long Room at Trinity, free museums of archaeology and natural history, the National Gallery and the Chester Beatty's manuscripts from Asia and the Islamic world. Add two medieval cathedrals, Kilmainham Gaol and whole Georgian squares, and you have three full days.

Kilkenny is smaller and more of a piece. Its medieval street plan survives almost whole, running from the Norman castle above the Nore to St Canice's Cathedral and its climbable round tower, with Rothe House, the Black Abbey and the narrow slips on the way. It is charming, but a day or two covers it.

Both towns go out to the pub, but Dublin offers far more range. You can move from mahogany-bar pubs with coal fires near Baggot Street to the younger cocktail and late bars of George's and Wexford Streets, and on Friday and Saturday nights the whole centre is busy.

Kilkenny's pubs on High Street and John Street have plenty of atmosphere, and at weekends wedding and birthday groups fill them. After the pubs close, a few late bars and a small nightclub keep going, but midweek and out of season the town goes quiet early. Neither is a place for clubbing. Dublin's licensing laws close most venues soon after the pubs, and Kilkenny has little for anyone after cocktail bars.

Dublin has more of the outdoors within easy reach. Phoenix Park and its deer are in the city, North Bull Island has wintering waders, and the DART takes you to the seals in Howth harbour and the cliff path above it. The rounded granite Wicklow hills rise just beyond the southern suburbs, and the glacial valley at Glendalough is about an hour away.

Kilkenny's countryside is softer farmland. There are riverside walks along the Nore to Inistioge, modest climbs on Brandon Hill and the Blackstairs, and forest trails on the Castlecomer plateau. For corrie lakes and wilder ground you drive an hour to the Comeraghs, while from Dublin you can reach the hills by public transport.

From Dublin the Boyne Valley is the highlight: Newgrange and Knowth, the Hill of Tara and Trim Castle. Glendalough, Powerscourt and Kilkenny itself are to the south, and Belfast is two hours away by train. Howth and Dalkey make easy half days without a car.

Kilkenny's outings are concentrated on the monastic and Norman southeast: the Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle, Jerpoint's carved cloister, the ruins of Kells Priory and Viking Waterford. The heritage is excellent, but apart from Waterford and Dublin almost all of it needs a hire car.

Dublin gives children more to do. Dublin Zoo is inside Phoenix Park, Dublinia has Viking displays, and there are free museums and a theme park in Meath for rainy or restless days. Children are welcome in pubs for an afternoon family lunch.

Kilkenny is small and safe and has castle lawns to run on, but its bigger attractions, the treetop courses near Castlecomer, Dunmore Cave and the open farms, all mean a drive. It has no zoo or aquarium, and weekend nights in the centre are best avoided with young children.

Both centres are walkable, but Dublin's transport reaches much further. Two Luas lines, the coastal DART and buses all work on one tap-on card, so the bay, Howth and Bray are easy without a car. The weak spots are the lack of a metro and slow buses at rush hour, the airport bus included.

Kilkenny is a 1km walk from castle to cathedral, with the station close by on the Dublin line. Beyond the town, rural buses are sparse, so the abbeys and the Nore villages mean a hire car, a taxi or a tour.

Dublin has proper shopping streets. Grafton Street has the Brown Thomas department store, the Powerscourt Townhouse fills a Georgian mansion with small shops, and the design shops around Drury Street sell Aran knits, linen and whiskey to take home.

Kilkenny's strength is craft. The old castle stables, where a national design movement began, sell regional pottery, glass and silver, and makers work in studios across the county. Beyond that, High Street offers an afternoon of boutiques and bookshops, and fashion means a trip to Dublin.

Neither is cheap, but Kilkenny is the easier of the two on the wallet. Its edge-of-town guesthouses and B&Bs are fair midweek, the Medieval Mile costs nothing to walk, and heritage entry fees are modest. Weekend and festival rooms, and the hire car you will probably need, cut into the saving.

Dublin's hotel rooms are among Europe's most expensive, particularly on match or concert weekends, and city-centre rounds add up quickly. Free national museums and a stay near a DART or Luas stop outside the centre help a little.

Dublin is a real theatre city. The Abbey, founded by Yeats and Lady Gregory, stages Irish drama, the Gate does classics, and larger houses take musicals. The National Concert Hall is home to the national orchestra, trad sessions run nightly and touring bands come through all year. Only opera is thin.

Kilkenny has pub sessions most nights and one small theatre, so outside its festivals there is little on stage. Its August arts festival, with concerts in St Canice's Cathedral, and its comedy and roots music weekends are the times when the town's calendar is most worth the trip.

Neither place is built for pampering, and neither has thermal baths or hammams, but they relax you in different ways. Dublin's ritual is bracing: a cold dip at the Forty Foot or Seapoint and a seafront sauna afterwards, or a slow afternoon in a Georgian square.

In Kilkenny, rest means a country-house spa set in parkland outside town, with pools and treatment rooms, and quiet mornings by the Nore. It is best to sleep out of the centre, which gets loud on weekend nights.