Dublin or Manchester?

Neither city is for a beach vacation, but Dublin at least has the sea on its doorstep. Dollymount, Sandymount and Killiney are sandy strands you can reach on the DART, and the local habit of cold year-round dips at the Forty Foot or Seapoint is something you can join in.

Manchester is inland. Formby's dunes and Blackpool's promenade are an hour or more away by train, and they work as a day out for sea air rather than a place to swim.

The two are evenly matched at the table. In both cities the drinking is more memorable than the eating, but the strengths are different. Dublin relies on its produce: Atlantic shellfish, grass-fed lamb and farmhouse cheese, cooked well in the bistros of Dublin 2 and Dublin 8, with slow-poured stout and whiskey distilleries for the drinking.

Manchester wins on range and price. You can eat in Chinatown, at the South Asian restaurants along Rusholme's Wilmslow Road, or in the food halls in old Ancoats mills, and craft breweries under the railway arches supply the beer. Meals are better value in Manchester. The pints have more ceremony in Dublin.

Dublin has the stronger set of sights. The Long Room and the Book of Kells, the Chester Beatty's Asian and Islamic manuscripts, Christ Church and St Patrick's, and Kilmainham Gaol carry more weight than anything in Manchester, and the Georgian terraces and the literary history of Joyce and Wilde tie them together.

Manchester's appeal is more specialised: the story of the first industrial city. The Science and Industry Museum, the John Rylands Library, the neo-Gothic Town Hall and the Pre-Raphaelites at the Art Gallery make a good two days for anyone interested in cotton, railways and radical politics.

Manchester is the stronger night out, especially if you want to dance. The Northern Quarter is packed with bars and small DJ rooms, Canal Street is one of Europe's oldest gay villages, and in autumn and winter warehouse raves bring in big-name DJs, with weekend nights running late.

Dublin does one thing very well: the pub. Old bars with snugs off Grafton and Baggot Streets and the younger crowds on Camden and Wexford Streets make for excellent evenings of pints and talk. Licensing laws close most venues early, though, so a club weekend belongs in Manchester.

Dublin has the better outdoors close at hand, because the sea is part of it. Phoenix Park has deer, Bull Island has wading birds, the cliff path at Howth has seals in the harbour below, and the walk from Bray Head to Greystones runs along the coast. The Wicklow granite hills and Glendalough are about an hour away.

Manchester's green space is further from the centre, in Heaton Park and along the canal towpaths, but its hills are higher and wilder. Kinder Scout and Mam Tor in the Peak District are under an hour away by train, and the Lake District is within a day's reach. Both are wet, so bring waterproofs either way.

Both cities have strong day trips, and Manchester has a slight edge thanks to its trains. Liverpool, Chester and York are each an easy rail journey away, and Chatsworth, Buxton and the Lake District towns add many more options without a car.

Dublin's outings are older and further back in history. The passage tombs at Newgrange and Knowth, the Hill of Tara, Glendalough's round tower and medieval Kilkenny are remarkable, and Belfast is a train ride away. Many of the rural sites, though, really need a tour or a hire car.

For children the two are about equal, and the difference is in what you do. Dublin's main draw is outdoors: the zoo inside Phoenix Park, deer to look for and rock pools on the strands, with Dublinia's Vikings and the free natural history museum for rainy hours.

Manchester relies more on indoor attractions, which suits the weather. There are working engines at the Science and Industry Museum, dinosaurs at the Manchester Museum, an aquarium and a real-snow slope by the Trafford Centre, and stadium tours. Chester Zoo and Alton Towers make a full day out. Manchester's centre does get rowdy on weekend nights, while in Dublin children are welcome in pubs over a daytime meal.

Both cities have small, flat centres that are easy on foot, and neither requires a car. The difference is in the transport beyond the centre. Dublin's DART runs along the bay and makes the coast easy to reach. Its two Luas lines are limited, though, and the airport depends on buses that are slow at rush hour.

Manchester's Metrolink runs to the airport, Salford Quays and Old Trafford, and Piccadilly and Victoria stations make it easy to leave the city by train. Its weak points are crowded trams on event days and a road layout that confuses drivers.

Manchester is the better shopping city. It has the main high-street names around Market Street, designer labels on King Street and in Spinningfields, and the Northern Quarter's record shops and vintage clothing, with Afflecks as the long-standing centre of its alternative style. The huge Trafford Centre is on the edge of the city.

Dublin is smaller, centred on Grafton Street, Brown Thomas and the Powerscourt Townhouse arcade, but it has better things to bring home. Aran knitwear, linen, tweed and Irish whiskey are far better souvenirs than a football shirt.

Manchester is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotel rooms are reasonable on ordinary weeknights, and curry houses, Chinatown and food halls make cheap meals easy to find. Just check the dates against home matches and big concerts, when room rates rise sharply.

Dublin is expensive almost across the board. Rooms are among the dearest in Europe, and rounds in city-centre pubs add up quickly. The free national museums and staying out along a DART or Luas line help, but only so far.

Dublin's strength is narrower and lies in drama. The Abbey, founded by Yeats and Lady Gregory, and the Gate stage Irish and classic plays, and fiddle, flute and bodhrán sessions fill the pubs almost every night, best where locals are playing for themselves. Opera is thinner, with no permanent opera house and only short seasons.

Manchester has the deeper scene overall, above all in music. Its gig circuit runs from Northern Quarter back rooms up to one of Europe's largest arenas, and both the Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic play at the Bridgewater Hall. The Royal Exchange puts theatre-in-the-round inside the old cotton trading hall, and opera arrives through visiting productions rather than a company of the city's own.

Neither is a place for a spa break, but Dublin gives you more ways to slow down. The cold dip at the Forty Foot or Seapoint followed by a seafront sauna is a real local ritual, and the bay villages and Georgian squares move at a gentler pace.

Manchester is louder and has little beyond hotel spas. Victoria Baths is heritage to look at, not a place to swim. For rest, the advice is to leave the city for Buxton or the Peak District.