Dubrovnik or Kotor?

Dubrovnik is the stronger place to swim. The water is open Adriatic and very clear, and you can get in off the rocks under the seaward walls, at Banje or in the Lapad coves. From there a boat takes you to Lokrum, the Elafiti islands or the sandy bay at Sunj on Lopud.

Kotor's sea is just as warm in August, but it lies in an enclosed inner bay, so it is calmer and less clear. The town has only jetties and pebble strips along the road towards Dobrota. A real beach day means half an hour over the hill to the sand at Jaz or the coves near Budva and Sveti Stefan.

Both kitchens are built on the same Adriatic seafood of grilled fish, black risotto and octopus, and in both the terraces inside the old town are the weak spot. Dubrovnik pulls ahead on what surrounds it: oysters and mussels from Ston, Peljesac reds such as Dingac, whites from Korcula, the morning fish market at Gruz and family konobas in Konavle.

Kotor adds a mountain note, with smoked Njegusi ham and sharp cheese alongside a glass of dark Vranac. Its best meals are by the water in Dobrota, Prcanj and Perast. The choice is even narrower than in Dubrovnik, with little beyond konoba cooking.

Dubrovnik has the larger and grander set of sights. Its walls make a complete circuit of the city, and inside are the Rector's and Sponza palaces, the Franciscan monastery with its old pharmacy and the Dominican collection of Dalmatian painting. Together they fill two or three days. Up on Mount Srd, a museum tells the story of the siege during the war of the early nineties, which gives the stones a recent history as well as an old one.

Kotor is a smaller walled town that you take in as a whole. Its anchor is the Romanesque Cathedral of St Tryphon, consecrated in 1166. Around it stand the palazzi of the old seafaring families, one of them home to the Maritime Museum, and the walls climb the cliff to the fortress of St John. The lanes take a morning to walk, and the pleasure lies in the townscape rather than in individual monuments.

Neither is a place for serious clubbing, but Dubrovnik offers a little more close to your hotel. The summer scene is small: sunset drinks at the rock bars below the seaward walls, wine bars off the Stradun, a club inside the Revelin fortress and a few places on the Lapad promenade.

In Kotor, an evening usually means a terrace drink on the squares under the floodlit walls, with a handful of late bars in summer. For dancing until dawn, people head down to the seafront in Budva, so a big night out involves a drive or a taxi.

Kotor has the more dramatic landscape, and one you can walk straight into. Limestone walls rise more than 1,000m from its fjord-like bay. The Ladder of Kotor and the fortress path begin at the town gates, and the road of 25 hairpins climbs to the beech woods and karst meadows of Lovcen National Park. The wetlands of Lake Skadar make a longer outing.

Dubrovnik's outdoors are more about the sea and the islands. Highlights are kayaking round the walls to Lokrum, the cable car or zigzag path up Mount Srd, the village paths of the Elafiti islands and the saltwater lakes and pine forest of Mljet.

The two are about two hours apart by road, and each makes a classic day out from the other. Kotor has the richer choice close at hand. Perast and the boat to Our Lady of the Rocks are twenty minutes away, Herceg Novi, Budva and Sveti Stefan lie along the coast, and the old royal capital of Cetinje and the Njegos mausoleum are over Lovcen.

From Dubrovnik, many of the best trips cross a border, to Trebinje in under an hour or to Mostar on a long day. Cavtat, the walls and saltpans of Ston and the car-free Elafiti islands are the easy outings nearer home.

Dubrovnik works better with children, mainly because of the swimming and the outings. The calm coves of Lapad, the boat to Lokrum with its peacocks, the cable car and the small aquarium in the St John fortress are enough for a week. The Old Town's stairs are hard work with a pushchair, though.

Kotor's old town is flat, safe and full of street cats, which children love. But its main sight is a steep, exposed fortress climb, and sandy beaches are a drive away near Budva. The boat trip to Perast's island church is the outing children tend to enjoy most.

Dubrovnik is easier to get around once you are outside the walls. A simple city bus network links Lapad, Babin Kuk, Gruz and Ploce to the Pile gate, and ferries and taxi boats run to Lokrum, the islands and Cavtat, so a car is optional. The drawback is the terrain, with steep streets and stairways between districts.

Kotor's old town is the opposite: flat and walkable end to end in minutes. Beyond the walls, regional buses do not always run often enough and the single road round the bay jams in summer. Most visitors therefore hire a car or a driver for Lovcen, Lustica and the coast.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the lanes of both old towns are mostly souvenir shops. The difference is in what is worth taking home. Dubrovnik has Konavle embroidery, coral and filigree jewellery, and dried figs and candied orange peel from the Gunduliceva Poljana market, with a shopping centre in Gruz for everyday needs.

In Kotor the best buys are edible: Njegusi ham, Vranac, honey and olive oil from the bay. For malls and brands, people go to the marina at Tivat.

Dubrovnik is the dearer trip by a wide margin, and the cost runs through almost everything. In summer, rooms in and around the Old Town are priced like those in a large Western European capital. The things you came for, the wall walk, the cable car and the boat trips, each charge separately. Sleeping in Lapad, Gruz or Cavtat and coming in spring or autumn softens the bill, but careful spenders will still find it expensive.

In Kotor, the high prices sit in one small pocket: the hotels and the terraces on the main squares inside the walls, and only in July and August. Move out to the shore villages or come in the shoulder months, and everyday spending drops to a level well below Dubrovnik's. The same week by the water then costs noticeably less.

Both are thin for most of the year, and what each offers depends on the season. Dubrovnik's highlight is a formal one: the Summer Festival, held every July and August since 1950, stages theatre, classical concerts and dance at Fort Lovrijenac and in the Rector's Palace atrium. A symphony orchestra plays through the rest of the year.

Kotor's big occasions are more folk than formal: carnival with its masked parades, and Boka Night, when decorated boats fill the bay. In summer there are also recitals and choirs in the squares and churches.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both places a spa means a resort hotel. Dubrovnik has a few more of them, in Lapad, Babin Kuk and towards Ploce. A restful stay is easy to arrange on the Elafiti islands or in Cavtat, where life follows the harbour.

Kotor's calm comes from its pace rather than its facilities: early mornings on the water, long lunches in the shore villages and evenings once the day visitors have gone. Its spa hotels are along the bay or at the Tivat marina.