Dubrovnik or Mostar?

Dubrovnik is a real swimming destination. You can swim in clear sea off the rocks below the walls, at Banje beach by the Old Town and in the coves of Lapad and Babin Kuk. Better bays are a boat ride away on Lokrum, the Elafiti islands and Lopud, which has a sandy cove at Sunj. Expect pebble and concrete rather than sand, and beaches that fill early in summer.

Mostar has no beach life at all. The Neretva is cold and good only for a quick plunge from the rocks. The usual swim is at the Kravica waterfalls 40km south, and the coast at Neum is more than an hour's drive, so the sea is a day out rather than part of the stay.

Both kitchens have a narrow range, and in both the restaurants by the main sight cater to tourists: the Stradun in one, the bridge terraces in the other. Dubrovnik comes out a little ahead at its best, with grilled fish, black risotto, oysters eaten at the farms near Ston and Peljesac reds such as Dingac. Look for them in the konobas of Lapad, Gruz and Konavle.

Mostar's cooking is meat and pastry rather than seafood: charcoal-grilled ćevapi in somun bread, burek, stuffed peppers and slow stews. It goes with Žilavka and Blatina wines from the nearby valleys and the slow ritual of Bosnian coffee. The food is honest and filling, but the choice runs out sooner.

Dubrovnik has more to see. The 2km circuit of the walls, the Stradun, the Rector's Palace, the Franciscan and Dominican monasteries and Fort Lovrijenac make up an intact walled city that takes two or three days. The crowds in summer daytime are the price.

Mostar's appeal rests on one great monument, the rebuilt Stari Most with divers leaping from its crown. Around it are the Kujundžiluk bazaar street, the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque and the old Ottoman houses. The war-scarred façades along the old front line give it a rawer feel than Dubrovnik's restored stone, and a day or two covers it.

Neither city suits a serious night out, but Dubrovnik gives a summer evening more to do. There are sunset drinks at the bars cut into the rocks outside the walls, small wine and cocktail bars in the lanes off the Stradun and a club inside the Revelin fortress. Most of it closes in winter.

In Mostar the evening is dinner and drinks facing the lit bridge, and the old town empties once the coach groups leave. Only a few cocktail bars and student clubs stay open late, mostly at weekends.

Both cities sit among bare limestone mountains, but Dubrovnik's outdoors centre on the sea. You can kayak around the walls to Lokrum, take the cable car up Mount Srd for views over the islands, walk or cycle on the car-free Elafiti islands and visit the saltwater lakes and pine forest of Mljet. That variety gives it a slight edge.

Mostar's outdoors are river and mountain: rafting in the Neretva canyons, the Buna spring at Blagaj, the wild Prenj range, the Blidinje plateau and the birdlife of the Hutovo Blato wetland. The valley heat is harsher than on the coast, so spring and autumn matter even more there.

Dubrovnik has the wider choice, helped by two borders close by. The Bay of Kotor in Montenegro, with Kotor and Perast, is the classic day out, Trebinje in Bosnia is under an hour away, and Mostar makes a long but realistic day. Closer in are the medieval walls of Ston and boat hops to Cavtat and the Elafiti islands, though border queues in summer can add hours.

The reverse trip is harder. From Mostar, Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian coast are better kept for an overnight stay. Mostar's own trips are smaller and close to home: the dervish tekke at Blagaj, the hillside village of Počitelj, the medieval tombstones at Stolac and Tito's bunker at Konjic. Sarajevo makes a long day by train through the Neretva gorge, and most of the rest needs a car or a tour.

Dubrovnik works better with children, mostly because of the water. There are calm coves in Lapad, boat rides to Lokrum, the cable car and the small aquarium in the St John fortress, and Lapad and Babin Kuk make an easy base near the beaches. The stairs and summer crowds of the Old Town are the catch.

Mostar is fine for a day or two. Children enjoy the bridge divers, a minaret climb and swimming under the Kravica falls, and restaurants welcome them warmly. Over a longer stay, though, the slippery stone lanes and the valley heat are hard on small children.

Dubrovnik is easier without a car. The car-free Old Town is small, city buses link Lapad, Babin Kuk and Gruz to the Pile gate, and ferries and taxi boats run to Lokrum, the Elafiti islands and Cavtat. The drawbacks are the steep stairways and summer traffic at Pile.

Mostar's sights fit into one stroll along the river. Beyond that, the buses serve residents rather than visitors, so reaching Blagaj, Počitelj or Kravica means a car, taxi or tour. Mostar does have the one thing Dubrovnik lacks, a railway, with trains to Sarajevo.

Shopping is a small part of a visit to either city, but Mostar has the more interesting street for it. In the Kujundžiluk a few coppersmiths still hammer coffee sets by hand in their doorways, alongside kilims and lamps, though much of the stock is imported.

Dubrovnik's Old Town is mostly souvenir shops. The better buys are Konavle embroidery, filigree jewellery and the figs and candied peel from the morning market, and beyond those there is little more than a shopping centre in Gruz.

This is where the two differ most. Dubrovnik is the most expensive place in Croatia. In summer, rooms near the Old Town cost as much as in a Western European capital, and the walls, cable car and boat trips add up. Staying in Lapad or Cavtat and coming outside summer helps only so much.

Mostar is among the cheaper places to travel in Europe. Rooms, meals, wine and coffee all cost little. Only the terraces with bridge views and old-town rooms in midsummer charge more, and prices drop again a few streets away.

Dubrovnik has the one big event: the Summer Festival, held every July and August since 1950. It stages theatre, concerts and dance in Fort Lovrijenac, the Rector's Palace atrium and the city squares. The rest of the year there are symphony concerts and occasional chamber music in churches.

Mostar offers less. It has a national theatre and a youth theatre, both performing mostly in local languages, and some open-air concerts in summer. Otherwise, live music means the odd band in a café bar.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and Mostar's hammam is a historic building rather than a working bath. Dubrovnik offers more, with spas in the larger hotels around Lapad and Babin Kuk. In spring and autumn a stay on the Elafiti islands or in Cavtat is properly restful.

In Mostar the rest comes from the slow pace: long coffees in the shade, and the quiet by the river after the coach groups have gone.