Dubrovnik or Nafplio?

Both look onto warm, clear water with pebble beaches, but Dubrovnik gives a summer stay more ways to swim. Swimmers drop in straight off the rocks below the seaward walls, at Banje and in the coves of Lapad and Babin Kuk. Boats then open up Lokrum, the quieter Elafiti bays and the sandy cove at Sunj on Lopud.

Nafplio's swimming is gentler and more modest. Arvanitia is a quick dip below the cliffs, Karathona's pine-backed bay offers sand 3km away, and Tolo has the sunbeds and tavernas. The sheltered gulf is calm, but the beaches are small and crowded on summer weekends.

Dubrovnik eats a little better, as long as you leave the Stradun. Ston's oysters and mussels, black risotto and pasticada, and the reds of the Peljesac peninsula are worth seeking out in the konobas of Lapad, Gruz and Konavle.

Nafplio's taverna cooking is steady rather than memorable. Gulf octopus, slow-cooked lamb and Nemea's agiorgitiko are good, and the gelato and loukoumades are a treat, but the busy squares lean on tourist menus. In both places the range stops at the local cuisine.

Dubrovnik is the deeper visit. A full circuit of the walls, the Franciscan pharmacy, the Rector's Palace, the Dominican paintings and Fort Lovrijenac make up one of the most complete old towns in Europe. They easily fill two or three days.

Nafplio has a lovely old town of its own, with Venetian, Ottoman and neoclassical houses, plus Palamidi, the Bourtzi and the Mycenaean armour in the Archaeological Museum. Its history as Greece's first capital gives it weight, but the list in town is shorter and lighter.

Neither is a party town, but Dubrovnik gives a summer evening a bit more to do. You can watch the sunset from the bars cut into the rocks, then find wine bars in the lanes and a club inside the Revelin fortress.

Nafplio's evenings are a long dinner and then a drink on the harbour front or off Syntagma Square, with no real clubs at all. It livens up when Athenians arrive on summer weekends.

Dubrovnik's setting is the more dramatic one: limestone mountains falling into an island-strewn sea. Mount Srd, kayaking out to Lokrum, the lakes of Mljet and cycling on the Elafiti islands give it more variety. Much of that variety is on or across the water.

Nafplio's outdoors starts at the edge of town, with the path around Akronafplia, the coastal trail to Karathona and limestone crags for climbers. The fir forests and gorges of Mainalo inland are a longer drive. In both places the summer heat pushes walking into spring and autumn.

This is where Nafplio pulls clearly ahead. Tiryns, Mycenae and Epidaurus are all within forty minutes, so you can see one of the great clusters of the ancient world without moving hotel. Corinth, Nemea, Hydra, Spetses and Mystras extend the list further.

Dubrovnik's day trips have a different appeal: crossing borders. The Bay of Kotor and Perast in Montenegro, Trebinje and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ston's walls closer to home make good days out. Summer queues at the borders can eat into them.

The two are evenly matched for families, and both work best for a beach-centred stay. Dubrovnik offers more small adventures, with the cable car, boats to Lokrum and the aquarium in the St John fortress. But its stairs defeat pushchairs, and cruise-day crowds wear children out.

Nafplio is flatter and calmer underfoot. The harbour front suits an evening stroll, and the water at Karathona and Tolo is shallow. Beyond the castles and the boat to the Bourtzi, though, there is little aimed at children.

Dubrovnik is easier without a car. City buses link Lapad, Babin Kuk and Gruz with the Pile gate, and ferries and taxi boats reach the islands and Cavtat. Even so, the steep stairways make walking between districts harder than the map suggests.

Nafplio's old town is flat and walkable end to end, but beyond it the buses are thin. Most visitors hire a car to reach the ancient sites and beaches, which means competing for parking in summer.

Neither is a shopping destination, and an hour or two covers either. Dubrovnik's best buys are Konavle embroidery, coral and filigree jewellery, and figs and candied peel from the Gunduliceva Poljana market. In Nafplio you take home komboloi, Argolid olive oil, citrus preserves and Nemea wine, and its small galleries give the lanes a slightly more browsable feel.

Nafplio is much easier on the wallet. Taverna meals and site fees are fair, and only weekend and high-summer rooms in the old-town mansions push costs up.

Dubrovnik is expensive by any Mediterranean measure. Rooms near the Old Town, meals on the main streets, the walls, the cable car and boat trips all add up. Staying in Lapad or Cavtat and coming in spring or autumn helps, but it never becomes cheap.

Both come alive only in summer, and Nafplio's high point is the more memorable. Ancient Greek drama is performed at dusk in the theatre of Epidaurus, famous for its acoustics, and the town has its own summer classical music festival.

Dubrovnik's Summer Festival has a long pedigree, with theatre and concerts at Fort Lovrijenac and in the Rector's Palace atrium. Outside July and August, though, both towns offer only the occasional concert.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and the spas in both belong to larger hotels. The calm is different in kind. Dubrovnik is restful only away from the Old Town in high season, on the Elafiti islands or in Cavtat. Nafplio's slow harbour rhythm is calming in the town itself, and Loutraki's thermal water and the springs at Methana are within a drive.