Dubrovnik or Skopje?

These two are about as far apart as they could be. Dubrovnik is a real swimming destination. The water is clear, you swim off rocks and concrete platforms below the walls, at Banje and around Lapad and Babin Kuk, and Lokrum, Lopud's sandy cove at Sunj and Cavtat are all a short boat ride away.

Skopje has no coast, and Matka's reservoir is too cold for bathing. In the city, swimming means a pool. If you want lake swimming with a Skopje trip, plan nights at Ohrid rather than a day trip.

The two eat at a similar level but in different ways. Dubrovnik's cooking is coastal: grilled fish, black risotto, Ston oysters and Peljesac reds. You have to avoid the overpriced tables in the Old Town and look for konobas in Lapad, Gruz or Konavle.

Skopje's food is meaty, made for sitting long at the table. There is tavche gravche in clay dishes, kebapi in the Old Bazaar and burek for breakfast, and the Tikves wines are a surprise. You can eat well almost anywhere at little cost, though once you have tried the local repertoire there is not much else to explore.

Dubrovnik has the stronger set of sights: a single walled city, rebuilt after the earthquake of 1667 and still intact. You can walk the full circuit of the walls, then follow the Stradun past the Rector's Palace, the old Franciscan pharmacy and the Dominican paintings, with Fort Lovrijenac on its rock outside. The summer crowds in the narrow streets are the price you pay.

Skopje is less polished but more varied. It has a large Ottoman bazaar with caravanserais and the Mustafa Pasha Mosque, the carved iconostasis of the Holy Saviour, and across the river the bronze statues and replica facades of a much-debated government building programme. The earthquake of 1963 runs through the city's story, much as the wartime siege runs through Dubrovnik's.

Neither city is a place for serious clubbing, but the evenings feel different. Dubrovnik's nights are for a drink with a view: sunset at the cliff bars outside the walls, small wine bars in the lanes and a club in the Revelin fortress. Much of it closes outside summer.

Skopje's evenings are more local. Café terraces in Debar Maalo move from coffee to rakija, tavern music plays late, and the bazaar courtyards are lively on summer nights. It is liveliest at weekends and runs all year.

Dubrovnik's outdoors is sea and islands, and Skopje's is mountains and canyon. In Dubrovnik you kayak around the walls to Lokrum, climb Mount Srd for views over the archipelago, and walk between villages on the Elafiti islands or among the saltwater lakes and pines of Mljet.

Skopje has Vodno rising from the suburbs, with a walk up through pine woods, and boats and kayaks in Matka Canyon to Vrelo Cave. Further out are the high ridges of the Sar range and the beech forest at Mavrovo. Winter skiing at Popova Sapka is something Dubrovnik cannot offer, though beyond Vodno you will want a car.

Dubrovnik has the stronger day trips, helped by a border on either side. The Bay of Kotor and Perast, Trebinje's Ottoman bridge and Mostar are all reachable. Closer in, there are the walls and saltpans of Ston and the car-free Elafiti islands by ferry, though queues at the borders in summer can add hours.

Skopje's day trips are quieter but varied. There is the painted mosque in Tetovo, the Roman mosaics at Stobi, Tikves wineries, the crater town of Kratovo and Prizren across the Kosovo border. The catch is that Ohrid, the country's best-known town, is too far for a day out.

Dubrovnik is the easier of the two with children. Calm coves, boat rides, the cable car and the small aquarium in St John fortress fill the days. Staying in Lapad or Babin Kuk helps you avoid the Old Town's stairs and its crowded cruise days.

Skopje is friendly to families in its cafés and parks, but it has little planned for children beyond a small zoo and a funfair. With very hot summers and uneven pavements, it works best as a short stop before a stay by a lake.

Dubrovnik is the simpler city to use. It has a car-free Old Town, a straightforward bus network that runs from the hotel districts to the Pile gate, and taxi boats to the islands. The steep stairways and the congestion at the gate in summer are the drawbacks.

Skopje's centre is flatter and pleasant to walk along the Vardar. Beyond it, the buses are hard for a newcomer to work out, and visitors mostly take cheap taxis to Vodno and Matka.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Skopje has more to browse. The Old Bazaar's workshops make silver filigree, copperware and embroidery, Bit Pazar is a full everyday market of spices, cheese and peppers, and there are a few malls with international chains.

Dubrovnik's streets are mostly souvenir shops. The things worth buying are Konavle embroidery, coral jewellery, lavender, and dried figs and liqueurs from the Gunduliceva Poljana market.

The gap here is large. Skopje is one of the cheapest capitals in Europe. Long tavern dinners with wine, taxis and central rooms all leave plenty of budget, even in summer.

Dubrovnik is the most expensive place in Croatia. The walls, the cable car, boat trips and summer rooms all add up. Staying in Lapad or Gruz and coming in spring or autumn helps, but it is never a cheap trip.

Skopje has more to see across the year. It has the national opera, ballet, philharmonic and theatre, all with affordable tickets, the long-running Skopje Jazz Festival every autumn, and starogradska music in the Debar Maalo taverns.

Dubrovnik's best moment is the Summer Festival in July and August, with theatre and concerts in Fort Lovrijenac and the Rector's Palace atrium, a setting few cities can match. For the rest of the year there is little more than occasional concerts.

Skopje has real thermal water at Katlanovska Banja, half an hour out, with mineral pools in an old sanatorium setting rather than a polished spa. Its Ottoman hamams in the bazaar are art galleries now, so the everyday way to unwind is long hours over coffee on a shaded terrace in Debar Maalo.

In Dubrovnik the calm comes from the setting instead. A quiet stay on the Elafiti islands or in Cavtat in spring or autumn is far more restful than the crowded summer Old Town, and spas are only found in the larger coastal hotels.