Edinburgh or Cardiff?

Neither city is a place for swimming, but Cardiff gets you closer to a proper seaside day. Barry Island's sandy bay and funfair are a short train ride away, and the Bristol Channel warms a few degrees more than the North Sea by late summer. Porthcawl's surf and the Gower's sands are within a drive.

Edinburgh has sand nearer the centre, at Portobello, and the East Lothian beaches are wide and handsome. The water stays colder, though, and only wetsuited regulars at Portobello and Wardie Bay go in. Walking the sand is the realistic plan there.

Edinburgh eats somewhat better. Its strength is Scottish seafood, beef and game cooked in the modern dining rooms of Leith, the New Town and Stockbridge, and its whisky bars are worth a visit for their own sake.

Cardiff's table is homelier. You get Welsh cakes off the griddle in the Victorian market, cawl and laverbread, and neighbourhood bistros in Pontcanna and Canton. It does have one thing Edinburgh largely lacks: a long run of cheap Middle Eastern and South Asian cooking on City Road.

Edinburgh is the stronger sightseeing city because the townscape itself is the attraction. The medieval closes of the Royal Mile run from the castle down to Holyroodhouse, and the Georgian crescents of the New Town lie across the valley. Together they form one World Heritage Site, and the national galleries and museum add old masters and Scottish history on top.

Cardiff's sights are fewer and younger. The castle's Victorian Gothic rooms, the Impressionists at the National Museum and the rebuilt Welsh buildings at St Fagans fill two or three good days. Most of the city dates from the Victorian era, though, so there is less pleasure in simply wandering the streets.

The two cities offer about as much as each other after dark, in different styles. Cardiff is louder at weekends, with big groups on St Mary Street and the whole centre in red on rugby days. Womanby Street's small bars and late venues are the place for something less mainstream.

Edinburgh is a pub city first, with panelled Victorian bars, Grassmarket drinking dens and Leith harbour pubs, and the Cowgate for late nights. It goes to bed fairly early most of the year, then stays out into the small hours through the August festivals.

Both have good walking within reach, and the difference is distance. Edinburgh's wild ground is inside the city: the crags of Arthur's Seat are a short walk from the Royal Mile, and the Pentland ridges are half an hour out.

Cardiff's big landscape is the Bannau Brycheiniog, about an hour's drive away, where Pen y Fan gives a higher, wilder moorland hike. In town, Bute Park, the Taff Trail and the barrage loop are gentler.

Both are excellent bases, and castles are the common thread. From Cardiff you can visit Caerphilly and Castell Coch, Tintern Abbey in the Wye Valley, and the mining heritage of Blaenavon and Big Pit. Bath and Bristol are just across the Severn.

From Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling are each under an hour away. Linlithgow, St Andrews and the Borders abbeys are a little further. Waverley station sits right in the centre, so these trips are especially easy without a car.

Both cities work well for a few days with children. Cardiff is flatter and easier with a buggy, with Techniquest, the farm animals at St Fagans, rowing boats on Roath Park lake and Barry Island's funfair in summer.

Edinburgh has more for a rainy day, with the National Museum and Dynamic Earth, and it has a zoo, which Cardiff lacks. On the other hand, its Old Town is all steps and cobbles, and the August crowds make everything harder going.

Edinburgh is the easier city to get around. Its main sights sit within about 2km of each other, the bus network is dense, a tram runs from the airport through Princes Street to Leith, and Waverley station is in the middle of it all. The cost is hills, stairways and cobbles.

Cardiff's centre is flatter and smaller, with the castle, market and station a few minutes apart. Cardiff Bay is half an hour's walk away or a short shuttle train ride, though. There is no tram, so local trains and buses cover everything else.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each can be covered in about an afternoon. Cardiff's distinctive feature is its glass-roofed Victorian arcades, full of record shops, books and vintage clothing, and the local things to take home are lovespoons and woollen blankets.

Edinburgh has a little more upmarket choice around George Street and on the curving Victoria Street. The souvenirs there are Scottish: cashmere, tweed, tartan from proper kiltmakers and single malt whisky.

Cardiff is the cheaper stay, mainly because its hotels are moderate on ordinary dates. A rugby international or a stadium concert pushes room prices up sharply, though. Short, inexpensive train rides to castles and the coast keep extra days cheap.

Edinburgh's rooms are expensive all year and extreme during the August festivals and at Hogmanay, so many visitors stay in Leith or further out. Both cities have free national museums, and Edinburgh's best views from Arthur's Seat cost nothing, but its ticketed sights add up quickly.

Edinburgh is the stronger arts city, and in August nowhere in Britain compares. The Fringe fills hundreds of venues with comedy and theatre, the International Festival brings leading orchestras and opera, and the Tattoo is staged on the castle esplanade. Outside August there are still two national orchestras, Scottish Opera and Ballet, and strong drama at the Lyceum and the Traverse.

Cardiff's arts life centres on the Wales Millennium Centre, home to Welsh National Opera, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the music college add concerts. Its real strength is the grassroots gigs around Womanby Street most nights, along with choral singing as a living tradition.

Neither city suits a spa break, but Edinburgh has a little more to offer. There are the Victorian Turkish baths at Portobello, the Royal Commonwealth Pool and shoreline saunas used by the cold-water swimmers. Outside August, the Botanic Garden and the Water of Leith make for quiet mornings.

Cardiff relies on hotel and day spas and the pools at the Bay's waterfront hotels. Mostly, unwinding there means its easy pace: slow café mornings in Pontcanna and walks along the Taff through Bute Park.