Florence or Rovinj?

Swimming plays no part in a stay in Florence. It is an inland city, and its nearest sea is the sandy, lounger-lined Versilia coast, about an hour and a half away by train. In the heat, most visitors cool off in a hotel pool or one of the city's outdoor public pools.

In Rovinj the sea is part of every day. Flat limestone ledges and pebble coves run for kilometres through the Golden Cape, the water is very clear, and taxi boats reach quieter spots on St Catherine and Red Island. There is almost no sand, though, so pack water shoes.

Florence has the deeper food scene. There is bistecca and ribollita in Oltrarno trattorie, lampredotto rolls from street carts, two working markets at San Lorenzo and Sant'Ambrogio, and Chianti vineyards just outside the city. It is also easy to eat well cheaply standing at a counter.

Rovinj cooks from the sea and the Istrian hinterland: scampi buzara, truffled fuži, peppery olive oil and Malvazija. It is very good for a week of dinners, especially at the country konobas. There is little street food, though, and the menus on the harbour are written for tourists.

The difference here is one of scale. In Florence the cathedral group alone, with Brunelleschi's dome, Giotto's bell tower and the bronze doors of the Baptistery, would be the main sight of most cities, and it is only the start. Santa Croce with its tombs, Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza della Signoria and the great galleries on both banks of the Arno make this a city you have to plan, booking ahead and accepting summer queues.

Rovinj asks for no planning at all. Its sight is a single Venetian quarter on what was once an island, with steep lanes such as Grisia climbing to St Euphemia, whose bell tower copies the campanile in Venice. The Batana House adds a local touch, telling the story of the flat-bottomed fishing boats and the songs sung on them, but this is a town to wander rather than to study.

Florence is no clubbing city, but it has more going on after dark. Crowds spill out of the bars on Piazza Santo Spirito, locals fill Sant'Ambrogio, there are student pubs near the centre, and in summer bars open along the Arno.

In Rovinj the evening is a long dinner followed by a drink on the rocks at sunset. A few waterfront bars keep going in high season, but the old town is quiet by midnight, and outside summer there is little open.

Both offer gentle rather than wild landscapes, but on different ground. Around Florence you walk and cycle on land: olive terraces at Fiesole, the cypress-lined lanes of Chianti and the beech forests of the Casentino further into the Apennines.

Around Rovinj the outdoors is on the water. You can kayak, paddleboard and dive among the islands and wrecks, take a boat along the steep green Lim Fjord, or follow the pine paths of the Golden Cape.

Florence is one of the best day-trip bases in Europe. Pisa, Lucca and Siena are all close by train or bus, Bologna is under forty minutes by fast train, and San Gimignano, Volterra and the Val d'Orcia towns fill any days left over.

Rovinj has a good short list: the Roman amphitheatre in Pula, the mosaics of the Euphrasian Basilica in Poreč, and the hill towns of Motovun and Grožnjan above the truffle woods. There are fewer first-rank places, and with no railway most of them need a car.

Rovinj is the easier choice with children, though neither is ideal. Children enjoy the boat trips to the islands, the flat, shady paths of the Golden Cape and the resort pools and playgrounds. Watch out for the rocky shore and the steep old town cobbles.

Florence is made for adults. The best ways in for children are climbing the dome, the secret passages of Palazzo Vecchio and a run around the Boboli Gardens, but July heat and the crowds wear young children out. The Pinocchio park at Collodi is the classic family outing.

Florence is both walkable and well connected. The Duomo, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace are all within a short walk of each other, trams run to the airport, and Santa Maria Novella station sits in the centre for day trips by rail.

Rovinj is just as easy on foot inside town, with a car-free old town and a promenade into the Golden Cape. Beyond it there is no railway, and the buses only link the larger towns, so the hill villages and wineries really need a car.

Florence is a serious place to shop. There is leather from the San Lorenzo stalls and small workshops, goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio, marbled paper, gilders and framers in the Oltrarno, antiques on Via Maggio and the fashion houses of Via de' Tornabuoni.

Shopping in Rovinj is about taking the region home with you: truffle products, olive oil, Teran and local brandies, plus the artists' studios along Grisia. There are no fashion streets, and the choice is thin outside summer.

Both are expensive for their size, but the money goes in different places. In Florence, central hotels and the admission fees for museums and the Duomo climb add up. Street food, market lunches and walking everywhere keep daily costs down, and winter is the cheapest season.

Rovinj's costs peak in July and August, when old town rooms and harbourside fish dinners, priced by weight, cost what any sought-after resort does. Private apartments, the big campsites and a visit in late spring or September make the biggest saving.

Florence has a real music season. Opera was born here, the Maggio Musicale is one of Europe's oldest festivals, and the Teatro del Maggio stages opera, concerts and ballet, though the jazz and live music scene is small.

Rovinj offers summer concerts in St Euphemia, music on the squares and sometimes the town's own bitinada singing. For anything larger, people drive to the Roman arena in Pula.

Neither has a bathing tradition within the town, so it comes down to what lies nearby. From Florence, the grand old spa town of Montecatini Terme is under an hour by train, the sulphur pools at Saturnia and Bagno Vignoni make an overnight trip, and a farm stay in the hills is the classic way to unwind.

Rovinj relaxes you through its pace instead. Late swims off the rocks, walks in the pines and the resort hotel spas make May, June and September restful, while the crowds of high summer push the calm out beyond the old town.