Galway or Cork?

These are two cold Atlantic cities, and neither is a beach destination. The difference is reach. Galway's sea is right on its doorstep: walk along the Salthill prom and you come to the Blackrock diving tower, where the city's regular swimmers go in all year.

Cork's sandy coves at Myrtleville and Fountainstown are around half an hour away by car, and Inchydoney's long strand takes nearer an hour. They are better beaches, but you need a car to reach them.

Cork is the stronger food city. Its strength is produce, gathered in the English Market: West Cork farmhouse cheese, smoked fish, spiced beef and local curiosities like drisheen. Good modern Irish kitchens nearby buy from the same stallholders, and Kinsale's seafood is close at hand.

Galway's best eating comes from the bay, especially oysters, mussels and chowder, along with the Saturday market by St Nicholas'. Beyond that it is mostly pub food and cafés of uneven quality. Variety is thin in both cities, but Cork has more depth.

Cork has the fuller set of sights, though nothing in either city is grand. St Fin Barre's Cathedral, the Shandon steeple with bells you can ring, the Crawford's Irish paintings and the old City Gaol will fill a day or two.

Galway's medieval past survives in pieces: the Spanish Arch, Lynch's Castle and St Nicholas' Collegiate Church. Most of the pleasure is in walking the Latin Quarter lanes rather than going inside anywhere. An afternoon covers it.

In both cities a night out means the pub, but Galway does it better. Two universities keep the centre loud even on weeknights in term, and the pubs run from snugs with open fires to big bars with DJs. Race week and hen and stag weekends push it towards raucous.

Cork is quieter outside Thursday to Saturday. Its wood-panelled bars off Patrick Street and Oliver Plunkett Street suit a long, talkative evening better than a wild one. Neither city has much in the way of clubs.

Galway is the gateway to far wilder country. Connemara's Twelve Bens and national park are about an hour west, the bare limestone Burren and the Cliffs of Moher lie across the bay, and Lough Corrib and the Aran Islands are close by.

Cork's surroundings are greener and gentler. You can sail and kayak in the harbour, walk the cliffs at Ballycotton and the Old Head of Kinsale, and head into West Cork's inlets. Kerry's mountains take a long day. Bring waterproofs to either.

Cork makes the better base, largely because so much is close and easy to reach. Cobh's Titanic and emigrant history, Fota House and the Midleton distillery are all on the suburban railway, and Kinsale and Blarney are a short ride away. Killarney, Cashel and Kilkenny are all possible in a day.

Galway's outings are memorable but spread out. The Aran Islands by ferry, Kylemore Abbey, Cong and Clonmacnoise are mostly single sites or villages, and most need a coach tour or a hired car.

Cork is the easier choice with children, thanks mainly to Fota Wildlife Park, where animals roam open ground a short train ride from the centre. Blackrock Castle's hands-on observatory and the grounds at Blarney add a couple more good days.

Galway's family offer is concentrated at Salthill, with the national aquarium, playgrounds and a summer funfair. Anything more means heading out to farm parks or Connemara ponies. In both cities, rain is the real problem.

Both centres are small enough to walk. Galway's is largely pedestrian from Eyre Square to the Spanish Arch, while Cork's island centre is flat but climbs steeply up to Shandon.

The real difference is beyond town. Cork's suburban trains reach Cobh, Fota and Midleton. Galway's main sights, Connemara, the Burren and the Aran ferry port, mean coaches, tours or narrow, winding roads in a hired car.

Shopping is modest in both, a couple of hours' browsing with no luxury streets. Cork has the bigger high street, with department stores along Patrick Street and independent shops in the Huguenot Quarter, and the English Market is the place for cheese to take home.

Galway packs everything onto one pedestrian street. It has good bookshops and music shops, and the Claddagh ring is a local speciality made where it began, though Quay Street leans towards souvenirs.

Neither is cheap. Hotels, restaurants and pints are all priced at Irish levels, well above much of Western Europe. Cork is a little gentler, with lunch at the market as an easy saving.

Galway's shortage of rooms bites hardest during summer weekends, race week and the arts festival. Exploring the west from Galway also adds tour or car-hire costs that Cork's railway helps you avoid.

Galway is the livelier stage. Trad sessions fill the Latin Quarter pubs most nights, and buskers line Shop Street. It is also a real theatre town, with Druid, the Irish-language An Taibhdhearc and the July arts festival.

Cork has the larger formal venue in its Opera House, plus the Victorian Everyman. Its standout week is the long-running jazz festival at the end of October, but the rest of the year the pub session carries most of the city's music.

Neither is a place to come and rest, though Galway offers a little more. Traditional seaweed baths lie within a drive along the west coast, country-house spas sit out in Connemara, and the windy Salthill prom makes a good reset.

Cork's options are hotel spas and the resort on Fota Island, plus the cold-water swimmers in the harbour coves.