Gdansk or Kaunas?

Gdansk is a real seaside city. A long strip of pale, fine sand runs from Brzeźno and Jelitkowo to Sopot, with the quieter, pine-backed Stogi across the port and the Hel Peninsula further out. The water is shallow and cold, but in summer a beach afternoon is part of almost any stay.

Kaunas is inland, and the Baltic is a long day's round trip away. Swimming means the sandy bathing spots on the Kaunas Reservoir, the Nemunas at Panemune or small lakes like Lampedziai. These can be slightly warmer than the Baltic, but they feel like a park lido rather than a coast.

Neither city is worth the trip for its food alone, but Gdansk has a little more range. The Baltic brings smoked and fried fish and many kinds of herring, Kashubian country cooking adds mushrooms and berries, and the old milk bars serve cheap canteen meals. The better restaurants are in Wrzeszcz, the shipyard area, Sopot and Gdynia rather than along Długa.

Kaunas cooks potatoes even more seriously, with cepelinai, pink cold beetroot soup in summer and pastries filled with mushroom or meat. Only a few kitchens cook modern Baltic food. For drinks, Gdansk has craft beer and the gold-flecked Goldwasser, and Kaunas has mead and herbal bitters.

Gdansk has more to see. Its rebuilt Hanseatic Main Town runs from the Golden Gate down Długa to the medieval crane, and the vast brick bulk of St Mary's rises above it. The twentieth century is told with real weight at the Museum of the Second World War, Westerplatte and the European Solidarity Centre.

Kaunas is smaller, and its best sights are its architecture rather than its old town. The UNESCO-listed interwar centre of functionalist and Art Deco buildings, topped by the white Christ's Resurrection Church, has no match in Gdansk. The Ciurlionis museum and the sobering Ninth Fort add depth, but two or three days covers it all.

Gdansk offers far more for a night out. You can start with cocktails in the Main Town and move on to student bars in Wrzeszcz or club nights in the old shipyard warehouses. In summer the crowds shift to Sopot's Monte Cassino street and the pier, with late trains bringing everyone home.

Kaunas runs the opposite way through the year. Its cellar bars and few clubs fill on student weekends and quieten when the universities break for summer, just as Sopot is at its liveliest. Expect a relaxed evening of local beer or mead rather than a late night.

Gdansk has more varied scenery. The beech woods and ravines of the Tricity Landscape Park rise right behind Oliwa and Sopot, a cycle path runs along the shore, the Kashubian lakes are about an hour away, and Hel's dunes and the Bay of Puck draw kitesurfers and windsurfers.

The country around Kaunas is flatter and gentler, and its best side is the water: the Azuolynas oak grove in the city, the pine-fringed reservoir park and canoeing on the Nemunas Loops. Apart from the slopes above the two rivers, there are no real hills or upland country nearby, and the sea is too far for an easy outing.

Both make good bases for day trips, but the trips are different. From Gdansk, the best outings are big medieval monuments: Malbork's Teutonic castle is a short train ride away, with Gothic Torun, Frombork and Pelplin further afield, while Sopot and Gdynia are easy half-days and summer boats go to Hel.

From Kaunas, the main day out is a whole capital, as baroque Vilnius is about an hour away by train. Trakai's island castle, the farmsteads at Rumsiskes, the Nemunas manor houses and the Hill of Crosses add a more rural, folk-history side.

With children, Gdansk is much easier, at least in summer. Gentle beaches, the forest zoo at Oliwa, Gdynia's aquarium and science centre, the Hevelianum and boat trips to Westerplatte or the Sopot pier fill several days, and the flat, car-free Main Town is easy with a pushchair.

Kaunas is calm and uncrowded, but there is less to fill the days: a small zoo in the oak grove, the funiculars, the carved devils and a couple of museums for a rainy morning. It has no aquarium or major science centre, so a short summer stay works best.

Gdansk's centre is flat and easy to walk, and it also has better transport further out. Trams go to the beaches, a rail link serves the airport, and the SKM commuter line runs through Oliwa and Sopot to Gdynia. The only effort is the 30km length of the Tricity.

In Kaunas, Laisves aleja runs as one long pedestrian street from the modernist quarter into the Old Town, so the centre is easy to walk. Beyond it there are only trolleybuses and buses, but taxis are cheap. Old Town cobbles and the hills on either side make some walks harder.

You can buy amber in both cities, but Gdansk is the place for it. Mariacka Street and the riverside are lined with long-established workshops, and in summer St Dominic's Fair fills the old town with crafts and antiques. Apart from that, it's mostly malls and Sopot's main street.

Kaunas is more practical, with high-street chains on Laisves aleja and malls on the edge of the centre. For souvenirs, look for Lithuanian linen, woven sashes, wooden crafts, and honey or rye bread from the market stalls.

Both cities are good value, with cheap transport, low museum fees and easy prices for beer, coffee and hearty lunches. The difference is in hotel prices.

In Gdansk, Main Town and Sopot hotels charge seaside rates in July and August, so late spring or early autumn is cheaper. Kaunas has no seaside season, and its rooms cost less than in Vilnius all year.

Gdansk has a slightly fuller programme and better venues. The Baltic Opera, the Philharmonic in a converted power station on Ołowianka island, the Shakespeare Theatre with its opening roof, and organ recitals in Oliwa Cathedral give it real range, and Gdynia's big summer rock and pop festival adds a large outdoor event.

Kaunas has a steady programme for its size, with operetta and musicals at the State Musical Theatre, a respected drama company and a strong choral tradition. Its highlights are the spring jazz festival and summer concerts at Pazaislis Monastery. Theatre in both cities is mostly in the local language.

Neither city is a spa destination, and their traditions are quite different. Gdansk's wellness centres on Sopot's grand old seaside hotels and their spa floors. The one truly local custom is morsowanie, a bracing winter dip in the Baltic.

Kaunas is a little better for a restful stay. Its wood-fired pirtis saunas, with birch whisks and a cold plunge, are found in the city and by its lakes, and the old mineral-spring resort of Birstonas is about 40 minutes away for a proper spa stay. The city is quiet all year, while summer crowds on Długa break Gdansk's calm.