Gdansk or Malmo?

Neither city is a beach destination, and in both the water stays cool. The difference is in how you reach the sand. In Gdansk, a long strand runs from Brzeźno and Jelitkowo to Sopot by tram or train, Stogi is quieter and backed by pines, and the Hel Peninsula is further out.

Malmo's Ribersborg starts barely 2km from the centre, close enough to cycle, with jetties to swim from and the Öresund Bridge in view. For finer, emptier sand, Skanör and Falsterbo are about half an hour away.

Gdansk cooks Polish and Baltic: pierogi, żurek sour rye soup, herring and smoked fish, Kashubian plates of potatoes, mushrooms and berries, and simple canteen food in the old milk bars, with a glass of gold-flecked Goldwasser to finish. The better meals are in Wrzeszcz, the shipyard area and Sopot, not on Długa.

Malmo eats falafel first, from counters all over town and the Middle Eastern bakeries and grocers around Möllevångstorget. Add the market hall in the old harbour, Skåne goose and smoked eel, and a cinnamon bun at fika around Lilla Torg. Malmo has more variety, while Gdansk offers heartier home cooking.

Gdansk is in another class here. The Royal Way of Długa, the Long Market, Artus Court, the medieval crane and the vast brick bulk of St Mary's make up a historic city worth days of exploring. Its museums of war and Solidarity are among the most serious in Europe.

Malmo's historic centre is pleasant but small: Stortorget, half-timbered Lilla Torg, St Petri and the moated Malmöhus with its museums. The Turning Torso is the sight people remember, and a couple of days covers the lot.

Gdansk offers more choice after dark. You can pick quiet cocktail bars in the Main Town, student bars in Wrzeszcz or warehouse club nights in the old shipyard. In summer, Monte Cassino street in Sopot fills with clubs, and trains run late along the coast.

Malmo's evenings centre on Möllevången's small clubs and late kitchens, and on the terraces of Lilla Torg in summer. Weeknights are quiet, drinks are heavily taxed, and locals often cross to Copenhagen for a bigger night.

Gdansk has slightly more varied country nearby. The beech woods and ravines of the Tricity Landscape Park rise right behind Oliwa and Sopot, and the Kashubian lakes, about an hour inland, are good for canoeing. On the Bay of Puck, behind the Hel Peninsula, the water is excellent for kitesurfing.

Malmo's surroundings are flatter farmland, ideal for easy cycling to the coast. Further out, Söderåsen's ravine, the sea cliffs of Kullaberg and the autumn birds of prey over Falsterbo are well worth the trip.

Day trips are Malmo's trump card. Copenhagen is about thirty-five minutes away over the bridge and Lund's cathedral about ten. Kronborg, Louisiana and Roskilde are all on the Danish side, and Ystad and Ales Stenar lie to the east.

Gdansk has one superb outing in Malbork, the Teutonic Knights' huge brick castle, along with Copernicus's Frombork and the Gothic old town of Torun. These are rewarding trips, but they are fewer and further apart.

Both cities are calm and safe with children, but in different ways. Gdansk has more attractions built for children: the large Oliwa zoo, Gdynia's aquarium and science centre, the Hevelianum in its hilltop fort, and boat trips to Westerplatte. Its war museums, however, suit older children better.

Malmo has little made specifically for families. Instead, the whole city is set up for them, with playgrounds in every park, prams riding free on buses, and a real submarine to climb inside at the maritime museum.

Gdansk runs on rails. The SKM commuter line links Wrzeszcz, Oliwa, Sopot and Gdynia along some 30km of coast, trams run out to the beaches at Brzeźno and Jelitkowo, and you can walk the flat, mostly pedestrian Main Town.

In Malmo the bicycle does the work, with separate lanes and a bike-share scheme that take you out to the Western Harbour and Ribersborg. There is no tram or metro, but an underground rail link through the centre puts Lund, Copenhagen Airport and Copenhagen itself a short ride away.

Malmo has slightly more to browse. Swedish design, homeware and boutiques fill the lanes around Lilla Torg and Gamla Väster, and Möllevångstorget has an open-air market. Serious shoppers still head to Copenhagen.

Gdansk really has one thing to buy: Baltic amber from the workshops on Mariacka Street. If you visit in summer, St Dominic's Fair fills the old town with craft and antique stalls.

Gdansk is far cheaper. Meals, beer, coffee, museums and transport all cost well below Western European levels. The main thing to watch is hotel rooms in July and August, especially in Sopot.

Malmo is mild by Nordic standards but still expensive. Set lunches and falafel keep the daytime affordable, while dinners, drinks and taxis eat into a budget quickly.

The two cities are evenly matched, and much of the theatre in both is not in English. Gdansk's Shakespeare Theatre, with its opening roof, the Philharmonic in an old power station and the organ recitals at Oliwa have more historic character.

Malmo has the bigger stage in Malmö Opera and a modern concert hall in Malmö Live. Its August festival fills the streets with free music, and Copenhagen's halls are close by.

Both cities have a winter sea-dipping custom, and comparing the two shows the gap. In Gdansk, morsowanie is a hardy local habit of wading into the icy Baltic from an open beach, and nothing has been built around it for visitors to join. The spa side of the trip means a booked treatment in one of Sopot's grand seafront hotels, a reminder of its days as a nineteenth-century resort. Outside high summer, a slow cake-and-coffee afternoon in the Main Town is the gentler alternative.

Malmo has a proper building for the same cold-water habit. At the Kallbadhus, sauna and sea are a few steps apart, so a visitor can try the January plunge and warm up straight afterwards. What would be a dare in Gdansk becomes an easy outing here. Neither city has a thermal tradition, and Malmo's hotel spas and swimming halls are no better than Gdansk's, but this one place makes it the better choice for unwinding.