Gothenburg or Helsinki?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Gothenburg is slightly better for a summer swim. You swim off smooth granite rocks and from small coves at Askim, Hovås and Saltholmen, or on islands such as Styrsö and Vrångö, in clear salt water.

Helsinki has more sand. Hietaniemi is a proper sandy strip near the centre, and Pihlajasaari is a short boat ride out. The brackish Baltic is cooler, though, and its season is shorter, so a swim there is a pleasant hour at most.

Gothenburg is the better place to eat, because its whole food scene is built around seafood. Shrimp, langoustines, oysters and the autumn lobster catch come in from the coast, and you can see them in Feskekôrka, the church-like fish hall, and in Stora Saluhallen. The fine dining built on the same catch is impressive for a city of its size.

Helsinki's cooking is plainer: salmon soup, Baltic herring, Karelian pies and rye bread, best tasted together at the Old Market Hall. Both cities share the cinnamon bun and the long coffee break. In both, the lunch menu is the sensible way to eat out.

Helsinki offers more sightseeing, and most of it is architecture. Engel's Senate Square, the red-brick Uspenski Cathedral, whole streets of Finnish Art Nouveau and Aalto's Finlandia Hall trace the city's history through its buildings. The sea fortress of Suomenlinna and the Ateneum's national collection add weight.

Gothenburg's appeal is quieter: canals laid out by Dutch engineers, the wooden houses of Haga and the Nordic paintings in the Museum of Art. It deserves a couple of days, while Helsinki fills two or three.

Nights out are much alike, friendly and expensive, and quiet on weeknights. In Gothenburg the best evenings are in the student pubs and dive bars around Järntorget and Andra Långgatan, busy with two universities, but most places close in the early hours. Helsinki's Kallio has scruffy bars and karaoke rooms, more of the city stays open past 2am at weekends, and the summer light keeps people out on the waterside terraces.

Gothenburg has the better outdoors, mainly because of its archipelago. The bare granite islands with heather and small harbours are made for kayaking, cycling and sailing. Further north, the rocky Bohuslän coast is cut by inlets, and the Delsjön forest lakes are on the city's edge.

Helsinki has its own skerries and a forest belt reaching almost into the centre. Nuuksio National Park, with lakes and marked trails, is under an hour away by bus. In a cold winter it offers something Gothenburg cannot: skiing and ice walks on the frozen sea.

The day trips are about equally good, but they go in different directions. From Gothenburg you follow the coast to the island town of Marstrand, Varberg's seaside fortress or the Bronze Age rock carvings at Tanum, and the furthest fishing villages are much easier with a car.

Helsinki's best day out goes abroad: a fast ferry reaches Tallinn's medieval old town in about two hours. Closer to home, Porvoo's riverside storehouses and Turku's castle are easy trips by bus or train, but beyond them the choice soon runs out.

Both cities are safe and easy with children, and their attractions come in matching pairs. Gothenburg has Liseberg, Scandinavia's largest amusement park, along with Universeum's indoor rainforest for wet days and a destroyer and submarine to climb through in the harbour.

Helsinki answers with the classic Linnanmäki, a zoo on its own island and the tunnels of Suomenlinna. Its winters are colder and darker, though, so family days move indoors for longer than in milder Gothenburg.

Helsinki is easier to get around. A metro line runs alongside the trams, commuter trains run north, and the airport is about half an hour away by train, all on one ticket system with the island ferries.

Gothenburg has a very large tram network and a single ticket that also covers its river and archipelago ferries. There is no metro, though, and trams slow down where the lines meet in the centre. A car still helps for the remote villages up the coast.

Helsinki is better for shopping because it has a style you can take home. Aalto glass, bold printed textiles, ceramics and modernist furniture fill the Design District and the Esplanadi, and Stockmann anchors the centre.

Gothenburg is more of a Scandinavian high street, along Kungsgatan and in the Nordstan mall. Its better finds are in the vintage, record and craft shops of Haga, Majorna and Linnéstaden.

Both are expensive by European standards, with dinners out and especially bar drinks well above what Southern Europe charges. Gothenburg is a little less punishing. Its hotels can get cheaper at weekends and in the Swedish summer vacation, while Helsinki's hotels are at their dearest in summer. In both cities the best budget tactics are the same: the transport ticket, the set lunch and a picnic by the water.

The two cities are broadly level, with different strengths. Helsinki has more weight in classical music: two orchestras share the Music Centre, the National Opera and Ballet stages a full season by Töölö Bay, and Sibelius's legacy and the Finnish school of conductors stand behind it all.

Gothenburg has the national orchestra in Konserthuset and a harbourside opera house with a respected dance company. Its bigger draw is pop and indie, which peaks when the Way Out West festival fills Slottsskogen in August. In both cities most theatre is not in English.

This is the biggest difference between the two. In Helsinki the sauna is part of everyday life. You can sweat in old wood-heated public saunas in Kallio, go between the heat and the Baltic at harbour sauna complexes even in icy weather, or follow the old routine at the Yrjönkatu baths.

Gothenburg has the sauna and sea dip too, from jetties and rocks, and the plain municipal Valhallabadet. It is a quiet, restful city rather than one you would visit for the bathing.