Helsinki or Rovaniemi?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Helsinki at least has the sea. Hietaniemi's sand and the island beaches a short boat ride away make a pleasant summer hour in the Baltic. Rovaniemi has only small river shores and forest lakes for a dip in a warm July, and for most of the year swimming there means a hole in the ice after a sauna.

Helsinki gives a food lover much more to work with. The Old Market Hall, the late-summer harbour stalls selling berries and chanterelles, a capable modern Nordic tier and a coffee-and-cinnamon-bun café culture add up to a real food scene, even if a narrow and pricey one.

Rovaniemi's cooking is more specifically Lappish: reindeer with lingonberries, Arctic char, and squeaky baked cheese with cloudberries, often eaten in a log cabin on a tour. Beyond a handful of good restaurants in the centre, though, it is mostly hotel dining and burgers, with no market hall to browse.

Helsinki has a whole capital's worth of sights. There is Engel's Senate Square, red-brick Uspenski Cathedral, whole streets of Jugend in Katajanokka and Eira, the Suomenlinna sea fortress, and the Ateneum and Kiasma. Together they fill two or three rewarding days.

Rovaniemi was almost entirely burned in 1944, so it has no old quarter to wander. What it offers is narrower: Arktikum's account of Arctic nature and the Sámi, the Korundi art museum, and Aalto's civic centre, which pairs well with his Finlandia Hall in the capital. A day covers it.

Helsinki has a proper night out. Kallio has unpretentious bars and karaoke rooms, the centre has cocktail bars and a few serious clubs, and in summer the waterside terraces stay light late into the evening. Rovaniemi has a few pubs, hotel bars and one or two nightclubs, which come alive mainly at weekends during university term. Its winter nights are more often spent outdoors watching for the aurora than in a bar.

This is where Rovaniemi pulls clearly ahead. It sits in snow-covered taiga on the Arctic Circle, and from late autumn to spring the days fill with husky and reindeer sledding, snowmobiles, skiing on Ounasvaara and the chance of the northern lights. In summer there is hiking and canoeing, with Korouoma canyon and Pyhä-Luosto within reach.

Helsinki's nature is coastal and close at hand. There are skerries to kayak among, islands reached by ferry, the forest belt of Central Park, and Nuuksio's lakes less than an hour away by bus. It adds to a city stay rather than being the reason for one.

Helsinki is a good base for day trips, and Rovaniemi is not. From the capital, a fast ferry reaches Tallinn's medieval walled old town in about two hours, and Porvoo's riverside storehouses and Turku's castle are easy trips by bus or train. Rovaniemi's outings are activities in the surrounding forest, and the nearest towns, Kemi, Tornio and Haparanda across the Swedish border, are ordinary places about an hour and a half away.

Both are safe, calm and easy with children, so the difference is in what the children get. Helsinki has a city's range all year: the Linnanmäki amusement park, the island zoo at Korkeasaari, the Heureka science centre, and Suomenlinna's tunnels with a ferry ride there. In winter the swimming halls fill the dark afternoons.

Rovaniemi is one big, focused treat. It has Santa Claus Village on the Arctic Circle, husky and reindeer rides, snow play and the polar bears at Ranua. It is at its peak at Christmas, when the sun barely rises and the cold means proper gear and short outings.

Helsinki is far easier without a car. Trams, the metro line, commuter trains and the ferries to Suomenlinna all run on one ticket system, the centre is walkable, and the airport is about half an hour away by train.

Rovaniemi's centre is just as easy on foot, but beyond it public transport is thin. Tour operators collect guests for husky and aurora trips, a bus or taxi covers the 8km to Santa Claus Village, and a hired car is the practical way to reach the fells or Ranua. In both cities, icy winter pavements call for good boots.

Helsinki is a real shopping city for Finnish design. Printed textiles, Aalto glass and ceramics fill the studios of the Design District around Punavuori, and the best-known Finnish brands line the Esplanadi near Stockmann, the century-old department store. Rovaniemi has mostly souvenirs and thermal gear, but it is the better place for Lappish crafts such as puukko knives, carved birch cups and Sámi-made silver and leather.

Both are expensive, but Rovaniemi costs more for the trip most people take there. In Helsinki many of the best things are free, from the shoreline and islands to the churches and market square, and lunch menus and market food keep costs down.

In Rovaniemi, the husky safaris, snowmobile trips and aurora tours that make the journey worthwhile are all guided, and glass-roofed cabins are in high demand around Christmas. Summer and early autumn are easier on the budget, and self-catering cabins help.

Helsinki has a serious classical scene. The Music Centre is home to two major orchestras, the National Opera and Ballet perform by Töölö Bay, and the city has a strong rock and metal club circuit and the Helsinki Festival at the end of summer. Rovaniemi has the Lapland Chamber Orchestra in the Korundi building and regional theatre in Lappia Hall, almost all in Finnish, so a performance there is a lucky find rather than something to plan around.

Sauna is central in both cities, but Helsinki gives a visitor more ways in. Old wood-heated public saunas in Kallio, harbour complexes where bathers dip into the Baltic even when it is iced over, and the 1920s Yrjönkatu swimming hall make bathing a social part of city life.

Rovaniemi has no grand public bathhouses and only a small spa scene. Its saunas are private and rural: in the cottage, in the lodge, or a smoke sauna by a lake outside town. That suits travellers who want quiet simplicity more than variety.