Innsbruck or Zadar?

Zadar is the only one of the two where swimming shapes the day. From June to September you can step off the stone promenade on the peninsula into clear Adriatic water, or walk to Kolovare. Nin's long, shallow sands are twenty minutes away, and ferries reach quieter coves on Ugljan, Pašman and Dugi Otok. The city beaches are pebble and concrete, though, and both get crowded.

Innsbruck has no coast. A swim there means an afternoon at the Lanser See or the Natterer See on the plateaus above town, and the beautiful Achensee is too cold for most people.

Neither city is a food destination, and the cooking could hardly be more different. Innsbruck serves mountain fare: Gröstl, Kaspressknödel in broth and Kaiserschmarrn, often eaten at a hut after a cable car ride, with Viennese-style coffee houses in the old town for cake and strudel.

Zadar cooks from the Adriatic: grilled fish, black risotto and octopus or lamb from under the peka, with Pag cheese and a glass of local Maraschino. It also has what Innsbruck lacks, a proper produce and fish market beside the walls. In both cities, the tables nearest the main sights are the ones to skip.

Innsbruck and Zadar have about as much to see, but from very different eras. Innsbruck's past is imperial: the Golden Roof, the Hofburg and above all the Hofkirche, where 28 bronze figures stand round the tomb of Maximilian I, with the cabinet of curiosities at Ambras Castle on the edge of town. Its modern landmarks are by Zaha Hadid, who designed both the Bergisel ski jump and the curving stations of the Hungerburg funicular.

Zadar's history goes back much further. The open Roman forum, the round ninth-century St Donatus and the UNESCO-listed Venetian walls all sit on one small peninsula, and the museums of ancient glass and church silver are better than their size suggests. Its modern sight is the Sea Organ, played by the waves. Two days covers Zadar, and two or three cover Innsbruck.

Both cities offer modest nights out, and the difference is timing. Innsbruck's university keeps the bars in the railway viaduct arches busy all year, with late weekends and après-ski in the resorts during winter.

Zadar is a summer town after dark. Evenings start at sunset on the Riva and drift to terrace bars on the walls, and anyone who wants proper clubbing goes to Zrće on Pag, an hour away. From October to May, a night out mostly means a drink in a café-bar.

Innsbruck has the edge because its mountains start in the city. The funicular and Nordkette cable cars lift you to a ridge at about 2,300m in under half an hour, with the Karwendel behind it and glaciers in the Stubai valley. The same slopes give skiing in winter and hiking, paragliding and rafting in summer.

Zadar is an excellent outdoor base too, but its best places are further away. Paklenica's gorges and climbing walls are 45 minutes inland, Krka and Plitvice take longer, and the stark Kornati islands need a boat. Its season is also shorter, because midsummer heat makes hiking on high ground hard work.

From Innsbruck you can do most day trips by train. Hall in Tirol's medieval centre is ten minutes away, Munich and Salzburg are a little under two hours, and over the Brenner lies Bolzano with the Ötzi museum, so you can spend a day in Germany or Italy without a car. Only the Bavarian castles around Füssen really need one.

Zadar's day trips go by road and by sea. Šibenik's hillside old town and UNESCO-listed cathedral make the best day out, tiny Nin is twenty minutes away, and Split and Trogir make a long but rewarding day. Ferries from the harbour go to Ugljan, Pašman and car-free Silba, but most trips on the mainland are much easier with a hire car or an organised excursion.

Innsbruck gives children a little more to do. The Alpenzoo, with its ibex, bears and wolves, sits on the funicular line, the mountain huts have playgrounds and adventure trails, and there are gentle slopes with ski schools in winter. Wet days in town are the weak spot.

Zadar is easy and relaxed, with a car-free old town and a wide promenade for scooters. It has no zoo or aquarium, though, so family days mostly happen at the sea, best of all on Nin's shallow sand. Midsummer heat can wear small children out.

Innsbruck is clearly easier to get around. Its flat centre is walkable, trams and buses reach Igls and the Stubai valley, and a funicular from the old town links to the mountain cable cars. Regional trains run along the valley, so you rarely need a car.

Zadar's peninsula takes a quarter of an hour to cross on foot, and the island ferries leave from its edge. Beyond Borik, though, the local buses are of little use, and reaching the national parks, Nin or Šibenik really calls for a hire car, with tight parking in summer.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Innsbruck offers more. Maria-Theresien-Strasse has the chains, the old town arcades sell crystal and Tyrolean crafts, and the specialist ski and outdoor shops are first rate. Loden jackets, dirndls and Speck make good things to take home.

Zadar's offer is smaller and mostly edible: Maraschino, Pag cheese, figs and olive oil, plus fine Pag lace. Kalelarga and the open-air market by the walls are the most enjoyable places to browse.

Innsbruck is the more expensive place to stay, and its dearest weeks come in winter, when ski season and the Christmas markets push hotel rates up. Meals in the Tyrolean inns cost more than their simple cooking suggests, and an active stay spends heavily on lifts. That is where the guest and city cards help, since they combine transport, lifts and sights. Rates drop in spring and autumn.

Zadar is cheaper overall, about what a mid-range Western European city costs and less than the better-known Dalmatian towns further south. Its prices peak at the opposite time of year, in July and August, when rooms on and near the peninsula climb steeply. A konoba meal is fairly priced in a way an Innsbruck inn rarely is, but restaurants on the main old town streets charge for their location. National park tickets and boat excursions are the costs to budget for.

Innsbruck has the fuller calendar. The Tiroler Landestheater stages opera, operetta and dance through the season, and a symphony orchestra plays in the congress hall. Each summer the Festival of Early Music fills historic rooms such as the Spanish Hall at Ambras Castle.

Zadar has a similar idea on a smaller scale: the Musical Evenings in St Donatus bring early and chamber music into the ninth-century church, and you may hear klapa singing in summer squares. Outside July and August there is little on.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, but Innsbruck offers more ways to relax. Hotels in Igls and the plateau villages have good spas with mountain views, the large thermal complexes of the Ötztal and Zillertal are about an hour away, and a sauna after a day on the slopes is part of local life.

In Zadar, rest means slowing down rather than going to a spa: long café mornings, an afternoon siesta and sunset from the Sea Organ steps. Hotel spas are mostly at Borik, and people still use the mineral mud of the lagoon at Nin.