Inverness or York?

Neither is a place to swim, but Inverness has the edge. Nairn's long sands are about twenty-five minutes away, and Rosemarkie and Chanonry Point on the Black Isle make a pretty shoreline walk, with dolphins as the real draw. York is inland, so the sea means an hour on the train to Scarborough's two bays, or a little further to Filey or Whitby, for a classic seaside day out with a jacket rather than a towel.

Both cities cook traditionally and in a narrow range, but York gives you a little more to work through. Its historic tearooms, fat rascals, real-ale pubs, Sunday roasts and Shambles Market stalls can fill several days of eating, even if the streets around the Minster lean towards tourist fare.

Inverness eats from the Highland larder: langoustines, Moray Firth seafood, venison and smoked salmon, and drinking centres on whisky bars rather than ale houses. A few riverside restaurants do it well, but choice thins out quickly beyond the centre, so it rewards a few good dinners rather than a week of exploring.

This is where the two differ most. York fits two thousand years into a centre you can walk across: the Minster's medieval glass, nearly three miles of walls, the Shambles, Jorvik on its excavated Viking street, the Yorkshire Museum among the abbey ruins and the huge National Railway Museum.

Inverness has a fine castle view over the Ness, St Andrew's Cathedral and a compact museum with Pictish stones, but its most important site, Culloden battlefield, is a drive out of town. In York the city itself is the sightseeing. In Inverness you go out into the countryside to find the history.

Both are pub towns that go quiet early on weeknights, but York has more pubs and more going on. Its centuries-old inns along Micklegate and Stonegate make a proper ale crawl, students keep a few cocktail bars and small clubs going, and race days and weekend stag and hen parties add noise. Leeds is half an hour away for serious clubbing.

Inverness has a smaller cluster of pubs around Church Street and the river, where a slow Highland malt is the evening's main event, and the town keeps the early hours of visitors heading for the glens next morning.

Inverness wins clearly if you want wild country close at hand. Loch Ness starts twenty minutes south, Glen Affric and the high Cairngorm plateau are about an hour away, and Torridon and the road to Skye are within two hours.

York sits on the flat Vale of York, so in town nature means riverside paths, the Museum Gardens and the open Strays. The North York Moors, with their heather and the sea cliffs at Robin Hood's Bay, and the limestone Dales are fine walking country, but they are gentler in scale and mostly a drive away.

York is the far better base for varied outings, because other towns and cities are an easy train ride away. Harrogate and Leeds take about half an hour, Durham's cathedral and castle under an hour, and Beverley and Scarborough about an hour. By road, Castle Howard and Fountains Abbey add grand houses and ruins.

From Inverness the outings are mostly to single sites: Urquhart Castle above Loch Ness, Cawdor, Fort George, the Clava Cairns and the Speyside distilleries, with Pitlochry or Eilean Donan on a long day. They are rewarding but similar in kind, and most need a car or a tour.

Both work well with children, in different ways. York makes history fun indoors: the locomotive hall at the National Railway Museum, Jorvik, the Victorian street at the Castle Museum and walks along the walls, all in a compact, largely pedestrianised centre. Two or three days usually covers it.

Inverness trades museums for outdoor adventures: monster-hunting boat trips on Loch Ness, dolphins at Chanonry Point and the polar bears and snow leopards of the Highland Wildlife Park, with the Aquadome for wet days. Expect more driving and more planning around the weather than in York.

York is much easier without a car. Almost every sight lies inside or just outside the walls, the centre is flat and largely pedestrianised, and its main-line station puts Leeds, Durham and Harrogate within quick reach.

The centre of Inverness is just as easy to walk, and its rail lines to Kyle of Lochalsh and Thurso are scenic journeys in themselves. But the glens, castles and distilleries lie down single-track roads with sparse buses, so most visitors hire a car. In York you need one only for the moors and country houses.

York makes shopping part of the sightseeing, with independent boutiques, bookshops, jewellers and antiques dealers along Stonegate, Petergate and the Shambles, and Christmas markets in late autumn. Inverness is more practical: the Victorian Market arcade, a high street and a shopping centre, with tartan, tweed, Celtic silver and malt whisky the things worth taking home. Neither has luxury fashion, and in Inverness an hour or two covers it.

Costs are much the same in both, and the room is the main expense. Inverness fills up in summer as the gateway to Loch Ness, so its winter and shoulder seasons bring the real savings, while car hire and tours add to a Highland budget.

In York, prices peak at weekends, during race meetings and at Christmas, so a midweek stay helps most. York also has more free sights within walking distance, including the National Railway Museum and the walls, whereas the free attraction in Inverness is the landscape itself.

Both have a modest scene for their size, and the difference is one of flavour. Inverness centres on Eden Court, the largest arts centre in the Highlands, and on traditional music: fiddle and accordion sessions in pubs, Gaelic song and the summer Highland Games.

York's strength is historic venues and traditions: the Theatre Royal, one of England's oldest theatres, the Grand Opera House, early music in a medieval church, free choral evensong at the Minster and the Mystery Plays, revived from time to time on wagons in the streets. Neither city has a resident orchestra or opera company.

Neither has a bathing tradition, so relaxing comes down to pace. Inverness offers country-house hotel spas around Loch Ness, the Aquadome's sauna and quiet riverside evenings, without the crowds that fill York's centre on summer and December weekends. York's advantage is Harrogate, half an hour away by train, where the Victorian Turkish baths at the Royal Baths make a proper spa afternoon.