Kilkenny or Oxford?

Neither place has a beach, but they make up for it differently. From Kilkenny the Waterford and Wexford coasts are about an hour's drive away, with Tramore and the coves of the Copper Coast, though the sea there stays cold even in August.

Oxford is too far from the sea for an easy day at the coast. Instead it has river swimming on the Thames at Port Meadow and on the Cherwell, plus the large open-air pool at Hinksey, all within the city.

The two are broadly level at the table, but they are good at different things. Kilkenny's strength is its local produce. Dairy, lamb and cheese from the county end up on country-house menus and in good pub stews and chowders, but there is little food from other countries.

Oxford has more range rather than more depth. The Covered Market is a good place for lunch, Cowley Road has Middle Eastern, South Asian and Caribbean cooking, and Jericho has neighbourhood bistros. On the other hand, chains take up much of the centre.

Oxford has much more to see. Its working colleges, the Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian and Christ Church make up a whole historic city. On top of that come the Ashmolean, the Pitt Rivers and the Natural History Museum, which are museums of national standing.

Kilkenny's heritage is smaller in scale but hangs together well. It runs along the Medieval Mile from the castle to St Canice's Cathedral, where you can climb the round tower, and takes in Rothe House and the Black Abbey on the way. You can do it justice in a day or two.

Both places are mostly about pubs, and neither suits real clubbing. Kilkenny's old bars with low ceilings and open fires fill up at weekends, often with wedding and birthday groups, then go quiet midweek. Oxford follows the university calendar instead. It has riverside pubs for summer evenings, late bars and small clubs on Cowley Road, and cocktail and wine bars in Jericho, so there are more kinds of bar on offer.

These two are close, but Oxford's green space starts nearer the centre. You can walk from the colleges to Christ Church Meadow or onto Port Meadow among the grazing horses, and the Cotswolds, Chilterns and Ridgeway are all within an hour.

Kilkenny has a riverside walk from the castle park and the wooded Nore Valley Way downstream. It also has more upland country close by, with Brandon Hill and the Blackstairs, and the Comeragh Mountains are about an hour away. It is wetter underfoot, though, and most of it needs a car.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. From Oxford you can reach Blenheim Palace in about twenty minutes, the Cotswold villages within an hour, and London in about an hour by train. Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon and Windsor are all within an hour and a half.

Kilkenny is a good base for the monastic and Norman southeast. The Rock of Cashel, Jerpoint Abbey, Kells Priory and Viking Waterford are all close, and Glendalough is a reasonable drive. Apart from Waterford and Dublin, though, you will need a car to reach almost all of them.

Oxford has more for children right in the city. The free Natural History Museum and the Pitt Rivers, an afternoon punting, and the Harry Potter connections at Christ Church can fill a couple of days without a car.

Kilkenny is relaxed and safe for children, with the castle lawns and playground, but most of its best outings are out of town. These include the tree-top courses and zip lines near Castlecomer, Dunmore Cave and open farms.

Both centres are easy on foot, and both have a station a short walk from the middle of town. Oxford is the more complete package. Frequent buses run out to the suburbs, bicycles are everywhere, and direct trains go to London and the Midlands.

Kilkenny is easy as long as you stay in town, since the Medieval Mile is only about 1km long. To reach the abbeys, villages and walking country, though, you need a hire car or a tour, because rural buses are sparse.

Kilkenny's shopping is all about craft. Pottery, glass, jewellery and woollens are sold in the former castle stables and in studios around the county, with a modest run of boutiques along High Street.

Oxford has more to offer. It has the Covered Market's small traders, the historic Blackwell's bookshop, antique maps and prints, and independent shops in Jericho. The Bicester designer outlet is about twenty minutes away.

In Kilkenny the extra cost is the car, and in Oxford it is the bed. B&Bs on the edge of Kilkenny are reasonable midweek but get pricier at weekends and during festivals. Seeing the abbeys and villages of the county usually means paying for a hire car on top.

In Oxford, central rooms are few and in demand, so many visitors stay out by the ring road. Once you are there, the free museums and the walkable centre keep spending down, although college entry and library tours add up over a few days.

Oxford has more going on year-round. Choirs with world reputations sing Evensong on most evenings in term, and there are concerts at the Sheldonian and in the old Holywell Music Room. The Playhouse and the New Theatre stage touring drama and musicals.

Kilkenny's everyday offering is traditional music in the pubs. Its real strength is the calendar: the August Arts Festival puts classical concerts in St Canice's Cathedral, and comedy and roots music festivals take place in early summer.

The two are about level for a restful break, but you rest in different ways. Kilkenny's pampering happens out of town, at country-house hotels and estates set in parkland, where you get pools and treatment rooms. Staying out there also keeps you away from the centre, which gets loud on weekend nights, and the villages along the Nore are quieter still.

Oxford has far fewer spas, so its calm comes from places rather than treatments. The Botanic Garden, the walled college gardens and Addison's Walk by Magdalen's deer park are right in the city and best early in the morning. Where Kilkenny would send you to a pool, Oxford's equivalent of a lazy afternoon is drifting along the Cherwell in a punt.