Kotor or Thessaloniki?

Neither city is a place to swim in town, and both send you out for a proper beach day. Kotor at least lets you slip into the calm, warm bay from jetties and pebble strips towards Dobrota and Muo, and the sand at Jaz on the Budva riviera is about half an hour over the hill.

Thessaloniki's waterfront is for strolling, not bathing, and the suburban beaches have only shallow, ordinary water. Its prize is Halkidiki, about an hour away, where Kassandra's clear coves beat anything in Kotor's enclosed inner bay, though they are more a day out or a separate leg of the trip.

Thessaloniki is the far stronger place to eat. Ottoman, Sephardic and Anatolian influences show in its long meze tables, spiced kebabs and morning bougatsa, and the Kapani and Modiano markets keep everyday cooking good and close to its ingredients.

Kotor's table is narrower: grilled fish, bay mussels, cuttlefish risotto, Njegusi ham and a glass of Vranac. The squares inside the walls repeat the same menus, so the better meals are at konobas along the shore in Dobrota, Prcanj and Perast.

Kotor is one intact UNESCO townscape: marble lanes, the cathedral of St Tryphon and walls zigzagging up to the fortress of St John, all properly seen in a day or two. The pleasure is the whole town rather than a list of sights.

Thessaloniki gives a culture trip much more to work through, though it is scattered across a modern city. The Rotunda, Agios Dimitrios and the other Byzantine monuments, the Arch of Galerius and the Roman Forum, and the Archaeological and Byzantine museums fill several days, while Ano Poli supplies the old-town lanes.

This is the widest gap between the two. Thessaloniki's students and late Greek hours fill Ladadika, the louder bars around Valaoritou and the outdoor tables of the Bit Bazaar until well past three, weeknights included, with open-air clubs on the city's edge in summer.

Kotor offers a drink on a square under the lit walls and a few late bars in summer, then goes quiet. Anyone wanting a real night out ends up taking the road to Budva's seafront.

Kotor wins on landscape. Limestone cliffs rise more than 1,000m almost straight from the water, the Ladder of Kotor and the fortress path begin at the town gates, and Lovcen National Park and kayaking along the shore are close at hand.

Thessaloniki's wilder country needs a car: Mount Olympus with the Enipeas gorge, the Halkidiki coast and winter skiing at Kaimaktsalan. In the city itself you have the Seich Sou pine forest and the long, flat promenade.

Both make fine bases, but for different outings. From Kotor the days are short and scenic: Perast and its island church, Herceg Novi at the bay's mouth, Budva and Sveti Stefan along the coast, Cetinje over Lovcen, and Dubrovnik across the border.

Thessaloniki's excursions are about ancient Macedonia. The royal tombs at Vergina, Alexander's Pella and Dion beneath Olympus are among Greece's great sites, with Edessa's waterfalls and Naoussa's vineyards beyond, and a hire car makes the circuit much easier.

Thessaloniki has more for children, if not a great deal: the seafront promenade with its playgrounds, the Noesis science centre and planetarium, and a small zoo in Seich Sou. Heavy traffic, narrow pavements and summer heat are the drawbacks.

Kotor's car-free lanes and street cats charm young children, but little is made for them and the fortress climb is hard going in the heat. Family days there mean swimming off jetties in the calm bay and the boat out to Perast's island church.

Thessaloniki is easier to move about. Its main sights lie in a flat strip along the water within about half an hour's walk of each other, a metro line runs under the centre, and taxis are plentiful for the steep climb to Ano Poli.

Kotor's old town takes minutes to cross on foot, but leaving it is the problem. Buses are infrequent, the single road round the bay jams in summer, and Lovcen or the Lustica coves really need a car or a driver.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Thessaloniki at least has a proper high street on Tsimiski, malls on the city's edge, a few independents around Valaoritou and markets for spices, loukoumi and tsipouro. Kotor has souvenirs, filigree and lace in its lanes and ham, honey and Vranac from the green market, and sends anyone after brands to the Tivat marina.

Thessaloniki goes further on a budget because it is priced for students and locals: generous taverna plates, cheap street snacks, inexpensive transport and museum entry, and nights out that stay modest. Kotor is moderate overall, but the old town charges resort rates in July and August, so savings there depend on an apartment in Dobrota or Muo and a visit in May, June or September.

Thessaloniki has a real cultural calendar: the State Orchestra at the waterfront Concert Hall, seasons from the National Theatre of Northern Greece, summer concerts at open-air theatres, and rebetiko played late in tavernas. Kotor has no year-round scene, only summer recitals in its churches and squares and the masked parades and decorated boats of carnival and Boka Night.

Neither city has a living bathing culture, so rest in either comes from the pace of the place more than from treatments. In Kotor, pampering means a resort hotel spa somewhere on the bay or at the Tivat marina. Calm is something you plan for: see the walled town early or late, and give the middle of the day to the water and the shore villages.

Thessaloniki has a slight edge because it offers something Kotor lacks. Its Ottoman hammams, the Bey Hamam among them, survive only as monuments, but a short drive inland takes you to plain spring-fed pools at Lagadas. Its calm is also part of ordinary city life. Locals spend whole afternoons over cold coffee by the gulf and stroll the promenade as the light fades. In Kotor you find that ease by getting away from the midday crowds in the old town.