Kotor or Zagreb?

Kotor has no beach of its own, but it does have the sea. You swim from platforms and pebble strips towards Dobrota and Muo in calm, warm bay water, and the sand at Jaz and the coves around Budva and Sveti Stefan are a short bus ride over the hill.

Zagreb is far from all of that. The coast is two hours away, so summer swimming means Lake Jarun or Bundek, which are good for cooling off and nothing more. Anyone who wants the sea on a Zagreb trip needs to add a separate coastal stay.

Zagreb eats better, and with more variety. Its cooking is continental and filling: štrukli, turkey with mlinci and Zagorje sausages, with Dolac market at the centre every morning and a coffee culture that shapes the whole day.

Kotor's strength is the bay itself, with mussels, black risotto and grilled fish alongside Njegusi ham and Vranac wine. But the old town squares repeat the same menus, and the good meals are in the konobas out along the shore in Dobrota, Prcanj and Perast.

The two are level in depth but very different in kind. Kotor is one compact, UNESCO-listed townscape: the Cathedral of St Tryphon, merchant palazzi, the Maritime Museum and the walls climbing to St John's fortress, all seen in a few hours.

Zagreb spreads its heritage across two layers, the medieval Upper Town with St Mark's Church and the Austro-Hungarian Lower Town around the Green Horseshoe. It also has a proper roster of galleries, from the Mimara and Naive Art museums to the Museum of Broken Relationships, plus the arcades of Mirogoj.

Zagreb gives you a fuller evening. The café-bars along Tkalčićeva and around Flower Square switch from coffee to drinks, the Lower Town courtyards hide cocktail and craft beer bars, and the student crowd keeps alternative venues open all year. It is sociable rather than wild.

In Kotor, the night mostly means a drink on a square under the floodlit walls, and outside summer it goes quiet early. The clubs that run until dawn are down the coast in Budva.

Kotor's landscape is in another league. Limestone walls rise more than 1,000m above a winding bay, the old mule track and the fortress path climb straight from the town, and Lovcen National Park, kayaking and Lake Skadar are all within reach.

Zagreb's outdoors is green and easy to reach. Medvednica's beech woods start at the edge of the city, with Maksimir park and the Sava embankments for running and cycling. There is nothing dramatic, though, and Plitvice is a long day's drive.

Kotor has the stronger set of outings, and many are close. Perast and the island church of Our Lady of the Rocks are twenty minutes away, with Herceg Novi, Budva and Sveti Stefan along the coast, Cetinje and the Njegos mausoleum over Lovcen, and Dubrovnik and Ostrog for longer days.

Zagreb's trips are quieter and mostly lead north into the Zagorje hills, to Trakošćan castle, Marija Bistrica and baroque Varaždin. Samobor, Karlovac and the Plešivica wine roads add variety, but nothing on the list matches the Bay of Kotor.

Zagreb is easier with children. It has the zoo in Maksimir, the Tesla technical museum with its trams and mock mine, the short funicular ride, flat streets for pushchairs and lakes for summer afternoons.

Kotor's old town is safe and car-free, and the street cats win children over, but there is little made for them. The fortress climb is steep and hot. Families do best with bay swimming from the shore and a boat out to Perast's island church.

Inside the walls, Kotor is a few minutes' stroll. Going further is the problem: there is a single road round the bay that jams in summer, the buses are not always frequent, and seeing Lovcen or Lustica in one day usually means hiring a car or a driver.

In Zagreb, the dense tram network and the funicular cover nearly everything you will want to see, and the centre is easy to walk. A car only becomes useful for the Zagorje castles and Plitvice.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Zagreb at least has a high street. Ilica has chains, local fashion and small design shops, and you can take home licitar hearts, Croatian neckties and truffle products, or browse the Sunday flea market.

Kotor's lanes sell souvenirs, filigree and lace. The best things to bring home are Vranac and Njegusi ham from the green market, and brands mean a trip to the Tivat marina.

Both cost about the same over a stay, but they are cheap in different ways. In Kotor, value depends on timing and location: inside the walls in high summer you pay resort rates, while an apartment in Dobrota and a visit in May or September cost much less.

Zagreb stays steady through the year, with low tram fares, museum entry and market food. Upmarket dining and cocktails, though, cost what they would in Western Europe.

Zagreb has a real cultural calendar. The Croatian National Theatre puts on opera and ballet, the Lisinski hall is home to the Zagreb Philharmonic, and you can add the Zagreb Soloists, jazz clubs and summer courtyard concerts.

Kotor has no year-round stage. What it has is a summer festival in its squares and churches, the occasional cathedral concert, and the masked carnival and Boka Night, when decorated boats fill the bay.

Zagreb has the edge because of the thermal springs in Zagorje, about an hour away, where Tuheljske, Krapinske and Stubičke Toplice have warm mineral pools. Back in the city, long café mornings and shaded parks keep the pace slow.

Kotor's version of rest is the bay itself: early mornings on the water and long lunches in the shore villages. Spa treatments mean a resort hotel or the Tivat marina.