Ljubljana or Nuremberg?

Neither city is a place to stay for swimming, but Ljubljana has better water within reach. Bled's lake warms up nicely in summer, and the Adriatic towns of Piran and Izola make a realistic day by the sea, though you swim from concrete platforms and pebbles rather than sand.

From Nuremberg the nearest swimming is in the reservoirs of the Franconian Lake District, which have grassy banks and a few small sandy strips. They are fine for a hot afternoon, but there is no sea anywhere near.

The two are on a par, and both serve hearty regional cooking built around sausage. Ljubljana's strength is wine: Vipava, Brda and Styrian bottles and the orange wines of the west, poured beside the river, with the Central Market for cheese and pumpkin-seed oil.

Nuremberg drinks beer instead, with Franconia's small breweries, smoky Kellerbier in beer gardens, little beechwood-grilled bratwurst and Lebkuchen. Ljubljana has a few modern kitchens. Beyond their regional food, neither city offers much range.

Ljubljana's appeal is one coherent cityscape: Plečnik's bridges, colonnades and library, baroque and Secession streets, and the castle on its wooded hill. Its museums are modest, and two or three days cover it.

Nuremberg has more to see and more weight. The walls, the Kaiserburg and the Gothic churches tell the story of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Germanisches Nationalmuseum alone fills a day. The Rally Grounds and the trial courtroom add a twentieth-century chapter few cities can match.

Evenings are equally low-key in both, but they take place in different settings. In Ljubljana people drink outdoors on the terraces along the Ljubljanica, and Metelkova's mural-covered former barracks provide the late, scruffy club nights. Nuremberg is more of a tavern and bar city, and its liveliest nights are in Gostenhof's small bars and alternative venues west of the walls, with students from Erlangen filling the weekends.

This is where Ljubljana pulls clearly ahead. Triglav National Park and Velika Planina's high pasture in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps are within about an hour, and rafting and kayaking on the emerald Soča make a longer trip further west. The karst caves and small ski resorts are close as well, and Tivoli Park and Šmarna Gora bring hill walking into the city itself.

Nuremberg's country is gentler: pine forest at the edge of town, easy cycling along the Pegnitz, and the limestone towers and climbing crags of Franconian Switzerland. It suits walkers and cyclists, but there are no mountains.

Both are excellent bases, but they lead to different kinds of day out. From Ljubljana the trips are about scenery and small places: Bled, Predjama Castle in its cliff, Lipica's horses, Piran and the Brda wine villages, with Trieste or Zagreb for a change of country. A car helps for the smaller ones.

From Nuremberg it is a run of historic towns reached easily by train: Bamberg, Regensburg, Würzburg, Rothenburg and Munich.

Ljubljana is an easy city with small children rather than a thrilling one. The flat, car-free streets, the castle funicular, the dragon statues, the puppet theatre and a modest zoo cover two or three days.

Nuremberg gives children more to do. Its long toy-making history shows in the Toy Museum, the railway museum has full-size locomotives, and the zoo is large, with a dolphin house. There is also a play park in Zirndorf, and in Advent a children's Christmas market with carousels.

You walk almost everywhere in both. Ljubljana's pedestrianised centre needs no transport at all and has bike-share, but there is no metro or tram, and the countryside is best reached by intercity bus or a hired car. Nuremberg's walled core is just as compact, and beyond it the U-Bahn, trams and S-Bahn run on one ticket to the zoo, the Rally Grounds and Fürth, with regional trains making a car unnecessary.

Ljubljana's shopping is small and local: honey and coastal salt at the market, Idrija lace, the Sunday antiques market on the embankment and a few design boutiques in the old town.

Nuremberg is not a shopping destination either, but it offers more. Königstraße has department stores, the Handwerkerhof sells wooden toys and crafts, and in Advent the Christkindlesmarkt on the Hauptmarkt is one of Germany's most famous Christmas markets.

Day-to-day costs are moderate and similar in both, with set lunches at Ljubljana's inns and cheap beer and transport in Nuremberg. Where they differ is when hotel prices climb. Ljubljana's small stock of central rooms is dearest in July and August. Nuremberg's peaks come with the trade fairs and the Advent market, so plan your dates around those.

Both have solid formal arts on a regional scale. Ljubljana's highlights are the summer festival in Plečnik's open-air Križanke courtyard and a Philharmonic with roots in 1701, though most theatre is in Slovene. Nuremberg has opera and ballet in its Art Nouveau Staatstheater and two orchestras that give a large free concert in the park. In summer there are also the Bardentreffen folk weekend and a big rock festival by the Zeppelinfeld.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, so the difference lies in distance and style. Nuremberg's thermal spa in Fürth is a short U-Bahn ride away, its saunas follow the German nude, mixed habit, and Bad Windsheim's saline pools are about an hour out.

Ljubljana's real spas are Slovenia's thermal towns, about an hour's drive away. In return, the quiet, car-free centre and its riverside cafés make the city itself restful.