Ljubljana or Sibiu?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Ljubljana has more water within reach. Lake Bled, about an hour away, is warm enough to swim in high summer, and the Adriatic at Piran and Izola makes a day trip, even if the shore there is concrete and pebble rather than sand.

Sibiu is far from any sea. Its one real swim is in the salt lakes at Ocna Sibiului, about 20km out, where the dense water lets you float. Otherwise it is outdoor pools or a mountain reservoir.

Ljubljana eats and drinks better, largely thanks to wine. Bottles from Vipava, Brda and the Styrian hills are poured by the glass along the river, the orange wines of the west are a speciality, and a few ambitious kitchens and the summer street-food gathering at the Central Market add range. Sibiu's strength is hearty Transylvanian cooking: sarmale with polenta, bean soup in bread, and sheep's cheese and smoked meat from the Marginimea villages, served in vaulted cellars around the squares.

Both run thin within a week, Sibiu sooner, since it has almost no street food and little beyond the traditional menu.

Sibiu has the fuller sightseeing. The three linked squares of the Upper Town, the Gothic Lutheran Cathedral and Council Tower, long stretches of medieval wall with guild towers, the Brukenthal's European paintings and the ASTRA open-air museum in the Dumbrava forest add up to more worth seeing.

Ljubljana's appeal lies in the whole townscape rather than its sights: Plečnik's UNESCO-listed bridges, colonnades and library, a baroque and Secession old town and the castle on its hill. Its museums are sound rather than memorable, though the murals of Metelkova give it an alternative edge that Sibiu lacks.

Neither is a party city, but Ljubljana gives more to an evening. Bars and terraces line both banks of the Ljubljanica, and Metelkova's scruffy clubs in the old barracks run late at weekends, a scene known well beyond the city.

Sibiu's going out means cellar bars, pubs and craft beer around the squares and down into the Lower Town, busiest in term time. It suits a drink after dinner rather than a late night.

Both have serious mountains on the doorstep, so the difference is in the kind of trip. From Ljubljana you reach the Julian Alps and Triglav National Park, the Vintgar gorge, rafting on the Soča and the Postojna and Škocjan caves, with Šmarna Gora and Tivoli's wooded hills right in town.

Sibiu looks onto the wilder Southern Carpathians: easy walks in the Cindrel range from Paltinis, the high Fagaras ridges with glacial lakes and multi-day traverses, the Transfagarasan climb to Balea Lake, and forests where brown bears live. Ljubljana's landscapes are more varied and easier to reach, while Sibiu's feel bigger and emptier and almost always need a car or a tour.

Ljubljana's place at the centre of a small country gives it a little more range: Bled, Škofja Loka, Predjama Castle, the mining town of Idrija, the coast at Piran and the Brda wine villages, plus Trieste and Zagreb across the borders. Buses and trains reach the main ones.

Sibiu's excursions stick to one theme and cover it well: walled Sighisoara, the fortified Saxon churches at Biertan and Valea Viilor, Alba Iulia's star-shaped citadel, Corvin Castle and the painted gates of the shepherd villages. Trains in Transylvania are slow, so that list depends on a car or a tour.

Ljubljana is the easier family base. Its flat, car-free centre is good for pushchairs, and the castle funicular, the Dragon Bridge, Tivoli's playgrounds, a hands-on science centre and the puppet theatre fill a couple of days.

Sibiu has one excellent outing in the ASTRA museum, with the zoo and playgrounds next door, and the Natural History Museum for a wet day, but less beyond that. The stairways down to the Lower Town are hard going with small children in tow.

Both are walking cities, but Ljubljana is the smoother one. Everything sits within about 20 minutes on foot on level ground, with bike-share and electric shuttles in the centre, and intercity buses make car-free trips into the country realistic.

Sibiu's centre is compact too, but the steep lanes between the Upper and Lower Town take effort. Its airport is close in, yet beyond the city slow, infrequent trains leave you relying on a car or a tour.

Neither is a shopping destination, and in both the best buys are local. Ljubljana's lean towards food and fine craft: pumpkin-seed oil, coastal salt and honey from the Central Market, Idrija lace, the Sunday antiques market on the embankment and a few design boutiques around Trubarjeva.

Sibiu's are folk crafts, with painted ceramics, embroidered blouses and icons on glass along Nicolae Balcescu Street, and its summer pottery fair and Christmas market are when it is at its best.

Sibiu is clearly the cheaper stay. Guesthouses near the old town are affordable for most of the year, a meal with local wine costs little and taxis are cheap, with prices climbing only during the June theatre festival and the Christmas market.

Ljubljana sits in the European middle. Lunchtime set menus at the inns are good value and walking costs nothing, but central rooms in summer are priced like Western Europe's, and that is where a budget gets stretched.

Ljubljana leans towards music: the Slovenian Philharmonic with roots going back to 1701, opera and ballet in the neo-Renaissance house, Cankarjev dom's year-round programme and summer concerts in Plečnik's Križanke courtyard. Sibiu leans towards theatre, with the well-regarded Radu Stanca National Theatre and, every June, one of the largest theatre festivals anywhere, which spills into churches and squares.

Outside those high points both offer a solid but limited choice. Most spoken theatre is in Slovene or Romanian, so a concert is the easier night out for visitors.

Neither city has much spa culture of its own. Both rely on quiet streets and long hours in cafés as their way of slowing down, Ljubljana along the river and Sibiu on its squares.

The bathing lies outside town. Ljubljana has several Slovenian thermal spa towns with mineral pools and saunas within about an hour's drive, plus a large water park with a sauna complex on its eastern edge. Sibiu has Ocna Sibiului, a spa resort since the 19th century, for floating in salt lakes and mud cures, and the clean mountain air of Paltinis.