Luxembourg or San Marino?

Neither has a beach of its own, but San Marino has the sea within easy reach. Luxembourg's swimming is in the Upper Sûre reservoir an hour north or the gravel pits at Remerschen. The water is cool and the season is short, so the indoor pools are the everyday fallback.

From San Marino, the Romagna coast at Rimini and Riccione is about half an hour away. It has long sandy beaches, rows of umbrellas and shallow water warm enough for children through high summer. It is still a day out rather than a seaside stay.

Luxembourg eats better, mainly at the top end. French cooking leads, with a fine-dining scene unusually deep for the city's size. Portuguese and Italian neighbourhood places sit beneath it, and Moselle Riesling and crémant are poured by the glass everywhere.

San Marino's Romagna cooking of hand-rolled pasta, passatelli and piadina is honest and cheaper, but the summit terraces sell the view more than the food. For the good meals, go down to Borgo Maggiore or over the border.

Both are fortress towns on rock, but Luxembourg has more to see and will keep you longer. Its UNESCO fortifications wrap around the gorges and you can walk through the Bock casemates. The Grand Ducal Palace, the national museum and MUDAM on Kirchberg take you to two full days.

San Marino's story is the republic itself: three towers on Monte Titano, the Palazzo Pubblico and the basilica. It is atmospheric, but most visitors have seen it by lunchtime.

Luxembourg at least has evenings out. There are bars and a couple of clubs at the Rives de Clausen, riverside pubs in the Grund and later venues in Hollerich, and Thursday and Friday are the busiest nights. San Marino goes quiet once the coaches leave and keeps only a few wine bars on the summit, so a real night out means driving down to the Riviera clubs.

Luxembourg has the better outdoors, starting with the wooded Pétrusse and Alzette gorges in the middle of town. The mossy sandstone passages and beech forest of the Müllerthal are half an hour away, and the Ardennes and the Moselle cycle paths lie beyond.

San Marino offers a limestone ridge of about 740m with cliff views to the Adriatic and short woodland walks between the towers. The Montefeltro hills suit a drive or some quiet cycling, but there are no long trails.

Both make excellent bases, and the main difference is how you travel. From Luxembourg, Trier with its Roman gate and baths and the cathedral city of Metz are each under an hour by train, and free trains also reach Clervaux and the Moselle wine villages.

San Marino's outings are richer in Italian art, from the rock fortress of San Leo to Urbino's Renaissance court and the mosaics of Ravenna. Only the bus to Rimini runs regularly, though, so you need a car for the hill towns.

Neither city is built around children, and both suit a short stay. Luxembourg is calmer and kinder to buggies, with lifts down to the Grund, casemate tunnels to explore and a small animal park at Bettembourg, but it has no zoo or theme park.

San Marino's steep steps are hard work with a pushchair. A family with a car will find far more below the mountain, though: Italia in Miniatura, Fiabilandia, waterparks and shallow beaches.

Luxembourg is far easier. Trams, buses and second-class trains are free across the whole country, and public lifts and a funicular make the climbs between the city's levels painless.

San Marino's car-free core can be walked in under half an hour, but nearly every street climbs. Without a car you arrive on the bus from Rimini, and apart from the cable car to Borgo Maggiore, local buses are infrequent.

Luxembourg is the better shopping trip, mainly because it has a proper city centre to browse. Big fashion names line the upper town, the chains are a short walk away towards the station, and the twice-weekly market on Place Guillaume II is good for local produce. The souvenirs worth carrying home are distinctive: Villeroy & Boch porcelain, made in the city for centuries, and a bottle or two of Moselle crémant.

San Marino has less to browse, but it sells things Luxembourg doesn't. Perfume, watches and leather goods cost less here than in Italy because of lower taxes, which is what brings Italian visitors up the mountain. The republic also issues its own stamps and coins, which collectors seek out. Once you have seen the tax-free counters and the decorative crossbows, the old town has little else to offer, and the outlet centre in the valley is the only place for fashion.

Luxembourg is the costlier stay by a wide margin. Most of the money goes on beds and dinners, both priced for bankers, lawyers and EU officials on expenses. Room rates can fall at weekends when business travel thins out, a glass of crémant stays reasonable and several museums cost nothing. Some visitors sleep across the border in Trier or Metz to keep the bill down.

San Marino is far gentler on a travel budget, with costs closer to the Italian countryside around it than to a seaside resort. The premium is on the summit, where the view is part of the price of a room or a terrace table, and it falls away a few kilometres down the slope. Lower taxes also make fuel and spirits cheaper than over the border, which helps on a road trip.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Luxembourg has the Philharmonie on Kirchberg, home to its own orchestra and a regular stop for touring soloists. The Grand Théâtre stages opera and dance, and the old abbey of Neimënster holds open-air concerts in summer.

San Marino has a small theatre and occasional concerts, and its highlight is the summer Medieval Days festival with costumed musicians and flag-throwers. For a proper concert season you would go to Bologna or Pesaro.

Luxembourg has a real spa day within half an hour, at the mineral-spring thermal baths of Mondorf-les-Bains, as well as quiet river walks in the Grund and the Pétrusse valley. In San Marino, wellness means a few hotel spas and the calm of the walls once the day crowds leave. Thermal spas are a separate trip down the mountain.