Mostar or Rome?

Neither city has a beach on the doorstep, but Rome is closer to one. Mostar is inland, and the Neretva is too cold for more than a quick plunge. The real swim is the pool below the Kravica waterfalls, and the Adriatic at Neum is over an hour's drive away.

From Rome, the suburban train reaches the dark volcanic sand of Ostia in about half an hour, and the summer sea is warm enough to swim in, though rarely clear. Neither suits a beach-based stay, but Rome can fit a beach afternoon into a city break.

Rome is far stronger here. Mostar eats well but in a narrow range: charcoal-grilled ćevapi, burek, stuffed peppers and Bosnian coffee, with Žilavka and Blatina wines from the surrounding valleys, and little beyond that.

Rome has a whole cuisine of its own, from carbonara and cacio e pepe to Jewish-style artichokes and Testaccio's offal dishes, plus serious street food and artisan gelato. The two share one trap, the dull tourist menus near the main sights, and in both a walk a few streets away is rewarded.

Mostar has one world-famous sight, the rebuilt Stari Most with its divers. Around it is a compact old town with the bazaar street, the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque and Ottoman houses, and the war-scarred old front line adds a harder layer. Together they fill a day or two.

Rome is in a different class. It has ancient Rome, early Christian mosaics, Renaissance and Baroque churches, and museums from the Vatican to Palazzo Massimo. Even a week leaves much unseen, the opposite problem to Mostar's.

Evenings in Mostar mean dinner on a terrace facing the lit bridge, then a quiet old town once the coach groups leave, with a few cocktail bars and student clubs busy on summer weekends. Rome offers far more: aperitivo, then crowded wine bars in Trastevere, smaller cocktail bars in Monti and cheap student drinking in San Lorenzo. Neither is a clubbing city, but Rome's nights run much later.

Mostar has the edge, and its landscape is wilder. The karst basin, the Prenj and Velež mountains, rafting in the Neretva canyons and the Buna spring at Blagaj are all close by, with Blidinje and the Hutovo Blato wetland within a couple of hours.

Rome's outdoors is gentler and more tamed: villa parks, the Appian Way by bike, the crater lakes of the Alban Hills, and the Apennines about ninety minutes away. In both cities summer heat rules out midday activity.

Mostar's excursions are small and full of character: the tekke at Blagaj, walled Počitelj, the stećci tombstones at Stolac, and Sarajevo as a long day by train. Most of them need a car or a tour.

Rome offers far more, much of it by train: Ostia Antica, Tivoli's villas, the Etruscan tombs, Orvieto, Assisi, and Florence or Naples on the high-speed line. It could fill a week of outings, where Mostar's fill two or three days.

Neither city is built for children, though Rome copes better. Mostar holds a family for a day or two with the bridge divers, a minaret climb and swimming at Kravica, but the steep, slippery lanes and fierce valley heat are hard on small children.

Rome has gladiators and catacombs to catch children's interest, plus the Bioparco zoo, rowing boats in Villa Borghese and a children's museum. Queues and crowds are the price, and in both cities restaurants welcome children warmly.

Both are walking cities at heart, with sights linked on foot over smooth, tiring cobbles. Mostar's old town and Austro-Hungarian centre are a short stroll apart, but almost everything beyond them needs a car, a taxi or a tour.

Rome's walkable core is larger. The metro barely enters it, but metro, buses and trams together reach the Vatican, Termini and the wider city, and trains run to the coast and the hill towns. A car is useful around Mostar and a burden in Rome.

Mostar's shopping comes down to the Kujundžiluk, where a few coppersmiths still hammer coffee sets among stalls of imported souvenirs, and there is little else. Rome has the fashion houses around the Spanish Steps, independent boutiques and vintage in Monti, antique dealers on Via dei Coronari and the sprawling Porta Portese flea market. For leather, handmade shoes or paper, Rome is the clear choice, while Mostar is the place for one hand-beaten copper džezva.

Mostar is much the cheaper of the two. Guesthouses, ćevapi, local wine and coffee all cost little, and only the bridge-view terraces and old-town rooms in midsummer push prices up.

In Rome, rooms in the centre are expensive and small, and the Vatican, the Colosseum and the Borghese all charge substantial entry fees. Standing espresso, pizza al taglio, free drinking fountains and churches open to all keep daily spending down, but a stay still costs well above one in Mostar.

Rome is far ahead here. Mostar has a national theatre and a youth theatre that perform in local languages, plus open-air concerts in summer, and little else for visitors.

Rome has opera and ballet at the Teatro dell'Opera, with a summer season among the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. The Santa Cecilia orchestra plays at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, churches hold organ concerts and there is a long-running jazz scene, all of which you can enjoy without speaking Italian.

Rome comes out ahead for a restorative stay, mainly because it has real hot water within reach. In Mostar the old Ottoman bath by the bridge is something to look at rather than step into, and beyond a handful of hotel treatment rooms there is nowhere to book a soak or a massage. What rests you here is the slow rhythm: a coffee that stretches to an hour, and the old town at dawn or dusk, when only the Neretva can be heard.

Rome has lost its own bathing tradition too, but it offers more choice, with spas in the larger hotels and a few day spas in town. A short trip out, the Acque Albule springs fill the big thermal pools at Bagni di Tivoli, and the free open-air hot springs near Viterbo make a longer day out. The price is noise, because central Rome is far louder than Mostar's riverside lanes, so look for calm in the villa gardens or up on the Aventine.