Munich or Pula?

Pula is a real swimming destination. Munich is not. Pula's coast south of the centre breaks into rocky ledges, concrete platforms and pebble coves around Verudela and Stoja, with very clear water and pines almost down to the sea. The wild inlets of Cape Kamenjak are the best of it. There is no sand, and you will need water shoes because of sea urchins, while families with small children usually head for the shallower bays at Medulin.

Munich's summer swimming is a pleasant extra rather than a reason to go. You can sunbathe on the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher, or take the S-Bahn to the Starnberger See or the Ammersee, where there are jetties and lawns. The water is fed from the Alps and stays fresh even in July.

Munich has the edge for eating in town. The beer halls and chestnut-shaded beer gardens serving roast pork, Schweinshaxe and white sausage are an experience in their own right. The Viktualienmarkt, the serious coffee-and-cake culture and a group of starred restaurants add variety, although beyond Bavarian, Italian, Turkish and Balkan cooking the choice thins out.

Pula's kitchen is lighter and more interesting: truffle fuži, scampi buzara, pršut, grilled squid, Malvazija and Teran. But the city has only a modest choice of restaurants, and tables around the Arena lean towards tourist menus. The best Istrian meals are in family taverns inland or in the harbour villages, so it helps to have a car.

Munich has far more to see. The Kunstareal alone, with the Alte Pinakothek, the Glyptothek and the Lenbachhaus's Blue Rider paintings, could fill several days. Add the Residenz, Nymphenburg Palace and the vast Deutsches Museum, and there is enough for a week of museums.

Pula has one outstanding monument: the Arena, one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres anywhere, its three-storey outer ring still complete. The Temple of Augustus, the Arch of the Sergii and the Venetian fortress make for a rewarding Roman and Habsburg walk, but you can see them all in a day or two.

Munich offers more going out, and all year round. Evenings often start and end in a beer hall, but the Glockenbachviertel has dense rows of cocktail bars and gay bars, and a few serious techno clubs stay open until morning at weekends. During Oktoberfest the whole city becomes a party.

Pula's nightlife is mostly a summer affair: terraces around the Forum, beach bars on Verudela and in Medulin, and a few small clubs. Most evenings come down to a glass of wine by the floodlit Arena, and outside summer the town goes quiet early.

Munich is better placed for the outdoors because the Alps are so close. The Zugspitze, the Wetterstein and Tegernsee can be reached by train for summer hiking or winter skiing, and the Five Lakes are good for sailing and cycling. In town, the English Garden and the surfers on the Eisbach wave bring the outdoors into the city.

Pula's outdoors is coastal: the car-free headland of Kamenjak with its cliffs, wild flowers and dinosaur footprints, sea kayaking around the islets, and diving on naval-era wrecks. The nearest real hills, the Učka range, are about an hour and a half away, and summer heat makes midday hiking hard.

Both cities make good bases, but Munich offers more, and you can reach it all by train. Salzburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg and Augsburg are each within about an hour and a half, and Neuschwanstein and the island palace of Herrenchiemsee are classic royal excursions.

From Pula, the trips are smaller in scale but full of charm: Venetian Rovinj, the Byzantine mosaics of Poreč, the hilltop villages of Motovun and Hum, and the Brijuni islands by boat. The catch is that buses are limited, so most of these are much easier with a hire car.

Munich is easier with children. It is clean and green and easy with a pushchair, and it has a riverside zoo at Hellabrunn, hands-on galleries at the Deutsches Museum and beer gardens with playgrounds. Legoland is within a day's drive.

Pula works well if your family wants to spend the days by the sea. The shallow bays at Medulin and Premantura, the aquarium inside a Habsburg fort and climbing around the Arena keep children busy. But rocky shores, midday heat and needing a car for most outings make it harder work.

In Munich you never need a car. The pedestrianised old town is compact, and the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses run as one network to the museums, Nymphenburg, the lakes and the airport. Regional trains handle most day trips, and the flat city is easy to cycle.

Pula's centre is just as easy on foot, with the Arena, the Forum and the market minutes apart, and city buses reach Verudela. Beyond town, though, slow trains and infrequent buses mean that Kamenjak, the hill towns and the wider coast are realistic only with a car or scooter.

Munich is a real shopping city. It has luxury houses along Maximilianstrasse, department stores on the Kaufingerstrasse axis, independent boutiques in Glockenbach, and traditional Bavarian costume made by specialist tailors. The old Dallmayr delicatessen and the December Christmas markets add local character.

Pula has little shopping beyond chain stores and souvenirs on its main street. The things worth taking home are edible: Istrian olive oil, truffle products, Teran wine and honey, best bought at the market hall or from producers inland.

Pula is the cheaper of the two, although the gap narrows in high summer. In spring and autumn, private apartments and simple konobas keep costs low. In July and August, rooms cost about as much as on Western European coasts, and car hire and boat trips add up.

Munich is Germany's most expensive city, and you feel it most in the price of a hotel room, especially during Oktoberfest and the big trade fairs. Free parks and lakes, cheap Sunday museum entry and a picnic in a beer garden help soften the bill.

The two are far apart here. Munich is a major music capital. The Bavarian State Opera plays most of the year in the National Theatre, three orchestras of real standing fill the Herkulessaal and the Prinzregententheater, and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre stages chamber opera. There is also a good jazz scene, plus big touring acts at the Olympic Park.

Pula has one magical setting: summer concerts and film festival screenings under the arches of the Arena. Outside summer there is mainly Croatian-language drama at the Istrian National Theatre.

Munich has a real bathing culture. The Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad with its Roman-style steam bath, the textile-free public saunas with infusion rituals, and the huge thermal baths at Erding make a spa day easy. Long afternoons in a beer garden help too.

Pula has no spa tradition of its own, only the wellness areas of resort hotels on Verudela and in Medulin. It relaxes you in a different way: long coffees on the Forum, evening walks on pine-shaded coastal paths, and a pace that slows right down once high summer is over.