Ohrid or Thessaloniki?

These two are broadly level for swimming, but in quite different ways. In Ohrid you swim in the lake itself, in calm, clear fresh water. The coves below Kaneo and the town beach at Potpeš are a short walk from your room, with longer stretches south at Lagadin and Gradište.

Thessaloniki doesn't swim off its own waterfront, and the nearby suburban beaches are only ordinary. The real prize is Halkidiki, about an hour away, where the coves and warm, clear sea are far better than anything at Ohrid. Going there means a day trip or moving on rather than a swim before lunch.

Thessaloniki is the far better city for eating. Its cooking draws on Ottoman, Sephardic and Anatolian traditions, and it shows in the meze spreads with tsipouro, in the spiced kebabs and soutzoukakia, and in the market tavernas wedged between the stalls of Kapani and Modiano. Breakfast is flaky bougatsa.

Ohrid offers honest Macedonian home cooking, such as tavče gravče, ajvar and lake belvica. The same short menu runs along the whole waterfront, though, and the best meals take some searching in the upper old town or the shore villages.

Thessaloniki has more to see and more to learn. The Rotunda's mosaics, Agios Dimitrios and the Arch of Galerius are among its UNESCO-listed and Roman monuments. The Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Byzantine Culture give it a depth Ohrid has no answer to. Because the centre was rebuilt after 1917, these sights are scattered through a modern city.

Ohrid wins on setting. St Sophia's frescoes, Plaošnik and St John at Kaneo above the water all sit within one intact hillside old town, which you can walk slowly in a day or two.

If going out matters, Thessaloniki is in another league. A large student population keeps Ladadika, the bars around Valaoritou and the tables of the Bit Bazaar crowded late into the night, on weeknights as well as weekends. In summer, open-air clubs on the edge of the city carry on until dawn.

Ohrid only comes alive in July and August, when visitors from across the region fill the café-bars on the promenade and the beach clubs to the south. For the rest of the year, an evening usually ends with wine over dinner.

Both have fine landscapes, but you reach them differently. In Ohrid the scenery begins at the waterfront. You can take a kayak or small boat out on the deep, clear lake, and Galičica rises behind the town, with trails to summits above 2,000m and a ridge where paragliders launch. The spring-fed pool at St Naum is a separate outing at the far end of the lake.

Thessaloniki has the Seich Sou pine forest just behind Ano Poli, but its bigger landscapes take a car. Mount Olympus and the Enipeas gorge are about an hour and a half away, and in winter Kaimaktsalan has skiing, something Ohrid doesn't offer.

Thessaloniki has the stronger list of day trips, centred on ancient Macedonia. The royal tombs at Vergina, Alexander's birthplace at Pella and the sanctuary at Dion are all within easy reach. Beyond them lie the waterfalls of Edessa, the vineyards of Naoussa and boat trips along the coast of Mount Athos.

Ohrid has good outings too, but fewer of them. You can go by boat to St Naum, see Heraclea's mosaics near Bitola, or cross into Albania for Korçë. The roads are slow and buses are scarce, so you need a driver to manage them.

Neither city is built around children, and they come out about even. Ohrid's appeal is safe, simple lake days in calm water, with boat rides and the pile village at the Bay of Bones to break them up. The steep cobbled old town is hard going with a pushchair.

Thessaloniki has more made for children, with the Noesis science centre and the playgrounds along its seafront. Heavy traffic, crowded pavements and summer heat count against it, and families wanting a beach usually stay in Halkidiki.

Getting around is about as easy in both, for different reasons. Ohrid is a small town you cross on foot in minutes, with cheap taxis for short trips. Only the stairs of the old town and the patchy buses to the southern shore slow you down.

Thessaloniki is bigger but laid out in a long, flat strip along the water. A metro line runs under the centre and buses cover the rest, though they get stuck in traffic. In both places, a hire car is the sensible choice for anything further out.

Thessaloniki is the better place to shop. Tsimiski has the high-street fashion and shoe shops, the malls sit on the edge of the city, and the Kapani and Modiano markets are full of spices, olives, cheeses and tsipouro to take home.

Ohrid has one speciality the other lacks, the Ohrid pearl, made by a few families from the scales of a lake fish. Buy it from an established workshop, not a stall. Beyond that and some filigree silver, Ohrid's shops sell souvenirs.

Both are easy on a budget, but Ohrid is cheaper still. Guesthouse rooms, full meals with Macedonian wine and church entry fees cost very little, and the only real exception is lakefront rooms on summer weekends.

Thessaloniki is priced for students and locals rather than visitors, so tavernas and nights out stay reasonable. Its hotels are mid-range rather than cheap, though, and day trips usually add the cost of a hire car.

Thessaloniki has live performance all year, which Ohrid doesn't. The State Orchestra plays at the concert hall on the waterfront and the National Theatre of Northern Greece runs full seasons, though nearly all in Greek. For most visitors the best of it is rebetiko and laika played late in the tavernas.

In Ohrid the arts mean the Summer Festival. Concerts and opera inside St Sophia or in the ancient theatre are a memorable setting, but plan around them, because there is little outside summer.

Neither has a spa culture to speak of, so they are broadly level, and in both places rest comes from the pace of life. Ohrid's version is the still lake in May, June and September, with slow coffees by the water. August is too crowded for real calm.

Thessaloniki relaxes on long iced coffees along the seafront. It also has the simple thermal baths at Lagadas half an hour away, whereas Ohrid's nearest springs are a long drive into the mountains.