Piran or Salzburg?

Neither has a long sandy beach, but only Piran is on the sea. Swimming there means climbing down ladders from the seafront platforms into clear Adriatic water. The small pebble cove at Fiesa is nearby, and the artificial sand at Portoroz is a short walk away.

In Salzburg, swimming is a lake outing to Fuschlsee, Wolfgangsee or Mondsee. You get into the water from lawns and jetties half an hour or more from town, and the lakes are a little cooler than the Adriatic in high summer. They make a pleasant afternoon, but they are not a reason to choose the city.

Neither town is a food destination and both have narrow menus, but the food is very different. In Piran you eat grilled fish, squid and scampi buzara at the harbour konobas, with Malvazija, Refosk, Istrian olive oil and salt from the town's own pans.

Salzburg means schnitzel, dumplings, Kasnocken and the three-peaked Salzburger Nockerl, and it is at its best in the old coffee houses and the Augustiner monastery beer garden in Mülln. In both places the better meals are away from the tourist strip, in the Istrian hinterland for Piran and in the outer-district inns for Salzburg.

Piran's old town is a lovely sight in its own right. Tartini Square, St George's above the bay and the walls on the ridge make a fine wander, but the small maritime museum and aquarium are done within a day.

Salzburg has far more to see. Its UNESCO-listed Baroque centre holds the cathedral and the Residenz, Hohensalzburg stands on its cliff, and Mirabell, Mozart's two houses, the St Peter catacombs and Hellbrunn are all close by. That makes two or three full days of sightseeing.

Both go quiet early, and neither suits clubbing. In Piran an evening means wine on Tartini Square or the sunset from the Punta, with summer beach bars and a casino in Portoroz. Salzburg's evenings centre on beer halls with long wooden tables and the student pubs along Rudolfskai in term time, and for a proper night out people take the train to Munich.

Piran's outdoors is gentle and coastal. There are the Strunjan flysch cliffs and the path along their top, wading birds in the Secovlje salt pans, kayaking in summer and the Parenzana cycle route inland through the vineyards. The Karst and the Skocjan caves are within an hour.

Salzburg has the Alps on its doorstep. The Untersberg cable car leads to limestone ridge walks, the Gaisberg is used for hiking and paragliding, and the Salzkammergut lakes and Berchtesgaden National Park are close by. That makes it the far stronger base for mountain days, with ski areas about an hour away in winter.

Both make good bases, and the difference is the kind of place you reach. From Piran you cross borders: Trieste and its coffee houses, the Istrian towns of Rovinj, Porec and Motovun, Ljubljana, and summer boats across the gulf to Venice.

From Salzburg you head into Alpine salt country: Hallstatt, the Wolfgangsee villages, the mines at Hallein and Berchtesgaden, and the clifftop fortress at Werfen, with Munich easy by train. From either base, a hire car makes the countryside trips much easier.

Both are safe and largely car-free. Piran gives children mainly the calm sea, the small aquarium and the shallow sand at Portoroz, which is enough for a few relaxed days but thin for a longer stay.

Salzburg can fill more days. Children get soaked by the trick fountains at Hellbrunn, and there are the zoo, the hands-on Haus der Natur, the fortress funicular and the marionettes. The salt mines nearby have wooden slides and underground boat rides. In both towns, steep lanes and cobbles are hard going with a pushchair.

Each centre can be crossed on foot in about a quarter of an hour. Piran then has only the shuttle bus to the car park and Portoroz, no railway and slow regional buses, so most visitors exploring further hire a car.

Salzburg is better connected beyond its centre. Trolleybuses run out to Hellbrunn and the Untersberg cable car, the riverside paths are good for cycling, and trains leave for Munich, Vienna and Hallein. Only the lake villages really call for a car.

Piran has few things to buy, but they are genuinely local: sea salt and salt flower from the Secovlje pans, Istrian olive oil, coastal wine and work from a handful of small galleries.

Salzburg gives you far more to browse. There is Getreidegasse under its wrought-iron guild signs, Tracht workshops making dirndls and loden jackets to measure, the farmers' market by the Andräkirche and the old Advent market on Domplatz. Neither town suits a luxury shopping trip.

Piran is easier on the wallet. Its high prices are seasonal, mostly old-town rooms in July and August, and staying in Portoroz or eating at simple konobas brings costs back to a fair level. Its main pleasures, swimming and walking, are free.

Salzburg is expensive all year, and more so during the summer festival and Advent, when old-town restaurants charge well above the Austrian norm. A city card and a room across the river help, but it is still the more expensive stay.

This is where the two differ most. Piran has summer concerts for Tartini in its churches, cloister and main square, the odd recital at the little theatre, and almost nothing out of season.

Salzburg's year revolves around music. The Salzburg Festival fills the Festspielhaus and the Felsenreitschule, Jedermann is played before the cathedral, and Mozart Week and the Easter Festival add two more seasons. The Mozarteum, the Landestheater and the Marionette Theatre keep the programme going the rest of the year. Festival seats need booking well ahead.

Both are restful places, but their treatments come from different sources. Piran's come from the sea: brine baths and seawater pools in Portoroz, the open-air thalasso spa among the salt pans, and Strunjan's seawater resort. The car-free lanes set an unhurried pace.

In Salzburg, calm means the river paths, the Mönchsberg woods and long coffee-house afternoons, with saunas at the Paracelsus Bad in town. For serious spa bathing you go out of the city, to the brine spa at Bad Reichenhall or the radon springs of the Gastein valley.