Piran or Sarajevo?

Here the gap is as wide as it gets. Piran has clear Adriatic water right under its walls. You swim from the platforms and ladders around the Punta or at the small pebble cove of Fiesa, and the sandy beach at Portoroz is a short shuttle ride away, even if none of it is a long stretch of sand.

Sarajevo is a valley city with no coast within a day's reach. In summer, swimming means a pool, a chilly mountain river or Jablanica lake, so anyone who wants the sea should add a few days on the Croatian or Montenegrin coast.

Sarajevo eats better, and in a style all its own. The ćevapi grills of Baščaršija, the pita bakeries selling burek by weight, slow dishes like lamb cooked under a metal lid, and the long ritual of Bosnian coffee with rahat lokum give a visit a food culture to remember.

Piran's cooking is simpler: grilled fish, squid and buzara by the harbour, with Istrian olive oil, Malvazija and salt from its own pans. It is pleasant, but the harbour menus repeat one another, and you need to drive inland for more variety.

Sarajevo has far more to see and to think about. A mosque, two cathedrals and the Old Synagogue stand within a few streets of each other. The Latin Bridge recalls 1914, and the Tunnel of Hope and the War Childhood Museum bring the 1990s siege close. The Sarajevo Haggadah is kept in the National Museum.

Piran is one beautiful set piece: oval Tartini Square, the Venetian Gothic lanes and the view over red roofs from St George's and the town walls. Its museums are small, and one unhurried day covers the town.

Neither is a clubbing destination, but Sarajevo at least has evenings that run late. The café-bars around Ferhadija fill up from the afternoon, students keep the cellar bars going past midnight at weekends, and drinks are cheap.

Piran goes quiet soon after a sunset glass of wine on the Punta or Tartini Square. For anything livelier you have to go to the beach bars, summer clubs and casino in Portoroz.

Sarajevo is ringed by real mountains. The Trebević cable car leaves from the edge of the Old Town, and the Olympic peaks of Jahorina and Bjelašnica are under an hour away for winter skiing or summer hiking. Further out are the Rakitnica canyon below Lukomir and rafting on the Neretva.

Piran's outdoors are gentler and coastal. There are the flysch cliffs at Strunjan, wading birds in the Secovlje salt pans, paddling along the shore and the Parenzana cycle route, with the Karst and the Skocjan caves about an hour away. It is good for easy days by the water, not for mountain days.

Piran sits where Slovenia, Italy and Croatia meet, and that gives it the wider choice. Trieste is under an hour away, and Rovinj, Porec and the hill towns of Motovun and Groznjan lie to the south. Predjama Castle and Ljubljana are also within reach, and in summer boats cross the gulf to Venice.

Sarajevo has one outstanding outing: Mostar, reached by train along the Neretva gorge, with Konjic, Blagaj and Počitelj nearby. Travnik and the bridge at Višegrad complete the list. Roads are slow and winding, so fewer trips fit comfortably into a day.

Piran is the easier town for children. It has car-free lanes, a flat seafront, a calm, warm sea in summer, the little aquarium on the harbour and the shallow sand of Portoroz close by. It suits a short, relaxed stay better than a long one.

Sarajevo welcomes children warmly but has less for them to do. The cable car, the carriage ride to Vrelo Bosne and the small zoo fill a day or two. After that, the sights centred on war, the steep hillsides, the smoke from the grills and the winter smog all count against it.

Both are easy to manage, in different ways. You can cross Piran's car-free old town on foot in a quarter of an hour, and a shuttle links the car park and Portoroz. With no railway, though, exploring Istria or the Karst usually means hiring a car.

Sarajevo is a proper city laid out along its valley. A tram line with nineteenth-century roots runs from Baščaršija to Ilidža, trolleybuses climb the slopes, and taxis are cheap. Away from the tram the network is harder to follow, and the ski mountains and the Tunnel of Hope are easiest by taxi or tour.

Sarajevo is clearly the better place to buy something to take home. On Kazandžiluk the coppersmiths still hammer out coffee sets and trays, and the Bezistan and the lanes around it sell kilims, leather slippers and filigree, though some of it is souvenir stock.

Piran's best buys are things to eat and drink: salt flower from the Secovlje pans, Istrian olive oil and coastal wine. Beyond those there are only a few craft shops and the harbour stalls.

Sarajevo costs far less. Grilled meat, pastries, coffee, trams and central rooms are cheap by any European measure, and only the Old Town and the summer film festival push prices up a little.

Piran is mid-priced for Western Europe and expensive in July and August, when old-town rooms are scarce and the harbour tables charge for the view. Staying in Portoroz or coming out of season helps, and the swimming and walking cost nothing.

Sarajevo has the fuller stage. The National Theatre puts on drama, opera and ballet through the season, and the Philharmonic plays regularly. MESS brings international theatre in autumn, a jazz festival fills venues in November, and you may hear sevdah in traditional restaurants.

Piran's programme is mostly summer concerts in Tartini's honour, held in churches, the monastery cloister and on the main square, with occasional recitals at the small Tartini Theatre. Out of season there is little on.

Piran is the more restful choice. The seawater pools and salt-pan mud of Portoroz, the open-air thalasso spa among the Secovlje lagoons and the seawater resort at Strunjan all draw on the sea. The car-free town keeps the pace slow.

Sarajevo has the thermal springs at Ilidža, at the end of the tram line, and the shaded avenue at Vrelo Bosne nearby. Apart from the habit of lingering over coffee there is no real bathing culture, and winter smog takes some of the calm out of the valley.