Piran or Split?

Piran is for swimming rather than lying on sand. You lower yourself into clear water from concrete platforms and ladders below the walls, or walk to Fiesa, a small pebble cove. For sand you go to the small artificial beach at Portoroz or the quieter shore at Strunjan.

Split has more choice within walking distance. Bačvice is a shallow sandy bay where locals play picigin in knee-deep water, and the pine-shaded coves around Marjan offer deeper, quieter swimming. Ferries to Brač and Hvar add longer beaches, though the city beaches get packed in high summer.

Both towns eat from the sea, but Split cooks a wider Dalmatian repertoire. Next to the grilled fish there is black risotto, slow-braised pašticada and octopus baked under the peka bell, with the fish market and the Pazar showing what is in season. The best meals are in the konobas of Varoš.

In Piran, eating out means simple seafood on the Punta, mussels and scampi buzara with Malvazija or Refosk, and the local salt on the table. It is pleasant, but the harbour menus repeat one another, and for variety you have to drive inland into Istria.

Split has a monument of world rank. Diocletian's Palace is a Roman emperor's residence that turned into a town, with the cathedral set in his mausoleum, the Peristyle, and vaulted substructures that show the original plan. The Meštrović Gallery on Marjan adds a fine sculpture collection, and two days covers the city well.

Piran's appeal is the townscape itself: Venetian Gothic houses on a narrow peninsula, the oval Tartini Square, and St George's campanile and the old walls above the red roofs. The museums are small, and one unhurried day is enough.

Piran's evenings are a glass of wine at sunset on the Punta or Tartini Square, and the town goes quiet soon after. For anything louder you go to Portoroz, with its casino and a few summer clubs.

Split gives you a real night out in summer. Small bars fill the stone alleys and stairways inside the palace, and the beach bars and clubs at Bačvice run into the early hours. Outside summer both towns are quiet, and in Split a night out comes down to a glass of wine with locals.

Piran's outdoors is gentle and coastal. There are the flysch cliffs and path at Strunjan, wading birds among the lagoons of the Secovlje salt pans, the Parenzana cycle route through vineyards, and the Skocjan caves on the Karst about an hour away.

Split has mountains and open sea. Marjan's pine forest starts at the edge of the old town, Mosor and Biokovo offer serious ridge walks, the Cetina canyon at Omiš is used for rafting and canyoning, and Krka's waterfalls are an hour north. Add kayaking and sailing among the islands and it is the more active base.

Both make excellent bases, but the trips are different. From Piran you cross borders: Habsburg Trieste within the hour, Rovinj and the hilltop towns of Motovun and Groznjan in Croatian Istria, Predjama Castle and Ljubljana in Slovenia, and summer boats to Venice. Most of it is easiest with a car.

From Split the outings are by sea and bus. You can take ferries to Hvar, Brač and Vis, or visit UNESCO-listed Trogir and Šibenik, Roman Salona and Klis Fortress close by. In summer you can manage all of it without driving.

Neither town has much built for children, and both work in a simple way. Piran is smaller and calmer. The old town has no cars, the seafront is flat and the aquarium suits younger children, but swimming means ledges and ladders, and the lanes up to the church are steep.

Split has more space and more to do. Bačvice is a shallow sandy paddle, Marjan has shade and room to run, and the ferry to an island is usually the highlight. The trade-off is heavy heat and crowds in July and August.

Each town has a compact, car-free core you can cross on foot in about fifteen minutes. Piran adds a shuttle and a promenade to Portoroz. Split's palace streets are polished stone and full of steps, which is awkward with a pushchair.

Leaving town is where they part. Piran has no railway and slow buses, so most visitors hire a car to explore. Split has its ferry port, bus station and railway station together on the harbour, which makes the islands and the coast easy to reach without one.

Neither town is worth visiting for shopping, but Split has a bit more. It has fashion chains on Marmontova, malls on the edge of town, and the Pazar market by the palace for figs, honey and local brandies. Piran keeps to galleries and harbour stalls, and its best buys are salt flower from the Secovlje pans and Istrian olive oil. For anything more you would go to Trieste or Ljubljana.

Costs are much the same, and both get expensive in July and August, when old-town rooms are scarce and waterfront fish is priced for the view. In Piran you save by sleeping in Portoroz and eating in simple konobas, and the swimming and walking cost nothing.

In Split, island ferries add up for a family. Bakeries, the green market and buses are cheap, though, and in winter the city becomes modestly priced.

Split has a real stage. The 19th-century Croatian National Theatre runs opera and ballet through the season, the Split Summer Festival puts on opera in the Peristyle, and klapa singers fill the palace vestibule with unaccompanied harmonies.

Piran's music centres on Tartini, with summer concerts in churches, the Minorite cloister and on the square named after him. Its small theatre has only occasional plays and recitals, and outside summer there is little to go to.

Rest and treatment are where Piran clearly has the edge over Split. Portoroz grew up as a spa resort using seawater, brine and salt-pan mud, the thalasso spa among the Secovlje lagoons lets you lie in salt mud outdoors, and Strunjan has a seawater health resort. The quiet, car-free town adds the slower pace.

Split has no bathing tradition, so you are limited to hotel spas and massage studios. Its calm is the Dalmatian fjaka of long coffees on the Riva, which is hard to find in midsummer, when the old town stays loud late into the night.