Plovdiv or Varna?

There is no contest here. Plovdiv is inland on the Thracian plain, so a summer swim means a pool, the rowing canal or a reservoir in the Rhodopes. The Black Sea is a separate trip of several hours.

Varna has sand right below the Sea Garden, with lifeguarded city beaches and a chain of wider resort beaches 10km to 20km north, where the water shelves gently and the waves are small. The season runs only from late June to mid September and the water is less clear than the Mediterranean, but for a beach trip Varna is the obvious choice.

Both kitchens rest on the same Bulgarian base of shopska salad, grilled meats and banitsa, and neither offers much beyond it. The difference is in what comes with the meal. Plovdiv sits in wine country, so dinner in an Old Town mehana or a Kapana bistro comes with Mavrud and Rubin reds, and wineries are a short drive away.

Varna looks to the sea, with fried sprats, farmed mussels and turbot at simple places near the port, and Black Sea whites to go with them. Its seafront kitchens mostly close once summer ends.

Plovdiv has far more to see. Its Roman theatre is still used for performances, the stadium lies under the main street and the basilicas hold early Christian mosaics. The painted National Revival houses of the Old Town add a much later layer, and two or three days on foot cover it all well.

Varna has one world-class treasure: the six-thousand-year-old Necropolis gold in the Archaeological Museum. Add the Roman Thermae and the gilded Dormition Cathedral, and beyond those it is a pleasant mix of older houses and socialist-era blocks that a day or two will cover.

Varna has the bigger night out, but only in summer. From June to September the beach clubs below the Sea Garden run DJ sets on open terraces until dawn, and Golden Sands up the coast is louder still. Out of season, going out means the bars and pubs of the pedestrian centre.

Plovdiv's evenings are smaller and more about conversation. Craft beer, wine and cocktail bars fill the little streets of Kapana, students keep them busy, and there are only a handful of clubs. The city suits a long evening over local wine rather than a night of dancing.

Plovdiv is better for anyone who wants real hills. The rocky tepeta give quick climbs inside the city, the forested valleys and gorges of the Rhodopes begin about 20km away, and the higher Central Balkan range is an hour to the north. A car helps, and spring and autumn are the seasons for walking.

Varna's outdoors is gentler and on the coast: shaded paths in the Sea Garden, the strange stone columns of Pobiti Kamani, birds in the Kamchia riverside forest and the red cliffs of Cape Kaliakra, where dolphins are often seen. There are no mountains close by, so it suits easy walks and summer sailing rather than hiking.

Both are good bases, but Plovdiv has more within a short drive. Bachkovo Monastery is half an hour away, and Hisarya's Roman walls and the Thracian temple at Starosel are within an hour. Kazanlak's Thracian tomb and the Valley of Roses, or the painted village of Koprivshtitsa, each make a full day out.

Varna's outings split between the coast and early Bulgarian history. You have the peninsula churches of Nessebar and the queen's palace gardens at Balchik, and inland the Madara Rider and the old capitals at Pliska and Preslav. From either city, a hire car opens up far more than the buses do.

Varna is the easier city with children. The Sea Garden brings together a small zoo, the aquarium, a planetarium, the Natural History Museum and playgrounds under the trees. Steps lead down to lifeguarded beaches, water parks are a short ride north, and the flat promenade is easy with a pushchair.

Plovdiv is friendly to families, and its long pedestrian street is easy to stroll. Children usually enjoy the singing fountains in the Tsar Simeon Garden and running around the Roman theatre. Beyond that, little is aimed at children, the Old Town cobbles are steep, and the midsummer heat on the plain is tiring for small ones.

In both cities you get around the centre on foot, taxis are easy to find and buses are of little help to a visitor. In Plovdiv the long car-free main street links the Roman ruins, Kapana and most of the museums, so sightseeing is simple, though the Old Town hills are steep and slippery underfoot.

Varna's centre is flat and compact, about a quarter of an hour on foot from the cathedral to the beach. But much of what summer visitors come for lies in the resorts to the north, and getting there means a taxi or a crowded bus with Cyrillic signs.

Neither city is a shopping destination. Both have a pedestrian high street of chains, big malls on the edge of town and the same Bulgarian things to take home: rose oil cosmetics, embroidery, ceramics and wine.

Plovdiv has a little more character in the design studios and galleries of Kapana and the antique stalls on the way up to the Old Town. Varna's extra is mostly beachwear and souvenirs on the seafront stalls in summer.

Both are among the cheapest cities in the EU to visit, with modest prices for meals, local wine, taxis and museum tickets. The difference is in the seasons. Plovdiv's Old Town guesthouses cost little and much of the city's appeal is free, while in Varna room rates climb sharply in July and August and the Golden Sands resorts charge more, so June or September gives better value there.

These two are evenly matched, and both save their best for summer. Plovdiv's prize is an evening of opera or a concert in the Roman theatre under the stars, and the rest of the year it has an opera company, a philharmonic orchestra and a jazz festival.

Varna's strength is its festivals. Varna Summer goes back to the 1920s, there are performances at the Summer Theatre in the Sea Garden, and in some years the city hosts the International Ballet Competition, on top of the opera and ballet in its grand theatre on the main square. Outside the festivals, both programmes are modest and mostly in Bulgarian.

Varna has the edge because the springs are on its doorstep. St Konstantin and Elena, about 10km from the centre, is the traditional place for mineral pools and mud treatments, and there are warm mineral water taps by the shore. In May, June and September the Sea Garden is good for long, quiet walks.

Plovdiv has no baths of its own, so a proper soak means driving to Hisarya or Velingrad. What it has instead is aylyak, the local habit of taking things slowly with long coffees under the plane trees, which makes the city restful in itself.