Pula or Siena?

This is where Pula is clearly stronger. It has no sand, but there are rock platforms and pebble coves a short ride away around Verudela, Stoja and Medulin, with pine shade almost to the water. The wild coves and cliff ledges of Kamenjak alone make it worth staying on this coast.

Siena has no sea at all. The Maremma beaches near Castiglione della Pescaia are well over an hour away, so a swim takes up a whole day. In town, the only place to swim is a hotel or agriturismo pool.

Both cities eat regionally rather than internationally, and both kitchens rely on hand-made pasta, cured pork and good local wine. Siena has the edge, with pici with duck ragù, cinta senese pork, a baking tradition of panforte and ricciarelli, and Chianti Classico, Brunello and Vino Nobile poured by the glass in enoteche across town.

Pula's Istrian cooking is distinctive, with truffle pasta, scampi buzara, Malvazija and Teran. But the town has fewer places to eat, and the restaurants around the Arena lean towards tourist menus. The best Istrian meals are often a drive away in hinterland villages, while Siena's good osterie are on the side streets of its contrade.

Pula has one superb monument, the Arena, whose three-storey outer ring still stands complete. Around it are the Temple of Augustus, the Arch of the Sergii and the Austro-Hungarian forts, and all of it fits into a day or two.

Siena goes much deeper. The whole centre is a UNESCO-listed medieval city. The Duomo with its inlaid floor and Piccolomini Library, Lorenzetti's frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico, Duccio's Maestà and the Sienese school in the Pinacoteca make it a place to travel to for art in a way Pula is not. The seventeen contrade also give each neighbourhood its own character.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Pula has more going on in summer. Drinks on the terraces around the Forum lead on to cocktail bars and beach bars on Verudela and around Medulin, and on warm weekends a few small clubs fill up.

Siena's evenings mean a long dinner, wine on the Campo and a walk through the lit streets. There are almost no clubs, and the centre is quiet before midnight. The exception is the Palio, when the contrade hold outdoor dinners that run late. Out of season both towns go quiet, and a few student pubs keep things going.

Both have gentle, farmed countryside rather than wilderness, and both are best for walking and cycling in spring and autumn. The difference is the setting. Pula's is coastal: the car-free Kamenjak headland, sea kayaking among the islets, windsurfing at Premantura and diving on wrecks from the naval era.

Siena's is the Tuscan hill country of the Crete Senesi and the Val d'Orcia. The strade bianche gravel roads draw serious cyclists, and walkers can follow the Via Francigena. Choose Pula for anything on the water and Siena for long rides through farmland.

Pula is a good base for Istria. Rovinj, the Byzantine mosaics of Poreč, the hill towns of Motovun and Grožnjan and the Brijuni islands are all close, and Piran and Trieste are about two hours away.

Siena's surroundings are richer still. Florence is a bus ride away, and San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, Volterra and the Chianti villages are close by. To the south lie Pienza, Montalcino and Montepulciano, along with abbeys such as Sant'Antimo and San Galgano, so you could spend a week here without running short of places to see.

Pula is the easier choice with children. The shallow, sheltered bays of Medulin and Premantura, the aquarium inside a fort on Verudela, the underground passages of the Arena and the Brijuni safari park fill the days easily. A dinosaur park and a water park are both within about an hour.

Siena is safe and largely car-free, and older children enjoy climbing the Torre del Mangia. But it has nothing made for children, and its steep streets are hard work with a pushchair. Families there usually stay in a farmhouse with a pool and come into town for half days.

Both centres are compact, but they feel different on foot. Pula's is small and flat. Siena's stands on three ridges with steep, stepped lanes, though it is largely closed to traffic and escalators connect it to the station below.

Siena has better connections beyond its walls, with buses to Florence and nearby towns. From Pula, the rail line is of little use and regional buses are infrequent, so Kamenjak and the Istrian hill towns really need a car or scooter. Either way, you will want a car for the countryside.

Neither is a shopping destination, and in both the best things to buy are edible. Pula offers Istrian olive oil, truffle products, wine and pršut from the market hall and from producers inland. Siena adds crafts to its panforte and pecorino, with majolica ceramics, contrada scarves and leather goods along Banchi di Sopra, and its large weekly market by the Fortezza Medicea is the more interesting place to browse.

Pula is the cheaper of the two, especially in spring and autumn, when a private apartment and meals in simple konobas keep costs down. Its sights and city buses cost little, while in Siena the cathedral complex and the civic museums each need a ticket, and rooms inside the walls are scarce for most of the year.

In high summer the gap narrows. Pula's rooms in July and August cost about as much as on the Western European coasts, and Siena's rise steeply around the Palio. The savings also come in different places. In Siena, food is the good-value part of a stay, with osteria lunches far cheaper than the Campo, and a room in the countryside saves money too. In Pula, car hire and boat trips are what push the cost up.

Pula's performing arts come down to one great stage. On summer nights the Roman Arena hosts touring pop and rock acts, classical galas and the Pula Film Festival screenings under its stone arches. The rest of the year the Istrian National Theatre puts on drama in Croatian.

Siena's music is quieter and more serious. The Accademia Chigiana holds summer concerts and masterclasses in palaces and churches, Siena Jazz adds concerts by its teachers and students, and in winter the Teatro dei Rinnovati and the Teatro dei Rozzi stage drama and music. Choose Pula for a big open-air night and Siena for chamber music in a palace. For opera, Siena sends you on to Florence.

Siena has the real wellness offer, thanks to the thermal springs nearby. Rapolano Terme's travertine pools are about half an hour away. Further south are the medieval bath at Bagno Vignoni, the free white pools of Bagni San Filippo and the hot river at Petriolo, all easy to combine with a rural spa hotel.

Pula has no bathing tradition, and spa time means the resort hotels on Verudela or in Medulin. Its restful side is simpler: pine-shaded coastal paths, slow coffees on the Forum and a calm pace once summer ends.