Riga or Stockholm?

Neither city is a beach destination, but the swimming is quite different. Riga has a real sandy strand: Jurmala's fine pale sand runs for kilometres in front of the pine dunes, and the water stays shallow far out, which suits small children.

Stockholm has no long beach. Instead it swims in the city itself, from Långholmen's rock slabs, from jetties and at lake beaches such as Hellasgården, with archipelago coves a ferry ride away. Choose Riga for a sand-and-towel day and Stockholm for a quick dip between sights.

Stockholm eats better. Its serious Nordic tasting menus work with archipelago fish, game and foraged herbs, and old dining rooms still serve meatballs with lingonberries and pickled herring. Fika in the cafés of Södermalm and Vasastan adds a pleasure of its own.

Riga's cooking is plainer and heartier: rye bread, smoked fish, grey peas with bacon. Its Central Market in the old zeppelin hangars is a bigger spectacle than Östermalms Saluhall, and its cafés and bakeries cost far less. The trade-off is depth for price.

Stockholm has more to see, and it is spread over several days and islands. The Vasa warship, Skansen, the Royal Palace in Gamla Stan, the Nationalmuseum and the woodland cemetery at Skogskyrkogården give it a range that Riga cannot match.

Riga's strength is narrower but striking: hundreds of carved Art Nouveau façades around Alberta iela, next to a Hanseatic Old Town that you can cover in an afternoon. Its national museums are solid rather than famous, and two or three days do it justice.

The two are close, and the difference is in style and cost. Riga's evenings centre on cellar bars and beer pubs in the Old Town, which get loud with weekend groups. The locals' bars around Miera iela and in the warehouse quarter are calmer, and both are far easier on the wallet.

Stockholm splits in two: polished clubs with strict doors around Stureplan, and relaxed neighbourhood bars on Södermalm. Its summer nights, when it barely gets dark and the waterfront terraces fill, are its best, but every round is expensive.

Stockholm has nature right on its doorstep. The archipelago begins at the quayside, and you can be kayaking, sailing or walking on an island within the day. Royal Djurgården's oak meadows are a short walk from the centre, and Tyresta's old-growth forest is under an hour away by public transport.

Riga's landscapes are pleasant but further out. The sandstone cliffs and canoeing of the Gauja valley at Sigulda are an hour away, and the raised-bog boardwalks of Kemeri lie beyond Jurmala. Both cities are flat.

Stockholm has the richer choice, much of it by water. Drottningholm Palace and Viking Birka are reached by boat across Lake Mälaren, and Uppsala's cathedral and royal mounds are a short train ride away. Many of the best boat trips run only in summer.

Riga's outings centre on castles and palaces: Rastrelli's Baroque Rundale, best reached by road, Turaida's red-brick castle at Sigulda and the medieval town of Cesis. It is a good list, but it thins quickly beyond about two hours.

Stockholm is one of the best cities in Europe for children. On Djurgården alone you have Skansen's moose and bears, the story train at Junibacken and the rides at Gröna Lund. Buses take buggies easily, and science and natural history museums cover rainy days.

Riga is safe and easy with a small walkable centre. It has a zoo in the Mezaparks forest, the open-air museum's windmills and the water park in Jurmala. The cobbles are hard on pushchairs, though, and little is designed for children, so it suits a short family break better than a long one.

Stockholm is the easier city to get around. Its metro, trams, buses and harbour ferries share one contactless ticket, and the painted bedrock metro stations are worth seeing in their own right. The bridges and Södermalm's hills add some effort on foot.

In Riga nearly everything a visitor wants is within a short walk, from the Old Town to the market and the Art Nouveau streets. Beyond that, trams and trolleybuses take some working out, as there is no metro.

Stockholm is a shopping destination in its own right for Scandinavian design. Swedish minimalist labels and luxury houses line Biblioteksgatan, and SoFo on Södermalm is full of independent and vintage shops. Glass, textiles and homeware are everywhere.

Riga is more about craft than fashion. Look for linen, patterned mittens, amber, ceramics and wooden kitchenware, plus Black Balsam and rye bread to take home. The June craft fair at the open-air museum is its best shopping event, while international brands are thin on the ground.

Riga is much cheaper. Hotels, transport, museums and café lunch menus are all reasonable, and opera tickets are especially accessible. Only the bars and restaurants on the main Old Town squares approach Western prices.

Stockholm is expensive almost across the board, and drinks especially. The weekday lunch deal, free museums and bathing spots, and the cheaper hotel rates at weekends and in July soften the cost, but they do not close the gap.

Both have strong formal stages, but they lean differently. Riga is classical first: the National Opera performs most nights in season with seats that are easy to get, the Dom Cathedral's organ fills regular concerts, and the five-yearly Song and Dance Festival shows its great choral tradition.

Stockholm matches it with the Royal Opera and the Philharmonic, and it has a rare summer draw in Drottningholm's baroque theatre with its original stage machinery. It also has the broader pop, jazz and touring-concert scene.

The two are close, but Stockholm has relaxation within the city. Its historic Art Nouveau bathhouses sit right in the centre, and a lakeside sauna with an ice-hole dip at Hellasgården is a short trip out.

Riga's wellness is on the coast. Jurmala is a spa resort with a long history, known for Kemeri's sulphur springs and peat mud. The Latvian pirts, with birch-branch whisking, is best found in countryside sauna houses rather than in town.