Riga or Turku?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Riga has the better sand. Jurmala, half an hour away by suburban train, is a resort strip of pale sand more than 30km long, backed by dunes and wooden villas, with shallow water that suits small children.

Turku's main sandy beach is Saaronniemi at the far tip of Ruissalo. Otherwise people swim off granite rocks and jetties in the archipelago. The water is a touch cooler than at Jurmala and can cloud with algae in late summer, so swimming is mostly something to do after a sauna.

Riga eats better and more cheaply. Its Central Market, spread through former zeppelin hangars, is a far bigger show of smoked fish, sauerkraut, honey and rye bread than Turku has. Good bakeries and cafés, a craft beer scene and the bitter Black Balsam round it out, as long as you eat away from the themed restaurants of the Old Town.

Turku's 1896 market hall and archipelago produce, such as herring and dark sweet bread, are pleasant, and summer dinners on the Aura's moored boats have real charm. But the choice of restaurants is small, the international range is narrow and the bills are Nordic.

Riga has far more to see. Its compact Hanseatic Old Town, with St Peter's, the Dom Cathedral and the House of the Blackheads, is only half of it. The streets around Alberta iela hold one of the richest collections of Art Nouveau architecture anywhere, and the national art and occupation museums add depth.

Turku's strength is older history: it was Finland's first capital, and its medieval cathedral and castle are national landmarks. After the fire of 1827, though, only the wooden quarter at Luostarinmäki survives, and the rest is a pleasant set of smaller museums rather than a historic townscape.

Riga is the better place for a night out. Cellar bars, beer pubs and a few late clubs fill the Old Town at weekends, sometimes loudly with groups on a city break. Locals go to calmer bars around Miera iela and to canal-side terraces in summer.

Turku's nights depend on its students and the season. The bars by the market square and the boats on the Aura are lively on summer weekends and during university terms, but winter weeknights are very quiet.

Turku has the more striking landscape on its doorstep. The Archipelago Sea, one of the largest archipelagos in the world, starts at the city's edge with thousands of granite islands. Kayaking, sailing, island-hopping and the multi-day Archipelago Trail by bike and ferry are the main summer pastimes, and Ruissalo's old oak forest is a bus ride from the centre.

Riga's best scenery means an hour's trip to the Gauja valley, with sandstone cliffs, canoeing and a cable car over the gorge at Sigulda. Kemeri's bog boardwalks are a quieter alternative. It is good walking country, but there is less of it close to the city.

Riga has the stronger day trips. Rundale, Rastrelli's Baroque palace with French gardens, is a real highlight, and Sigulda's Turaida castle and the medieval town of Cesis add castles and old streets within easy reach.

Turku's outings are gentler: wooden Naantali twenty minutes away, the painted houses of Old Rauma, and Helsinki as a long day by train. The archipelago villages really need a car or ferry, so most trips from Turku are to small towns rather than major sights.

Turku is the better choice with children, especially in summer. Moomin World on its island at Naantali is a highlight young children remember. Forum Marinum's ships and the Kurala farm with its animals add more, and Finnish public life is built around welcoming families.

Riga is safe and calm, with a zoo in the Mezaparks forest, the open-air farmstead museum and a water park at Jurmala. Still, little in the city is designed for children, and the cobbled Old Town is hard going with a pushchair.

Both are easy to manage on foot, with the main sights a few minutes' walk apart. In Riga the canal parks link the Old Town, the market and the Art Nouveau streets. In Turku the riverside paths along the Aura do the same, and the little free Föri ferry saves a walk to the next bridge.

Beyond the centre, Riga's trams, trolleybuses and suburban trains take some working out but reach Jurmala and Sigulda. Turku's single bus network is simpler to use, and cycling is common in summer.

Riga has more worth taking home. Latvian linen, patterned knitted mittens, amber, ceramics and Black Balsam are easy to find, the Central Market sells everyday goods, and the June craft fair at the open-air museum is the best shopping of the year.

Turku's shops are mostly Nordic chains around the market square, plus a department store. The craft workshops at Luostarinmäki and a few shops selling Finnish glass and textiles are the main draw for visitors.

Riga is much the cheaper city. Hotels, transport, museums and café lunches are moderate for an EU capital, opera tickets are unusually accessible, and the only real expense is eating and drinking on the Old Town squares.

In Turku, eating out is where money goes fastest. Dinner and especially alcohol are expensive by most European standards, so the weekday lunch buffet and self-catering from the market hall are the main ways to keep costs down.

Music is one of Riga's great strengths. The National Opera and Ballet performs most nights from autumn to spring, the Dom Cathedral's organ is heard in regular concerts, and the national choral tradition peaks every five years when tens of thousands of singers fill the open-air stage at Mezaparks.

Turku's offer is smaller but has history: Finland's oldest orchestra and its oldest working theatre building. Its liveliest season is summer, with classical concerts in the cathedral and castle and the long-running Ruisrock festival on Ruissalo.

Turku makes relaxing part of daily life. Public saunas sit by the water, and a plunge in the sea or through a hole in the winter ice is open to any visitor. Spas at Naantali and on Ruissalo are close by, and the whole city moves at an easy pace.

Riga's wellness is half an hour away on the coast. Jurmala has seaside spa hotels and Kemeri's sulphur springs and mud treatments, and the Latvian pirts, with its birch-branch whisking, is best found in the countryside rather than in town.