Rovaniemi or Tromso?

Neither is a place for a beach vacation, and the difference lies in the water itself. Rovaniemi's small sandy shores are on rivers and forest lakes, which warm to about 18°C in a good July and allow a proper swim for a few weeks.

Tromso's beaches face the Arctic sea, which barely reaches 10°C, so Telegrafbukta or the white sand of Sommaroy are for looking at and a quick, gasping dip. In both places the most natural way into cold water is straight out of a sauna.

Tromso eats better, largely because it is a harbour town. It has skrei cod in late winter, king crab, halibut and fish soup served along the old wooden quays, plus a brewery dating from the nineteenth century and serious coffee.

Rovaniemi's table is narrower: a short list of Lappish classics such as sautéed reindeer, Arctic char and warm baked cheese with cloudberries, cooked well in a few central restaurants or served in a tent on a tour. Neither town has street food or much cheap eating, but in Tromso dinner can be the best part of an evening, while in Rovaniemi it is mostly fuel between excursions.

Neither town has much of an old quarter, and the sights in either take a day or two at most, but what you see differs in kind. Rovaniemi is about modern design: after the town burned in 1944, Alvar Aalto laid out its civic centre with his library, city hall and Lappia Hall, and the glass gallery of Arktikum makes a fine few hours on Arctic nature and the Sámi.

Tromso offers a landmark and a story instead. There is the white, triangular Arctic Cathedral across the bridge, the Polar Museum on Amundsen and Nansen and the Arctic trappers, and a few streets of painted wooden houses from the nineteenth century.

Tromso is the place for a night out. Students and the long dark keep Storgata and the streets around the harbour busy at weekends, with cocktail bars and dance floors open late, and in summer the midnight sun makes those nights feel endless.

Rovaniemi goes quiet early except on Fridays and Saturdays in term time, with a few pubs, hotel bars and a club or two. Many of its winter visitors spend the evening outside watching for the aurora instead.

Both towns exist for the outdoors, but Tromso's setting is more dramatic. Its island is ringed by steep mountains, and the cable car puts you on a ridge above the fjords within minutes. In winter you can see orcas and humpbacks or go ski touring in the Lyngen Alps, and summer brings midnight-sun climbs and the wild coast of Senja.

Rovaniemi offers gentler country: snowbound taiga, frozen rivers and the forested fell of Ounasvaara. It has the classic Lapland mix of husky and reindeer sledding, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing in winter, and canoeing and berry picking in summer. Its bigger landscapes, Korouoma canyon and the Pyhä-Luosto fells, are about two hours away.

From Rovaniemi, the nearest change of scene is Kemi and Tornio on the Gulf of Bothnia, with Haparanda just over the Swedish border. They are about an hour and a half away and are fairly ordinary towns, so the forest and rivers around Rovaniemi are a better use of a day.

Tromso has a little more to aim for along its coast. The fishing village of Sommaroy sits among skerries about an hour out, and the old trading post and church at Hillesoy and the hamlets of Kvaloya give a scenic drive somewhere to stop. Still, most people's longer outings from here are fjord or aurora trips rather than visits to other towns.

For children, Rovaniemi is the clear choice, because it is Santa's home town. It has Santa Claus Village on the Arctic Circle with his post office and elf workshops, a Christmas theme park in a cave, and the polar bears and wolverines at Ranua's Arctic zoo. Husky rides, reindeer sleighs and sledging are easy to arrange.

Tromso is safe and relaxed with children, and the bearded seals at Polaria fill a morning, but little else is aimed at young visitors and aurora tours run late into the night. Both towns have very short days in midwinter. Rovaniemi's deeper cold calls for more layers, while Tromso's wet weather calls for waterproofs.

Tromso is easier to manage without a car. You can cross its centre on foot in a quarter of an hour, local buses run to the airport and the mainland, and the walk over the long bridge to the Arctic Cathedral is an outing in itself, though the streets above the harbour are steep and icy in winter.

Rovaniemi's centre is just as compact, but Santa Claus Village, about 8km north, needs a bus or a taxi, and the zoo, fells and lakes realistically need a hire car. In both towns, hotel pick-ups for organised trips do most of the work.

Rovaniemi's souvenirs come with a Christmas theme. Santa Claus Village has a row of gift shops selling decorations, reindeer hides and Arctic trinkets, and the better buys are Lappish crafts such as puukko knives, carved birch cups and Sámi silverwork. Tromso's Storgata is where to find Norwegian knitwear, Sámi crafts and aurora prints alongside the usual trolls. Each town also has outdoor shops worth visiting for thermal layers, and very little else to tempt a shopper.

Both are expensive, and the guided husky, snowmobile and aurora excursions drive up the bill in each. Rovaniemi is the somewhat lighter of the two, especially in summer and early autumn, though its glass-roofed cabins are in heavy demand at Christmas.

In Tromso, restaurant meals, drinks and whale safaris add up quickly, and hunting the aurora yourself from the hills above town is one of the few real savings. In either town, supermarkets and self-catering are the way to stretch a budget.

Rovaniemi's best evening out is a concert by the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, the world's northernmost professional orchestra, which plays in its hall inside the Korundi building. The regional theatre in Aalto's Lappia Hall performs almost entirely in Finnish, and otherwise there are only occasional touring gigs, so catching a performance is a matter of luck rather than planning.

Tromso gives you more to plan an evening around. The Arctic Philharmonic plays through the season, the Northern Lights Festival brings classical and contemporary music in the depths of winter, the international film festival fills the cinemas each January, and summer has midnight concerts in the Arctic Cathedral. The Halogaland Theatre works mostly in Norwegian, so here too music is the safer choice for visitors.

Rovaniemi is the better place to unwind. Sauna is part of daily life there, built into cottages, lodges and many hotel suites, and a wood-heated or smoke sauna by a lake outside town makes for a slow, communal evening. Outside the Christmas rush, the quiet town and long twilight do the rest.

Tromso's signature is a floating sauna in the harbour with a plunge into the fjord and snowy peaks across the water, plus a large public swimming hall for dark afternoons. A stay full of late aurora tours and early whale trips leaves less room to slow down, and neither town has much of a spa scene.