Rovinj or San Marino?

Rovinj lives on the water. Several kilometres of limestone ledges, pebble coves and bathing platforms run south into the Golden Cape, and you can swim straight off the rocks below the old town walls. There is almost no sand, though, and you need water shoes.

San Marino has no shore of its own. Its beaches are on the Romagna Riviera, about half an hour below the mountain: sandy, shallow and lined with numbered umbrellas. That suits small children better than Rovinj's rocks, but every swim becomes an outing.

Istria gives Rovinj more to work with. It has grilled fish, scampi buzara, truffle pasta, peppery olive oil and Malvazija and Teran wines from the hinterland, as well as a few ambitious kitchens and countryside konobas that are worth the drive.

San Marino serves the hill cooking of Romagna and Montefeltro: tagliatelle, passatelli in broth, grilled meat and piadina, with Tre Monti wafer cake to finish. The terraces on the summit sell the view more than the food, so the good meals are down in Borgo Maggiore or over the border in Italy.

In both places the town itself is the main sight, but San Marino has a little more to it. Three towers stand on the cliff edge, linked by a path, and the Palazzo Pubblico, where the Captains Regent are installed, the Basilica and the State Museum together tell the story of a republic that has lasted for centuries.

Rovinj has one beautifully intact Venetian quarter climbing to St Euphemia, whose bell tower you can climb, plus the Batana House, which tells the story of the local fishing boats. It is very photogenic but takes no more than a slow afternoon.

Rovinj at least has evenings out: a handful of cocktail and wine bars by the harbour, sunset drinks on the rocks and a couple of places to dance in high season, although the old town is quiet by midnight. San Marino's summit empties once the coaches leave, leaving dinner and a glass of wine above the lights of the coast. For anything later you have to drive down to the clubs in Rimini and Riccione.

Rovinj has the more varied outdoors, mostly on or beside the sea. There are pine and cedar paths in the Golden Cape, kayaking, paddleboarding and diving around the archipelago's reefs and wrecks, and boat trips into the steep green Lim Fjord.

San Marino's nature is the limestone ridge of Monte Titano, about 740m high. It has cliff-top views to the Adriatic and the Apennines and short walks through the woods down to Borgo Maggiore. It is good for a morning on foot or a drive through the Montefeltro hills, but there is nothing to do on the water.

Both make strong bases, but the trips lead into different periods of history. From Rovinj you visit Roman and early Christian Istria: Pula's amphitheatre and Porec's Euphrasian Basilica, the hill towns of Motovun and Hum, the Brijuni islands, and Piran or Trieste across the border.

San Marino looks towards Renaissance Italy and Byzantium, with the fortress of San Leo, Urbino's ducal court, the castle at Gradara and Ravenna's mosaics. Both need a car for most trips, but Bologna and Ravenna are easy by train from Rimini, while Rovinj has no railway at all.

Families do roughly as well in either place, in different ways. Rovinj has flat, shaded paths in the Golden Cape, boat trips to the islands and resorts with pools and playgrounds, but its rocky shore needs water shoes and close watching.

San Marino has the sights children get most excited about: towers, battlements and the cable car. Sandy shallows and parks such as Italia in Miniatura and Fiabilandia are on the coast below. In both towns, steep cobbles and steps make pushchairs hard work.

Rovinj is easier to manage without wheels. The car-free old town, the harbour, the restaurants and the swimming rocks are all linked by the waterfront promenade, with bikes for the coast paths and taxi boats to the islands. Beyond the town, though, the hill towns and wineries need a car.

San Marino's centre is walkable too, but nearly every street climbs or turns into steps, and the cable car to Borgo Maggiore only helps so much. The bus from Rimini is the one regular link to the outside, and buses between the villages are infrequent.

Neither is a place to go shopping, but they sell quite different things. Rovinj's best buys are Istrian truffle products, olive oil and wine, and the galleries and studios along Grisia give its lanes an artistic side.

San Marino trades on its lower taxes. Perfume, watches, leather goods and spirits fill the main streets, there is an outlet centre in the valley, and collectors come for the republic's stamps and coins.

San Marino is the cheaper place to stay. Hotels are priced like provincial Italy, the trattorias in the lower villages are fairly priced, and fuel and some goods cost less than across the border. Only the view terraces and the most convenient hotels on the summit cost extra.

Rovinj in July and August costs as much as any sought-after Mediterranean resort. Private apartments, the campsites and a visit in late spring or September narrow the gap.

Both are thin on live performance and liven up mainly in summer, each with its own local speciality. Rovinj has bitinada, an unaccompanied local singing tradition tied to the batana boats, as well as concerts in St Euphemia. San Marino has its Medieval Days festival, with costumed musicians, crossbow contests and flag-throwers. For bigger concerts, Rovinj looks to Pula's Roman arena and San Marino to Bologna or Pesaro.

Rovinj is the easier place to unwind. The larger resort hotels along the Golden Cape have well-equipped spas that take outside guests, and outside high summer, long lunches, late swims and walks in the pines set a slow pace.

San Marino has only a few hotel spas. Its quiet comes in the evening, once the day visitors have left the walls, and a thermal spa means a separate trip to the coast or the Apennine valleys.