Rovinj or Sarajevo?

This is no contest. Rovinj's shore is rock and pine rather than sand. Flat ledges, pebble coves and concrete bathing platforms run for kilometres into the Golden Cape park, the water is very clear, and you can swim right under the old town walls. Bring water shoes, and families who want soft sand will be disappointed.

Sarajevo sits in a mountain valley about three hours from the Adriatic. Swimming there means cold rivers, Jablanica lake in summer or a pool, so if you love beaches, add a few days on the coast to the trip.

Sarajevo has the more memorable food, though the range is narrow. Ćevapi in somun bread with kajmak from the Baščaršija grills, burek sold by weight in pita bakeries and slow dishes such as begova čorba give the city a clear food identity. Bosnian coffee with rahat lokum is part of the daily rhythm.

Rovinj eats well in a different way: grilled fish, scampi buzara, truffle pasta and peppery Istrian oil with Malvazija and Teran wines, plus a few refined restaurants and country konobas. Its weak points are the tourist menus along the harbour and the shortage of cheap everyday food.

Sarajevo has much more to see. Baščaršija, with the Sebilj fountain and the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, gives way within minutes to Austro-Hungarian avenues, two cathedrals and the Old Synagogue. The Latin Bridge, the Tunnel of Hope and the Sarajevo Haggadah add history of real weight.

In Rovinj the main sight is the town itself: pastel Venetian houses climbing to St Euphemia, the Balbi Arch and the Batana House. It is very photogenic, but a slow afternoon covers it.

Neither is a party town, but Sarajevo stays out later. The café-bars around Ferhadija get louder as the evening goes on, and cheap drinks and a student crowd keep cellar bars and small clubs open past midnight at weekends, all year round.

A night in Rovinj means a sunset drink on the rocks and a few waterfront cocktail bars in summer. The old town is quiet by midnight and little stays open out of season.

Both have outdoor country close at hand, but Sarajevo's is on a bigger scale. A cable car climbs from the Old Town to Trebević and the abandoned Olympic bobsleigh track. Jahorina and Bjelašnica, under an hour away, offer winter skiing and summer hiking on open ridges, and the stone village of Lukomir above the Rakitnica canyon takes you into real high country.

Rovinj's outdoors is gentler and centred on the sea: flat paths through the Golden Cape pines, kayaking and diving around the archipelago, and boat trips up the Lim Fjord. There are no mountains, and spring and autumn are the best seasons.

Rovinj has more places within easy reach. Pula's Roman amphitheatre and the Euphrasian Basilica in Porec are each about forty minutes away, and the hill towns of Motovun, Groznjan and Hum sit among the vineyards. Piran and Trieste are reachable across the border, though you need a car for most of this.

Sarajevo has fewer trips, but some of them are grand. You can take the train along the Neretva gorge to Mostar's bridge, and visit Konjic with Tito's bunker, Blagaj, Počitelj or the Višegrad bridge. Roads are slow and winding, so each outing takes most of a day.

Rovinj suits children better, largely because of the sea. There are island boat trips, gelato on the harbour, shaded pushchair paths in the Golden Cape park, and resorts and campsites with pools and playgrounds. The rocky shore and steep cobbles call for water shoes and patience.

Sarajevo is warmly welcoming to children, and the cable car, the zoo at Pionirska dolina and the carriage ride to Vrelo Bosne make good half days out. Most of the remaining sights are about war and history, and grill smoke and winter smog are hard on small lungs.

Both have centres you can walk, but they work differently. Rovinj is a small car-free old town where the harbour, the restaurants and the swimming rocks are all a short walk apart, and taxi boats serve the islands. Beyond the town there is no railway, and a car becomes almost essential.

Sarajevo is a proper city, with a tram running along the valley from Baščaršija to Ilidža, plus buses, trolleybuses and cheap taxis. The flat centre is easy on foot. The hillside neighbourhoods are steep, though, and the mountains need a taxi or a tour.

Shopping in Rovinj is small and seasonal, and mostly about taking the region home with you: truffle products, Istrian olive oil, Malvazija and Teran wine. The galleries and artists' studios along steep Grisia give the old town some character, but there are no fashion streets, and the choice thins out once summer ends.

Baščaršija gives Sarajevo the better browsing. On Kazandžiluk you can still hear coppersmiths hammering out coffee sets and trays, and the Bezistan and the lanes around it sell kilims, leather slippers and filigree jewellery, though it pays to look past the souvenir stock. Malls and high-street chains cover anything practical.

Sarajevo is far cheaper. Grill meals, pastries, coffee, trams and central guesthouses all cost well below Western European levels, and only the Old Town and the summer film festival push prices up a little.

Rovinj is one of the pricier stops on the Croatian coast. Rooms near the old town cost high-summer rates, and fish sold by weight on the harbour adds up quickly. Private apartments, campsites and travelling in late spring or September keep the bill down.

Sarajevo has a stage life worth planning an evening around. The National Theatre puts on drama, opera and ballet, the Philharmonic gives regular concerts, MESS brings theatre in autumn and there is a jazz festival in November, with sevdah sung in traditional restaurants. Rovinj has little beyond summer concerts in St Euphemia, music on the harbour and the occasional bitinada singing, so for anything bigger you go to Pula's arena.

The two are evenly matched, but they help you unwind in different ways. Rovinj has the spa areas of its resort hotels, and above all a slow pace in May, June and September, with late swims and walks in the pines, though in high summer the centre is crowded.

Sarajevo has a real thermal tradition at Ilidža, at the end of the tram line, where sulphurous springs used since Roman times feed warm pools, with the streams of Vrelo Bosne nearby. Winter smog makes the city less restful.