Rovinj or Siena?

Rovinj is the only one of the two where swimming is part of daily life. You slip off the rocks below the old town walls or spread out on the ledges and pebble coves of the Golden Cape, and taxi boats reach quieter island coves. Pack water shoes, because there is no sand to speak of.

Siena has no sea at all. The Maremma beaches at Castiglione della Pescaia and Follonica are over an hour's drive away, so a swim there takes the whole day, and in town swimming means a hotel or agriturismo pool.

Both eat regionally and well, but Siena goes deeper. Pici with duck ragù, cinta senese pork, the bakeries' panforte and ricciarelli, and Chianti Classico, Brunello and Vino Nobile by the glass in the enoteche make eating a reason to come. The best meals are in osterie on the contrada side streets.

Rovinj's strength is the sea and Istria: scampi buzara, truffle pljukanci, local olive oil and Malvazija. Its harbour menus are aimed at passing visitors, though, and the most memorable meals are often in country konobas a drive away.

Siena is in a different league here. The Palazzo Pubblico with Lorenzetti's Good and Bad Government, the striped Duomo and its inlaid floor, the Museo dell'Opera and Santa Maria della Scala fill two or three full days. The seventeen contrade give every neighbourhood its own identity.

In Rovinj the sight is the townscape itself, pastel Venetian houses climbing to St Euphemia and its campanile, plus the Batana House and a small town museum. It is charming, and one slow afternoon covers it.

Neither is a place for a big night out, and in both the evening centres on a long dinner. Rovinj's version is a cocktail on the rocks at sunset and a few waterfront bars, with some late dancing only in high season. Siena has students, a few pubs and wine bars that keep going year round, and its streets fill until late only around the Palio.

The two are fairly evenly matched, but the outdoors is a different thing in each. Rovinj's is coastal: the pine and cedar paths of the Golden Cape, kayaking and diving around the archipelago's reefs and wrecks, and the steep green Lim Fjord a short drive north.

Siena's is the classic Tuscan countryside of the Crete Senesi clay hills and the UNESCO-listed Val d'Orcia. It is cycling country, with the strade bianche gravel roads running from the edge of town and walks along the Via Francigena or in the Montagnola woods.

Rovinj has a good spread close by: Pula's Roman amphitheatre, the mosaics of Porec's Euphrasian Basilica, the hill towns of Motovun and Groznjan, and Piran or Trieste across the border.

Siena's choice is simply richer. Florence, San Gimignano, Volterra, the Chianti villages, Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano are all within reach, along with abbeys such as Monte Oliveto Maggiore and roofless San Galgano. You could fill a fortnight without repeating yourself. In both places a car makes most of it far easier.

Rovinj gives children more to do: boat trips to the islands, flat shaded paths for bikes and pushchairs in the forest park, and large campsites and resorts with pools and playgrounds. The catch is the rocky shore and the steep, polished cobbles of the old town.

Siena is safe and mostly car-free, and older children may enjoy climbing the Torre del Mangia or watching the contrada drummers. Beyond that there is nothing aimed at them, so families usually stay at a countryside farmhouse with a pool and come into town for half days.

Both are towns you walk, both are steep, and both send you to a car for the countryside. Rovinj's waterfront promenade runs straight from the car-free old town to the swimming rocks, though there is no railway and buses only link the bigger towns.

Siena stretches over three ridges, with escalators climbing from the station in the valley. It has the better public links outward, with frequent buses to Florence and some regional trains, slow as they are.

Siena has a little more to browse. Banchi di Sopra and Via di Città have Italian clothing, shoe and leather shops, and there is majolica, contrada scarves and a large weekly market by the Fortezza Medicea. Rovinj is mostly about regional produce such as truffles, oil and wine, plus the artists' studios along Grisia. Neither is a shopping destination.

Neither is cheap, but Siena is a little easier on the budget. Simple osteria lunches with house wine are good value and an agriturismo outside the walls costs less, though entry to the cathedral and civic museums adds up. Rovinj prices like a sought-after Mediterranean resort in high summer, and fish sold by weight raises the bill quickly. Apartments, campsites and a visit in late spring or September help.

Siena has a real musical life for a small city. The Accademia Chigiana runs its summer concerts in palaces and churches, Siena Jazz brings players to town, and the Teatro dei Rinnovati and Teatro dei Rozzi stage drama and music in winter.

Rovinj offers summer concerts in St Euphemia, music on the squares and the occasional performance of bitinada singing. For anything bigger you go to Pula's arena.

Siena has the stronger pull for unwinding, thanks to the thermal water around it. There are the travertine pools of Rapolano Terme, the steaming medieval bath at Bagno Vignoni, the free white pools of Bagni San Filippo and Petriolo's hot river, often combined with a rural spa stay.

Rovinj has no bathing tradition. It relies on resort hotel spas and an easy pace of late swims and evening walks in the pines, best in May, June and September before the crowds arrive.