Rovinj or Zadar?

Neither town has a sandy shore of its own, and the swimming is about as good in both, but it works differently. In Rovinj you swim off limestone ledges and concrete platforms along several kilometres of pine-shaded shore in the Golden Cape park, or right below the old town walls. Taxi boats run out to St Catherine and Red Island for quieter coves.

Swimming in Zadar itself is busier and more urban: off the stone promenade, at Kolovare or at Borik. Its advantage is sand within easy reach, with the long, shallow beaches at Nin twenty minutes north and Sakarun on Dugi Otok a ferry ride away. Rovinj has nothing like them.

The two eat about equally well, from different kitchens. Rovinj cooks Istrian: fuži and pljukanci with truffle, scampi buzara, peppery olive oil, and Malvazija and Teran wines. Zadar cooks Dalmatian, with black risotto, lamb or octopus under the peka bell, Pag cheese and pršut, and Maraschino, the cherry liqueur once made here for European courts.

Rovinj has a slight edge in ambition, with a handful of refined restaurants and country konobas worth the drive. On Zadar's peninsula the menus are more alike. Both towns have harbour menus aimed at passing visitors, and in both the morning market by the old town is the visit worth making.

Zadar gives a culture-minded visitor much more to do. Its peninsula holds the open Roman forum, the round ninth-century Church of St Donatus, the Romanesque cathedral and the UNESCO-listed Venetian walls. There are small but good museums of ancient glass, archaeology and church silver, and the Sea Organ on the waterfront. Altogether that fills two full days.

Rovinj's appeal is the whole townscape rather than a list of sights. Pastel Venetian houses climb to St Euphemia, whose bell tower you can climb, and Grisia and the Balbi Arch are the lanes to walk. Add the town museum and the Batana House, and a slow afternoon covers it all.

Zadar has the livelier evenings, though neither is a party town. Sunset at the Sea Organ leads on to café-bars along Kalelarga and terrace bars on the walls, and people stay out fairly late. For real clubbing, Zrće on Pag is about an hour away in high summer.

Rovinj's evenings are quieter and suit couples better. After dinner there is a drink on the rocks below the old town or in one of a few wine and cocktail bars, and most lanes are quiet by midnight.

Zadar is clearly ahead here. The Velebit range rises behind it, the gorges of Paklenica offer serious hiking and some of Croatia's best rock climbing, and boat trips run to the bare Kornati islands and the cliffs of Telašćica. Krka's waterfalls and Plitvice Lakes are within a day's reach.

Rovinj's outdoors is gentler and closer to hand. Flat gravel paths run through the Golden Cape forest park, you can kayak and dive among the islets of the archipelago, and the green Lim Fjord is a short drive north. It is pleasant country, but without mountains or wilderness.

Both are well placed, for different kinds of outing. Rovinj sits among Roman and medieval Istria: the amphitheatre at Pula, the mosaics of the Euphrasian Basilica in Porec, and the hill towns of Motovun, Groznjan and Hum. Piran and Trieste are across the border. Almost all of it needs a car.

Zadar's trips run along the Dalmatian coast and out to sea. Šibenik's cathedral and the tiny royal town of Nin are easy outings, and Split and Trogir make long days. Ferries go straight from the harbour to Ugljan, Pašman and car-free Silba, so island days are easy without a car.

Neither town has much made just for children, and they are roughly equal for families, with different drawbacks. Zadar's old town is flat and car-free, the Sea Organ and the light-up tiles of the Greeting to the Sun delight children, and Nin's shallow sand is ideal for toddlers.

Rovinj's strength is its large resorts and campsites with pools and playgrounds, and the shady, level paths of the Golden Cape for bikes and pushchairs. Against that, the shore is all rock and concrete, so young children need water shoes. The old town's steep, polished cobbles are hard work with a pushchair.

You walk rather than drive in both towns, and beyond them a car makes everything easier. Rovinj's old town lanes are steep and slippery, though the promenade into the Golden Cape is level and taxi boats serve the islands. There is no railway, only intercity buses to Pula, Porec and Zagreb.

Zadar's peninsula is flat and takes a quarter of an hour to cross. Basic local buses reach Borik, and the island ferries leave from the edge of the old town. For the national parks, a hire car or an organised excursion still beats the regional buses.

Shopping is small-scale in both, and nobody should come for it. What gives Rovinj some character is the galleries and artists' studios on Grisia, along with regional food and drink such as truffles, olive oil and Teran. Zadar has slightly more conventional choice, with jewellers and chains on marble Kalelarga and malls on the edge of town, and its own local goods to take home: Maraschino, Pag cheese and Pag lace.

Zadar is noticeably easier on the budget. Private apartments are good value outside July and August, konobas and bakeries are fairly priced, and ferries and local buses cost little, though national park entry and boat trips add up.

Rovinj is one of the more expensive places on the Croatian coast. In high summer, old town rooms and resort hotels cost what a sought-after Mediterranean resort does, and fish on the harbour is sold by weight. Campsites, apartments and the quieter months of late spring and September bring costs down.

Neither town has much performing arts, but Zadar has more to look for. Each summer its Musical Evenings in St Donatus bring early and chamber music into the ninth-century church. There are also klapa singing, concerts in churches and squares, and a small national theatre staging drama in Croatian.

In Rovinj there are occasional concerts in St Euphemia and music on the harbour, and you may catch a performance of bitinada, the singing tied to the batana boats. For anything bigger, people drive to summer concerts in Pula's Roman arena.

Rovinj is slightly the better place to wind down. The resort hotels along the Golden Cape have well-equipped spas open to outside guests, and in May, June and September long lunches, late swims and walks in the pines set an easy rhythm.

Zadar has no spa tradition either. Its hotel spas are mostly at Borik, and at the lagoon in Nin people have long coated themselves in mineral-rich mud. The calm comes from long café mornings and sunsets on the steps of the Sea Organ, and it is easiest to find outside high summer.