Rovinj or Zermatt?

Rovinj has a real swimming shore. It is rock rather than sand, with limestone ledges, pebble coves and bathing platforms running for kilometres into the Golden Cape forest park, and the Adriatic is very clear. Bring water shoes and use the taxi boats to reach the island coves.

Zermatt has nothing comparable. It is an Alpine village with no sea or bathing lake, and swimming means a hotel pool.

Rovinj's cooking comes from the sea and the Istrian hinterland: scampi buzara, fuži with truffle, peppery olive oil, Malvazija and Teran. The countryside konobas are worth the drive, although the harbourfront menus are aimed at passing visitors.

Zermatt's best meals are on the mountain, at long lunches in the chalets around Findeln and Furi, with raclette, air-dried beef and Valais wine. The range is narrower and cheap eating harder to find, so Rovinj gives a week of more varied meals.

Neither town is a museum destination, but Rovinj has more to look at. Its whole old town is the sight: pastel Venetian houses climbing to St Euphemia, whose bell tower you can climb, the lanes of Grisia and the Batana House on local boats and songs.

Zermatt's heritage is about mountaineering: the underground Matterhorn Museum, the climbers' cemetery and the old larch barns of the Hinterdorf. It is moving, but a morning is enough to see it.

Both are quiet after dark, and they are quiet in different ways. Rovinj's evenings are a long dinner and a drink on the rocks at sunset, with a few waterfront bars and not much after midnight. Zermatt's nights centre on winter après-ski, loud and cheerful in the slope-side bars, with a few small clubs on the main street. In summer the hikers turn in early.

This is where Zermatt stands apart. The Matterhorn rises straight above the village, a ring of four-thousanders and the Gorner Glacier surround it, and lifts carry you to the Gornergrat and beyond for skiing in winter, and even in summer. In the warm months the trails, the Europaweg suspension bridge and the marmots and ibex fill whole weeks.

Rovinj's outdoors is gentler: forest paths on the Golden Cape, kayaking and diving among the islands, and the green Lim Fjord nearby. It is pleasant, but there are no mountains.

Rovinj sits in the middle of a region full of places to visit. Pula's Roman amphitheatre and the mosaics of Porec's Euphrasian Basilica are each well under an hour away, and the hill towns of Motovun and Hum, the Brijuni islands, Piran and Trieste are all within reach by car.

From Zermatt, every outing starts with a long train ride down the valley. Sion, with its castle hills, is the pick, and Brig and Saas-Fee are good too, but most visitors spend their spare days in the mountains instead.

Families do about equally well in both, though the trips are very different. Rovinj offers island boat trips, gelato, shady flat paths and campsites with pools, but the rocky shore needs water shoes and the steep cobbles are hard with a pushchair.

Zermatt's car-free streets feel safe, with nursery slopes and ski schools in winter and marmot-spotting walks in summer. Rainy days are hard to fill, and the thin air at the top viewpoints can be too much for small children.

Both centres are walkable and largely free of cars. Zermatt goes further, because the mountain is part of its transport. The cog railway, the funicular to Sunnegga and the gondolas all leave from the village, and trains link smoothly into the Swiss network, though leaving the valley takes over an hour.

Rovinj is easy on foot and by bike, but there is no railway, and the hill towns, wineries and much of the coast really need a car.

Rovinj's shops sell the region itself: truffle products, Istrian olive oil, Malvazija and Teran, lavender and local brandies. The steep lane of Grisia adds small galleries and artists' studios, which makes for good gifts and an unhurried hour of browsing.

Zermatt's one main street sells Swiss watches and jewellery to well-off skiers, along with ski and mountaineering outfitters that are worth a visit if you arrive short of gear. Neither town has fashion streets or a design scene, so a serious shopping trip belongs somewhere else.

Rovinj is pricey for the Croatian coast, especially harbour dining and rooms in high summer. Still, campsites, private apartments and the cheaper shoulder months keep a trip within reach.

Zermatt is far more expensive, among the most costly places in the Alps. Rooms, terrace meals and the lifts every visitor uses all add up. Self-catering or sleeping down the valley in Täsch helps, but it remains a costly trip.

Neither has a theatre or a year-round concert life, so it comes down to timing. Rovinj's live music is a summer affair: classical concerts in St Euphemia, music on the squares and the occasional bitinada singing, with Pula's arena nearby for big shows. Zermatt's highlights are two festivals, acoustic sets on mountain stages in spring and chamber music in the church in late summer.

Zermatt has the better spas. Many of its hotels have excellent pools, saunas and treatment rooms with mountain views, and the car-free quiet is restful, even if the overall mood is active.

Rovinj relies on a few resort hotel spas on the Golden Cape. Its real draw is the pace: long lunches and late swims in May, June or September, though the centre gets crowded in high summer.