Salzburg or Venice?

Venice has a proper beach: kilometres of fine sand on the Lido, a short boat ride from San Marco, with shallow water that is warm by midsummer. Salzburg's swimming is in Alpine lakes half an hour or more away. You get into the clear, cooler water from lawns and wooden jetties rather than sand.

Neither city is a reason to pack for the beach, but a hot afternoon of sea bathing is simply easier to arrange from Venice.

Venice eats better and more interestingly. Standing at a bacaro counter with sarde in saor and a spritz, then a plate of cuttlefish risotto made with fish from the Rialto market, is a meal you can only have there.

Salzburg's cooking is hearty Austrian: schnitzel, Kasnocken and the cloud-like Nockerl. It shines in coffee houses and in the monastery brewery's garden in Mülln. Both centres are full of overpriced tourist menus, and in both the good meals are found away from the main squares.

Salzburg's old town is a beautiful, tightly packed Baroque set piece, with the cathedral, the Residenz, the Mozart houses and the great fortress on its cliff. Two or three unhurried days cover it.

Venice works on a different scale. The whole city is the monument, and inside its churches and scuole hang some of the greatest paintings in Europe, from Titian in the Frari to Tintoretto at San Rocco. Modern art at the Guggenheim and the Biennale adds still more.

Both cities go quiet around midnight, so neither suits a big night out. Salzburg's evening centres on the beer halls, with litre mugs at long wooden tables, plus a few student pubs along Rudolfskai. Munich is the escape for clubs.

Venice is at its liveliest earlier, at the aperitivo hour in the bacari of Cannaregio, with students keeping Campo Santa Margherita going a little later. In summer, the beach clubs of Jesolo are where people go for more.

Salzburg is far ahead outdoors. Walking paths climb the Mönchsberg and Kapuzinerberg from the centre, and the Untersberg cable car lifts you to limestone ridges. The Salzkammergut lakes, the Königssee and the Salzburger Land ski areas are all within easy reach.

Venice's outdoors is the lagoon. You can kayak or row among the salt marshes around Torcello, where herons and flamingos feed, or cycle the sea walls of Pellestrina. Real mountains are more than two hours away.

Both are excellent bases, and Venice has a slight edge because fast trains reach Padua in half an hour and Verona and Vicenza soon after. On top of that, Murano, Burano and Torcello are just a boat ride away.

Salzburg's outings are more about landscape and salt. Hallstatt, the salt mines at Hallein and Berchtesgaden, and the fortress at Werfen are its highlights, with Munich by train. The lake villages are much easier to reach with a hire car.

Salzburg is the easier city with children. Hellbrunn alone fills a morning, with trick fountains that soak unwary visitors and the zoo next door. Haus der Natur, the marionettes, and the miners' slides and underground boat rides in the salt mines cover the rest. The cobbles and steep lanes are still hard going with a pushchair.

Venice thrills children with boats instead of buses, glass-blowing on Murano and a shallow, sandy beach on the Lido. The practical side is tougher: hundreds of stepped bridges, packed routes in summer and few playgrounds or parks. It goes much better with older children who can climb the bridges on their own than with toddlers, but even for them Salzburg is the more relaxed choice.

Both cities are best seen on foot, but in different ways. Salzburg's sights sit within about fifteen minutes of each other. Trolleybuses and flat riverside bike paths reach the rest of the city, and the slow regional buses push many visitors to hire a car for the lakes.

Venice has no wheels at all. You walk a maze of alleys that will get you lost and ride the slow, crowded vaporetto. Every bridge has steps, which makes luggage and wheelchairs a real effort.

Venice has more worth buying. Murano glass, Burano lace, papier-mâché masks, marbled paper and furlane slippers are all made in workshops in Dorsoduro and Castello, and the big fashion names line Calle Larga XXII Marzo.

Salzburg's speciality is Tracht: dirndls and loden jackets, often made to measure, sold alongside Mozartkugeln and wooden toys on Getreidegasse. In Advent there is the Christmas market on Domplatz. In both cities, souvenir stalls crowd the main routes.

Neither is cheap, but Venice costs more. Its hotels are among the priciest in Italy, and boat fares and church entry fees add up through the day. Eating cicchetti at the bar or staying in Mestre brings costs down.

Salzburg is expensive for a small city, especially during the festival and Advent. A city card covering transport and museums, together with the inns and beer halls of the outer districts, makes it somewhat easier on the budget.

Salzburg is the stronger draw for music. The summer festival brings leading performers to the Felsenreitschule and the Festspielhaus, with Jedermann played outdoors before the cathedral, and Mozart Week and the Easter Festival extend the year. Mozarteum concerts and the Marionette Theatre fill the gaps.

Venice has La Fenice, a great opera house with a full season, and the Biennale's contemporary festivals. Its everyday offer is Vivaldi in churches, which can be moving or routine depending on the ensemble.

Salzburg is better for slowing down. The Paracelsus Bad offers saunas and a pool in the city park, and the brine spas of Bad Reichenhall are twenty minutes away. The Gastein valley's thermal springs make a longer excursion.

Venice relies on hotel spas, with the thermal mud of Abano Terme an hour away. Its calm comes from silence instead: early mornings in Castello or on Giudecca, before the crowds reach San Marco.