Salzburg or Zadar?

This is Zadar's clearest advantage. Swimming is part of daily life: people swim off the stone promenade, Kolovare and Borik are within easy reach, and Nin's shallow sands and the coves of Ugljan, Pašman and Dugi Otok are a short drive or ferry ride away. The city beaches are pebble and concrete, though, so for sand you have to go out of town.

Salzburg has no sea, and its river is too cold for swimming. People swim in the Salzkammergut lakes instead, such as Wolfgangsee and Mondsee, getting in from lawns and jetties. That makes a pleasant afternoon, but it is not a reason to choose the city.

Neither city is worth choosing for its food. Both have a narrow range, and the old-town restaurants charge visitors too much in both. The difference is in kind. Salzburg means schnitzel, dumplings and Salzburger Nockerl, and its best moments are the coffee houses and the monastery beer garden in Mülln. Zadar means grilled fish, black risotto, lamb cooked under the peka and a glass of Maraschino, and its best start to the day is the market by the walls.

Salzburg has more to see. The Baroque centre built by the prince-archbishops, the cathedral and Residenz, the Hohensalzburg fortress above them and the Mozart houses fill two or three days. St Peter's catacombs and Hellbrunn add more on top.

Zadar's history goes back further but fits on one small peninsula: a Roman forum, the round Church of St Donatus and the Venetian walls, plus good small museums of ancient glass and archaeology. Its best-known sights are modern ones on the waterfront, the Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun.

Neither is a party city, but Zadar stays out later. Summer nights start at sunset by the Sea Organ and move on to café-bars on Kalelarga and terrace bars on the walls, and the clubs at Zrće on Pag are an hour away. Out of season, though, the town goes quiet.

In Salzburg an evening usually means a concert, dinner and a litre of beer in a beer hall, and the old town is quiet by midnight. Student pubs on Rudolfskai add some life during term, but for proper clubbing people go to Munich.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, and the difference is mountains against sea. In Salzburg the ridge paths start in the centre, the Untersberg cable car takes you up to limestone summits, Berchtesgaden and the Königssee are close, and in winter the ski areas are about an hour's drive away.

Zadar combines the Velebit gorges of Paklenica, good for hiking and climbing, with sailing and kayaking among the Kornati islands and the waterfalls at Krka. Its hiking is best in spring and autumn because of the summer heat, while summer is Salzburg's main walking season.

Salzburg has the wider choice. Hallstatt, the lake villages of St Wolfgang and St Gilgen, the salt mines at Hallein and Berchtesgaden, the fortress at Werfen and the train to Munich each make a different kind of day out, though the lakes are easier by car.

Zadar's best trips are the cathedral town of Šibenik, medieval Nin and longer days to Split and Trogir, with ferries to the islands as a gentler option. Most of them need a car or an organised tour.

Salzburg has more for children to do. The trick fountains and zoo at Hellbrunn, the hands-on Haus der Natur, the funicular up to the fortress and the miners' slides in the salt mines fill several days, although the cobbles and steep lanes are hard work with a pushchair.

Zadar is flat and easy to get around, with a promenade for scooters and the Sea Organ and lit-up solar tiles after dark. There is no zoo or theme park, though. Families here spend their days at the sea, ideally on Nin's shallow sand.

Both centres are small, largely car-free and can be crossed on foot in about a quarter of an hour. Beyond the centre, Salzburg's dense trolleybus network takes you to Hellbrunn and the Untersberg, and trains run to Munich and Vienna, so you only need a car for the lake villages.

In Zadar the buses are basic, and for the national parks and the coast a hire car or organised tours are close to essential. Its advantage is the ferry quay at the edge of the old town, which makes island trips simple.

Salzburg is better for browsing. Getreidegasse with its wrought-iron guild signs, the made-to-measure Tracht workshops, the farmers' market by the Andräkirche and the Advent market on Domplatz all have a character of their own, even if there is little luxury shopping.

Zadar has little more than the jewellers, chains and souvenir shops along Kalelarga. Pag lace, Pag cheese and Maraschino are the things worth taking home.

Zadar is noticeably cheaper. Private apartments, konobas and inexpensive ferries keep costs moderate, especially in June and September, though national park entry and boat trips add up.

Salzburg is expensive for its size all year, and hardest on the budget during the summer festival and Advent. A city card, a bed across the river or in the suburbs, and meals at the inns and beer halls outside the centre all help.

This is the widest gap between the two. Salzburg is one of Europe's great cities for classical music. The Salzburg Festival fills the Grosses Festspielhaus and the Felsenreitschule, carved into the cliff, and Jedermann is played in front of the cathedral. Mozart Week and the Easter Festival add two more seasons, and the Mozarteum, the Landestheater and the Marionette Theatre keep a programme going all year.

Zadar's highlight is the summer Musical Evenings in St Donatus, early and chamber music in a ninth-century church, and you may hear klapa singing in the squares. Outside July and August there is little to go to.

Salzburg is better for a restful stay. The Paracelsus Bad in the city park has saunas and a pool. The brine spa at Bad Reichenhall and the thermal springs of the Gastein valley are within reach, and the Mönchsberg has quiet walks.

Zadar has no spa tradition beyond the hotel spas at Borik and the mineral mud of Nin's lagoon. Its calm comes from the pace instead: long café mornings, an afternoon siesta and the sun setting over the islands, watched from the Sea Organ steps.