San Marino or Zadar?

This is the clearest divide between the two. Zadar lives by the water: people swim from the promenade on the peninsula, Kolovare and Borik are close by, and Nin and the islands add sand and quieter coves.

San Marino has no shore of its own. The sea is half an hour down the mountain at Rimini and Riccione, whose long sandy beaches suit small children better than Zadar's pebble and concrete platforms. Still, you go there for the day rather than waking up beside the water.

Neither is a reason to travel, but you eat a little better in Zadar. Grilled fish, black risotto, dishes slow-cooked under the peka bell, Pag cheese and a proper market by the walls give its meals a sense of place, even if the menus repeat from one konoba to the next.

San Marino's tagliatelle, passatelli and piadina are honest Romagna cooking. The trouble is that the summit terraces sell the view, and the better trattorias are down in Borgo Maggiore or over the border.

Zadar has more to see and keeps you busy for longer. The Roman forum, the round Church of St Donatus, the Venetian walls and the Museum of Ancient Glass fill two full days, and the Sea Organ brings something modern to the waterfront.

San Marino is one great sight rather than many: three towers on a cliff edge and the Palazzo Pubblico of an ancient republic. It is dramatic, but half a day covers it.

Zadar has a real if modest evening scene: sunset on the Riva, café-bars along Kalelarga and terrace bars on the walls, with the clubs of Zrće on Pag for anyone who wants to dance. After dark San Marino offers little more than a glass of wine above the lights of the coast, and a proper night out means driving down to Rimini.

Zadar is a genuine base for the outdoors. Paklenica's gorges and climbing walls, the Kornati by boat, Krka and Plitvice inland, and kayaking among the islands give you enough to fill a whole trip.

San Marino has a limestone ridge of about 740m, with cliff-top paths between the towers and gentle walks and cycling roads in the Montefeltro hills. That makes a fine morning out, but not an outdoor vacation in itself.

Both make good bases, and the difference is in the kind of outing. From San Marino the trips go into Italian history: the fortress of San Leo, Renaissance Urbino, Ravenna's Byzantine mosaics and the castle at Gradara. These are best done by car, because the only regular bus goes to Rimini.

Zadar's outings mix towns with the sea. There is Šibenik's cathedral, the royal town of Nin and, on a longer day, Split and Trogir. Ferries from the harbour also run to Ugljan, Pašman and car-free Silba, and those trips need no car at all.

Zadar is a little easier with children. The flat, car-free old town and wide promenade suit pushchairs, the Greeting to the Sun lights up underfoot after dark, and Nin's shallow sand is close by.

San Marino's towers, battlements and cable car thrill children, but its steep steps are hard work. Where it helps is the coast below, where Italia in Miniatura, Fiabilandia and the waterparks offer the kind of purpose-built attractions Zadar lacks.

Zadar is the simpler place to manage without a car. The peninsula is flat and pedestrian, Kolovare beach is a short walk away and the island ferries leave from the edge of the old town. The national parks still call for a hire car or an organised excursion.

In San Marino almost every street climbs, often by steps, and the cable car to Borgo Maggiore only goes so far. The bus from Rimini is the one regular link, so the hill towns around it realistically need a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference is in what you take home. San Marino trades on lower taxes, with perfume, watches, leather goods and spirits along its main streets, an outlet centre in the valley, and stamps and coins for collectors. Zadar's best buys are edible or handmade: Maraschino, Pag cheese and lace, and olive oil and figs from the market by the walls.

Overall costs come out much the same, neither cheap nor a strain. In San Marino you pay extra for height: summit hotels and view terraces cost more than places a few kilometres down the slope. In Zadar you pay extra in high season: rooms near the peninsula cost far more in July and August, and boat trips and national park entry add up.

Zadar has the one truly memorable event: the Musical Evenings in St Donatus, early and chamber music inside a ninth-century church, along with klapa singing and summer concerts in the squares. San Marino's calendar is thinner. Its best-known event is the costumed Medieval Days, with crossbow contests and flag-throwers, which is more a pageant than a performance.

Neither place has a bathing tradition, so the difference is in how easily the days slow down, and Zadar does that better. In San Marino calm comes only once the day visitors leave. On summer afternoons the lanes around the towers are crowded, and it is the evening stroll along the walls above the darkening plain that feels peaceful. For a spa you choose one of a handful of hotels or make a separate trip down to the thermal baths on the coast or in the Apennine valleys.

Zadar is unhurried from morning to night. People linger over coffee, rest through the hottest hours and gather on the waterfront at dusk as the islands fade into silhouette, so the quiet does not wait for the crowds to leave. Hotel spas are concentrated around Borik, and the mineral mud of the Nin lagoon offers a simpler local remedy that goes back generations. Late spring and early autumn, away from the summer peak, are the calmest times to come.