Sarajevo or Sofia?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both send swimmers to lakes and pools in summer. The difference is the distance to the sea: from Sarajevo the Adriatic is about three hours away, so an extra few days on the Croatian or Montenegrin coast fits easily onto the trip. Sofia's Black Sea coast is a full day's drive or a flight away, so a beach stay there means a separate leg of the journey, with Pancharevo lake as the nearest summer swim.

Sarajevo is the better city to eat in. Its cooking is narrow but done with real care: ćevapi in soft somun from the Baščaršija grills, burek sold by weight, begova čorba and lamb slow-cooked under a metal lid, all finished with Bosnian coffee in a copper džezva and a square of rahat lokum.

Sofia's food is hearty and enjoyable, with banitsa at breakfast, shopska salad and clay-pot dishes in the mehana taverns, but it is less distinctive. Its real advantage is wine, with local grapes such as Mavrud and Melnik poured in bars across the centre, and a few lighter modern bistros around Vitosha Boulevard.

Both cities give a rich two or three days of sights, but they feel very different on foot. In Sarajevo the appeal is concentration: the Ottoman bazaar runs straight into Austro-Hungarian avenues, mosque, synagogue and two cathedrals stand close together, and the siege of the 1990s is present everywhere from the Tunnel of Hope to the Sarajevo roses in the pavement.

Sofia's history is more scattered and more layered, from Roman Serdica beneath the Serdika metro station to the fourth-century Rotunda of St George and the gold domes of Alexander Nevsky. Its single finest sight, the UNESCO-listed frescoes of Boyana Church, lies at the foot of Vitosha, and the streets between the monuments are often plain where Sarajevo's are part of the attraction.

Sofia offers more for a night out. The streets around Shishman and Tsar Ivan Asen are lined with small cocktail bars, craft beer pubs and wine bars, there are cellar bars under the old buildings and a handful of electronic clubs, and summer terraces spill into the parks.

Sarajevo's evenings revolve around café-bars that grow louder after dark, with students keeping a few cellar bars and small clubs going at weekends. It is friendly and cheap, but more often ends with a glass of rakija than on a dancefloor.

Both are mountain cities with real hills on the doorstep, and they are close to level for outdoor time. Sarajevo's cable car climbs from the Old Town to Trebević and the overgrown Olympic bobsleigh track, the 1984 Olympic mountains of Jahorina and Bjelašnica are under an hour away, and Lukomir and the Rakitnica canyon reward a longer outing.

Sofia's Vitosha rises above 2,200m and is reachable by city bus and gondola, with boulder rivers and the climb to Cherni Vrah. Further out, the Seven Rila Lakes and the skiing at Borovets give it slightly grander high country, while Sarajevo adds rafting on the Neretva.

Each city has one outing that nearly every visitor makes, and both are about two hours away. From Sarajevo it is Mostar and its rebuilt bridge, reached on a scenic train through the Neretva gorge, with Konjic, Blagaj and Počitelj along the same route and Višegrad's Ottoman bridge to the east.

From Sofia the essential trip is Rila Monastery in its mountain valley, with Plovdiv's Roman theatre and painted old town an equally strong choice by road or rail. Sarajevo's trips cluster along one memorable river route, while Sofia's split between a sacred site and a full historic city.

Sarajevo's best family moments are small rides and outings: the cable car from the edge of the Old Town up Trebević, a horse-drawn carriage along the avenue to the streams of Vrelo Bosne, pigeons at the Sebilj and the little zoo at Pionirska dolina. The flat Old Town is easy to walk with children. The steep hillside quarters, the sights about history and war, and the winter smog and grill smoke make it harder going for the youngest.

Sofia offers fewer rides and more room to run, with playgrounds in Borisova Gradina and South Park, a hands-on science centre, the mineral halls of the Museum of Earth and Man, and the gondola and forest trails on Vitosha. Its cracked pavements and high kerbs are the main nuisance, especially with a pushchair.

Both centres are compact and easy to walk, so the difference lies in public transport. Sarajevo's historic tram follows the valley floor from Baščaršija to Ilidža, which is simple to grasp, but away from that single corridor the buses and minibuses are harder to follow and the hillside quarters are steep.

Sofia has the edge with its clean metro, which links the airport, the centre, the railway station and the foothills of Vitosha. Signs away from the centre are mostly in Cyrillic, though, and the Tunnel of Hope or the ski slopes from Sarajevo, like the monasteries from Sofia, are easier with a car or tour.

In Sarajevo you can still hear the coppersmiths at work on Kazandžiluk, hammering coffee sets and engraved trays, and the lanes around the old Bezistan sell kilims, leather slippers and filigree jewellery. Much of it is souvenir stock, so look closely before you buy. Sofia has no working craft quarter to match, but its local finds pack well: rose oil and rose cosmetics, Troyan pottery and embroidered textiles, and old icons and curiosities at the flea market near Alexander Nevsky.

For ordinary shopping, Sofia's pedestrian Vitosha Boulevard, with the mountain at its end, is a pleasanter street than anything away from Sarajevo's bazaar, where you mostly find chains and malls. In either city an afternoon covers it.

Both are among the least expensive capitals in Europe, and the budget barely separates them. In Sarajevo the savings come from street food and coffee in the bazaar, cheap taxis and modest guesthouses, though the Old Town and the summer film festival nudge prices up. In Sofia a full mehana meal with a good bottle of local wine is the bargain, and a trip to Vitosha or Rila Monastery adds very little.

Sofia has the fuller stage life. The National Opera and Ballet plays through most of the year, the Sofia Philharmonic performs at Bulgaria Hall, and Orthodox choral singing and folk music in the taverns give it a sound of its own, though plays at the Ivan Vazov Theatre are in Bulgarian.

Sarajevo's National Theatre also stages opera and ballet, but the city really comes alive during its festivals, the MESS theatre festival in autumn and the jazz festival in November. Its most moving music is sevdah, the slow Bosnian love songs heard in traditional restaurants.

Sarajevo makes a spa visit simple: the tram runs all the way to Ilidža, where thermal springs used since Roman times feed warm pools and treatments, and the shaded avenue of Vrelo Bosne is close by. Its old hammam is an exhibition space, though, and in winter smog can take the calm out of the valley.

In Sofia the springs are on show in the centre, where locals fill bottles at warm taps beside the old Central Mineral Baths, now a museum. To bathe, you head out to the mineral pools on the city's edges, to Bankya about half an hour west, or further to Velingrad. Within the city, rest means park walks, hotel spas and a pace that is unhurried for a capital.