Siena or Zagreb?

Neither city is for a beach trip, but they handle a hot day differently. Zagreb has somewhere to swim within the city itself: the pebbly shores of Lake Jarun and the smaller Bundek lake, though the Adriatic is about two hours away. Siena has no water of its own beyond hotel and agriturismo pools, and the sandy Maremma coast near Castiglione della Pescaia is well over an hour's drive, so a sea swim takes a full day.

Siena eats better, mainly because of its wine. Chianti Classico grows just to the north and Brunello and Vino Nobile to the south, and all of them are poured by the glass in town. Hand-rolled pici with duck ragù, cinta senese pork and bakeries selling panforte and ricciarelli give it a cuisine that stands up on its own.

Zagreb's cooking is heartier and closer to Central Europe: štrukli, turkey with mlinci, fresh cheese with cream from the stalls at Dolac. Its real pleasure is the long coffee on a Lower Town terrace. Both cities offer little beyond their own cooking.

Siena stands in a different league here. The whole walled centre is a medieval city kept almost intact, from the shell-shaped Campo and the Torre del Mangia to the striped Duomo and the Piccolomini Library. Lorenzetti's Good and Bad Government frescoes and Duccio's Maestà are works people cross Europe to see, and the seventeen contrade give each quarter its own identity.

Zagreb offers two cities in one: the hilltop Upper Town with St Mark's tiled roof and the Stone Gate, and the Austro-Hungarian Lower Town around the Green Horseshoe. Its museums, from the Mimara to the Museum of Broken Relationships, are enjoyable rather than essential, and the arcaded Mirogoj cemetery is its most memorable sight.

Zagreb has the livelier evenings. Café-bars switch from coffee to drinks as the night goes on, Tkalčićeva fills its terraces on warm nights, and in summer the crowd moves to the clubs by Lake Jarun. It is friendly rather than wild.

Siena hardly has a night scene at all: dinner, a glass of wine on the Campo and a stroll, with the centre quiet before midnight. The only exception is the Palio, when the contrade hold their outdoor dinners late into the night.

The two are broadly level, but the outdoors means something different in each. Around Siena it is cultivated landscape: the bare clay hills of the Crete Senesi, the cypress-lined Val d'Orcia and the white gravel strade bianche that draw road and gravel cyclists straight from the town gate.

Zagreb's green space is wilder and closer. A tram and short bus ride reach the beech woods and mountain huts of Medvednica, Maksimir park sits within the city, and Plitvice's lakes and waterfalls make a long day to the south.

This is where Siena pulls furthest ahead. Florence is little more than an hour away, and closer still are San Gimignano's towers, walled Monteriggioni, the Chianti villages and Volterra. To the south lie Pienza, Montalcino and Montepulciano, and abbeys such as Sant'Antimo and San Galgano. You could fill a fortnight without repeating yourself, though a car helps a great deal.

Zagreb's outings are pleasant but quieter: Trakošćan castle and the Zagorje hills, baroque Varaždin, Samobor for its cream cake, and Ljubljana if you are happy with a long day. None of them is a must-see in the way Siena's neighbours are.

Zagreb is the easier city with children. The Lower Town is flat, the trams take pushchairs, and there are proper things to do: the zoo in Maksimir, old planes and trams at the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum, the funicular ride and summer swimming at Jarun.

Siena is safe and mostly free of cars, and older children enjoy climbing the Torre del Mangia. But its steep lanes are hard work with a pushchair and nothing is built with children in mind, so families usually stay at a countryside farmhouse with a pool and come into town for half days.

Zagreb is the simpler city to move around. Blue trams run across the whole city, most of the Lower Town is flat, and the short funicular saves the climb to the Upper Town. You only need a car for the Zagorje castles or Plitvice.

Siena is a walking town within its walls, but the three ridges mean steep climbs and stepped lanes, and escalators are the link up from the station in the valley. Trains are slow and infrequent, buses are better for Florence, and the hill towns and wineries really call for a hire car.

Neither city is worth the trip for shopping, and they differ mainly in what you take home. Siena is about crafts and food: hand-painted majolica, contrada scarves and flags, panforte, pecorino and wine, plus a large weekly market by the Fortezza Medicea.

Zagreb has more of an ordinary high street, with chains and local fashion along Ilica and malls on the edge of town. Its souvenirs are red licitar hearts, lace and the cravat, which comes from Croatia, and there is a Sunday flea market at Britanski trg.

Zagreb goes noticeably further for the money. Central apartments, trams, museum entry and market or bakery food are all reasonably priced, and a terrace coffee is an everyday habit rather than a treat.

Siena costs more, mostly for somewhere to sleep. Rooms inside the walls are scarce and get dearer in summer and around the Palio, and the cathedral and civic museums each charge separately. Osteria lunches on the side streets and agriturismo stays outside town help keep the cost down.

Zagreb has a full capital-city season. The Croatian National Theatre stages opera and ballet, the Zagreb Philharmonic plays at the Lisinski hall, and in summer there are concerts in Upper Town courtyards. A good deal of the spoken theatre is in Croatian.

Siena's music comes from its schools. The Accademia Chigiana holds summer concerts and masterclasses in palaces and churches, and Siena Jazz has its own performances. It is a fine programme for a small town, but for opera you have to go to Florence.

Siena is better for a restful trip, thanks to the hot springs nearby. Rapolano Terme is about half an hour away, and further south are Bagno Vignoni's steaming medieval pool, the free white pools of Bagni San Filippo in the woods and Petriolo's sulphur river, all close to farmhouse and spa hotels in the hills.

Zagreb's thermal resorts, such as Tuheljske and Stubičke Toplice, are about an hour north in Zagorje, and in town you are mostly limited to hotel spas. Its calm comes instead from café mornings and quiet Upper Town lanes.