Split or Dubrovnik?

For swimming the two are evenly matched, with the same clear water, pebble or concrete shores, and city beaches that fill up in July and August. In Dubrovnik people swim off the rocks below the seaward walls, at Banje and in the coves of Lapad, but the best swimming is a boat ride away on Lokrum or the Elafiti islands, where Lopud's Sunj cove has sand.

Split's swimming starts on foot from the old town. Bačvice is a shallow sandy bay full of locals playing picigin, and the pine-shaded coves around Marjan are quieter and deeper. For longer beaches, people catch a ferry to Brač or Hvar.

Both cook the same Dalmatian staples, but Split makes eating well easier. In Dubrovnik the Old Town's restaurants mostly serve the cruise crowds, so good meals mean heading out to konobas in Lapad, Gruz or Konavle, or to the oyster farms at Ston, which are a real treat.

Split has more everyday food culture. The fish market and the Pazar sit beside the palace, family konobas in Varoš serve peka, and burek from the bakeries makes a cheap breakfast. Neither city offers much beyond Croatian cooking.

Dubrovnik has the richer set of sights. Its walls make a complete circuit of almost 2km, and within a few minutes' walk of each other stand the Rector's Palace, the Sponza Palace, two monasteries with their collections, and the cathedral, with Fort Lovrijenac and the war museum on Mount Srd outside. Everything is harmonious and intact.

Split's appeal is narrower but unusual. Diocletian's Palace is a Roman building that people still live in, with the cathedral set in the emperor's mausoleum and the original layout visible in the vaults below. Add the Meštrović Gallery and the list is mostly done. Two days covers either city, but Dubrovnik packs more into them.

Split is the better place for a night out. On summer evenings people start on the Riva, move to the small bars filling the palace's stone alleys, then go on to the clubs around Bačvice that run into the early hours. A younger crowd moves between them, and Hvar's party scene is a ferry away.

Dubrovnik's evenings are mostly about a sunset drink at the bars on the rocks below the walls, a cocktail in the lanes off the Stradun, or the club in Revelin fortress. Both cities go quiet in winter, but Dubrovnik shrinks further.

Both sit between bare limestone mountains and an island-scattered sea, but Split gives you more of it within easy reach. Marjan's pine forest begins at the edge of the old town, Mosor and Kozjak offer proper ridge hikes, and within about an hour are the high Biokovo range, rafting and canyoning in the Cetina gorge at Omiš, and the waterfalls of Krka.

Dubrovnik's outdoors is gentler and centred on the sea. You can kayak round the walls to Lokrum, climb Mount Srd for the view, walk the saltwater lakes of Mljet, or follow the trails of Konavle.

Split is the easier base for day trips. Trogir is about half an hour away, Šibenik's cathedral about an hour, Salona and Klis Fortress lie just inland, and ferries run to Hvar, Brač and Vis, all without crossing a border.

Dubrovnik's trips have a different appeal: other countries. The Bay of Kotor and Perast in Montenegro, Trebinje and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina make for very varied days out, but summer border queues can add hours. Closer in, there are Cavtat, the walls of Ston and the Elafiti islands.

Both cities work for families in a simple way, and neither has much built for children. Split is the easier of the two. Bačvice is shallow enough for toddlers to paddle, Marjan gives shade and room to run, and the centre is fairly flat apart from the palace steps.

Dubrovnik has a few more set pieces, such as the aquarium in St John fortress, the cable car and the walls themselves. But so much of it is stairs that families do best staying in Lapad or Babin Kuk and visiting the Old Town early or late.

Split is the more practical city to get around. The palace, the Riva, Varoš, the markets and Bačvice are all within about fifteen minutes' walk, and the ferry port, bus station and railway station sit together at the harbour, so leaving town is simple.

Dubrovnik's car-free Old Town is tiny, but most hotels are out in Lapad, Babin Kuk or Gruz, so you rely on buses to the Pile gate, which clogs up in summer. There is no railway, and the steep ground makes walking between districts harder than the distances suggest.

Neither city is worth visiting for shopping, though Split has a little more. Marmontova street has the mainstream fashion chains, and the Pazar is a pleasant place to browse for honey, figs and brandies. Dubrovnik's Old Town is mostly souvenir shops, but look out for Konavle embroidery, silver filigree and the candied orange peel sold at the Gunduliceva Poljana market.

Dubrovnik costs more at almost every turn. In summer a room in or near the Old Town is priced like one in a big Western European capital, and the sights you came for add to it: the walls, the cable car up Mount Srd and the boat out to Lokrum or the Elafiti islands each carry a charge and are hard to skip. Spring and autumn bring room rates down sharply, but even then the city never feels cheap.

In Split the high costs fall in fewer places. Rooms near the palace reach similar levels in July and August, fish on the waterfront is sold by weight, so a seafood dinner on the Riva is the easiest way to overspend, and island ferries add up for a family. Come in May, June or late September and rooms cost far less, and in winter the gap widens further, as Split becomes a modestly priced city.

Split has the fuller calendar because its Croatian National Theatre stages opera, ballet and drama through the season. You can also often hear klapa, the unaccompanied male harmony singing, in the domed vestibule of the palace.

Dubrovnik's highlight is its Summer Festival, held every July and August since 1950, with theatre and concerts staged at Fort Lovrijenac and in the Rector's Palace atrium. Outside the festival there is little beyond occasional symphony and church concerts.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so spa time in both means hotel spas, and both centres are crowded in midsummer. Split has the better everyday calm: fjaka, the unhurried local pace, shows in the long coffees on the Riva, and the pine woods of Marjan are close by. In Dubrovnik, rest usually means moving out to Cavtat or the Elafiti islands.