Tallinn or Tartu?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Tallinn at least has sand within its limits. Pirita is backed by pine forest, while Stroomi and Pikakari face the bay, all a short bus ride from the centre. On a warm July day the shallow Gulf of Finland is pleasant enough for a swim.

Tartu has only the river beach at Anne Kanal in town. For anything bigger you drive to the woods around Pühajärve or the sandy Lake Peipus shore near Kallaste, below its red sandstone cliffs. These are lovely summer outings, but they need a car and take up most of a day.

Both cities cook with the same Estonian larder of rye, smoked fish, mushrooms, game and berries, but Tallinn does far more with it. Its creative quarters hold bistros and a handful of serious tasting menus, and the Baltic Station Market works for a quick lunch. The one thing to avoid is the medieval-themed dining inside the Old Town walls.

In Tartu the choice is mostly student cafés, bakeries, a few ambitious kitchens and the riverside market hall. Its most memorable food is out of town, where roadside stalls in the Peipus Old Believer villages sell smoked fish and onions.

This is the widest gap between the two. Tallinn's Old Town is one of northern Europe's best-preserved Hanseatic towns, with long stretches of wall, the Gothic Town Hall and the views from Toompea. Beyond the walls are KUMU, the Kadriorg palace and the Seaplane Harbour, enough to fill two or three busy days.

Tartu's heritage is quieter and mostly neoclassical, built around the pale university building, the sloping Town Hall Square and the cathedral ruins on Toome Hill. Its big draw is the Estonian National Museum, which tells the country's story better than anywhere in the capital. Even so, the town is comfortably seen in two days.

Tallinn has more going on, and it peaks at weekends. Cellar bars in the Old Town draw visiting groups, while Telliskivi and Kalamaja have a younger local crowd in converted factories. A few clubs stay open until morning on Fridays and Saturdays.

Tartu follows the university calendar instead. In term time, Rüütli street and the lanes around the university fill with students in cider and craft beer bars, sometimes even on weeknights. In summer the town quietens to riverside terraces, and there is hardly anywhere for a big night of dancing.

The two are close here, but the scenery differs. Tallinn's outdoors is the coast: the seaside promenade, the limestone klint cliffs and Keila-Joa waterfall to the west, then Lahemaa an hour out, with its boulder-strewn peninsulas and the boardwalk across Viru bog.

Tartu looks inland and gets a little more height. You can canoe or paddleboard on the Emajõgi, walk the sandstone gorge at Taevaskoja, or head to the Otepää and Haanja uplands for lake hikes in summer and Estonia's best-known cross-country ski trails in winter.

Tallinn has the stronger list, led by Helsinki, a whole second capital about two hours away by fast ferry. Closer in are the Lahemaa manors at Palmse and Sagadi, Rakvere castle and the bishop's castle at Haapsalu, many of them reachable without a car.

From Tartu, the best day out is the reverse trip, two hours by train to Tallinn's Old Town. Otherwise the choice is quieter: Viljandi's castle ruins, the painted Old Believer villages and Alatskivi Castle by Lake Peipus, or the farm country of Võromaa. Most of these are far easier to reach by car.

Both cities are safe and easy with children, but Tallinn holds their interest for longer. Children can climb inside the submarine at the Seaplane Harbour, and there is also a large zoo, the open-air museum's windmills, and the Proto and Energy Discovery centres for older ones. The Old Town cobbles are the one real trial with a pushchair.

Tartu has one big draw, the AHHAA science centre and planetarium, which can fill a whole day, along with a toy museum and an indoor water centre. Its flat, quiet streets are gentler on small legs, but with no zoo you run out of things to do after two or three days.

Both centres are easy to walk, so the difference is in the details. In Tallinn the main districts are about twenty minutes apart on foot, though Toompea is a steep climb. Trams run all the way to the airport, which is close to the centre, and the Helsinki ferries leave a short walk from the Old Town.

Tartu is smaller and flat, and the city's electric bike share is the quickest way to reach the national museum or the river beach. The catch comes beyond the town: the lake villages, manors and forest trails really call for a hire car.

Tallinn gives shoppers more to browse. Craft workshops in and around St Catherine's Passage sell glass, ceramics, leather and knitwear, Estonian designers have studios in Telliskivi and Rotermann, and a few malls stock international brands, though there is no luxury district.

Tartu offers a department store, a short run of shops near Town Hall Square and a handful of boutiques selling linen and ceramics. The market is good for honey and berries, but you would not plan a day around it.

Tartu is the easier city on the wallet. Central rooms, student cafés, lunch menus and bikes all cost noticeably less than in the capital, though an evening meal in a good restaurant or a round of drinks is priced much as elsewhere in Western Europe.

Tallinn costs about the same as a typical Western European capital, more than many visitors expect, and Old Town restaurants charge extra for the setting. Lunch menus outside the walls and cheap public transport help, and rooms are better value away from the summer and cruise-ship season.

In both cities, visitors who don't speak Estonian will spend their evenings at opera, ballet and concerts, since nearly all theatre is in Estonian. Tallinn offers more. The Estonia Theatre houses the national opera, ballet and symphony orchestra, churches in the Old Town host organ and early-music concerts where Arvo Pärt is often played, and the Song Festival Grounds hold the great national choral gatherings.

Tartu's Vanemuine, the first theatre to perform in Estonian, still stages opera, ballet and musicals, and the first Song Festival was held here in 1869. In term time, student bands fill the small venues.

Sauna is the heart of relaxing in both, and Tallinn has the slight edge in town. You can try an old public neighbourhood sauna in Kalamaja, a seaside sauna with a cold plunge into the Baltic, or a harbour spa hotel with a pool.

Tartu has a water centre, a few hotel spas and summer saunas by the river. It is also an hour from Võromaa's farm smoke saunas, the most traditional experience of all, which is a much longer trip from the capital. Neither city has thermal springs.