Tartu or Vilnius?

Neither city has a beach worth travelling for, but they swim in different places. Tartu has a sandy beach in town at Anne Kanal, on a calm channel of the Emajõgi. Its bigger outing is Lake Peipus, which is so wide you cannot see the far side and has sandy beaches under low red cliffs, about 45 minutes away by car.

In Vilnius, swimming means lakes in the pine woods. The Green Lakes are on the edge of the city and the Trakai shores are half an hour out, so a swim fits easily into an afternoon without a car. In both places the water reaches about 20°C on good summer days.

Vilnius gives food lovers more to seek out. Lithuanian cooking is distinctive, with cepelinai dumplings, cold pink beetroot soup and Karaim kibinai. Halės market sits in its old iron hall, and the modern restaurants are joined by craft beer and good coffee.

Tartu eats well on a smaller scale. It has student cafés, bakeries and a few restaurants cooking rye, smoked fish, game and berries. Its most memorable food is out of town, at the roadside stalls of the Peipus shore selling smoked fish and onions.

Vilnius has much more heritage to explore. Its Old Town is one of the largest medieval and baroque centres in this part of Europe. You walk from the Gate of Dawn and Gothic St Anne's to the Cathedral and the rebuilt palace of the grand dukes. The Museum of Occupations, in the old KGB building, and the traces of the "Jerusalem of the North" add a strong twentieth-century story.

Tartu's old town is small and mostly classical, shaped by the university's pale main building, the sloping Town Hall Square and the cathedral ruins on Toome Hill. Its standout is the Estonian National Museum, but the whole town takes about two days, where Vilnius rewards three.

Vilnius is the better night out. Cocktail bars and craft beer pubs fan out from Vokiečių and Pylimo streets, and an electronic scene runs in old industrial spaces, with the bigger clubs open until dawn at weekends.

Nights in Tartu follow the student year. Pubs and cider bars around Rüütli street are busy in term time, even on weeknights, but there are only a few places to dance late. In summer the students leave and evenings move to quiet riverside terraces.

Both have gentle country of forest, rivers and lakes, but you reach it differently. Around Vilnius, the wild is close: pine forest comes almost into the centre, and the steep trails of Pavilniai and Verkiai are a bus ride away. In summer, hot-air balloons cross the Old Town, and Aukštaitija's chains of lakes suit a canoe trip.

Tartu's highlights are mostly reached by car. These include the red sandstone cliffs at Taevaskoja, the Otepää uplands with Estonia's best cross-country ski trails, the bogs of Soomaa and the birdlife of Peipus. Within the city, the Emajõgi is good for canoeing and paddleboarding.

Vilnius has the stronger and easier choice of outings. The island castle at Trakai is half an hour away, Kaunas and its interwar modernist district are an hour by train, and the old hill-fort capital at Kernavė is close too. None of them needs a car.

From Tartu, the big trip is Tallinn's walled old town, a long day with two hours on the train each way. The quieter outings are charming but mostly need a car. These include Viljandi's castle ruins, the Old Believer villages along Peipus and the white Alatskivi manor.

Tartu is the easier city with children, mainly because of the AHHAA science centre and planetarium, which can fill a whole day. Add the toy museum, the parks on Toome Hill, the beach and the water centre, and short distances on flat, quiet streets make it simple.

Vilnius has a funicular up to Gediminas Tower, rowing boats at Trakai and an Energy and Technology Museum. Most of its main sights, though, are churches and history museums, and the Old Town's cobbles are hard going with a pushchair.

Both centres are easy to walk, but in different ways. Tartu is tiny and flat, and its electric bike-share reaches the national museum and the beach. To reach the countryside you will want a hire car.

Vilnius is hillier and cobbled, so good shoes matter, and buses and trolleybuses cover the rest of the city. The airport is close to the centre, and the trains to Trakai and Kaunas mean most visitors never need to drive.

Vilnius gives more reasons to shop. Baltic amber, linen, woven sashes and wooden crafts come from Old Town and Užupis workshops, and Gediminas Avenue has the high-street chains. In March the Kaziukas folk fair fills the streets. Choose amber carefully on Pilies Street.

Tartu covers everyday needs with a department store and a couple of malls. For something to take home, a few small boutiques sell Estonian design, woollens and ceramics, and the market sells honey and berries. Neither city has luxury shopping.

Costs are similar in both, a moderate spend rather than a true budget trip. Vilnius is cheap for a capital, with cheap traditional lunches and local beer, though Old Town hotels cost more on summer weekends.

Tartu is clearly cheaper than Tallinn, with reasonable guesthouses and student lunch menus. Dinner in its better restaurants and drinks in its bars, however, cost about what they would in Western Europe.

Vilnius has more on stage. The National Opera and Ballet and the National Philharmonic run full seasons, and the country's avant-garde theatre directors are well known, though most plays are in Lithuanian. The Vilnius Jazz festival is held each autumn, and summer brings concerts in courtyards and churches.

Tartu does well for its size. The Vanemuine, the first theatre to perform in Estonian, stages opera, ballet and musicals, and a concert hall hosts orchestras. The town where Estonia's Song Festival began in 1869 still has a strong choral tradition.

Tartu is the better place to unwind, because the sauna is everyday life there. There are riverside saunas in summer and a large water centre all year. An hour south in Võromaa, farm smoke saunas end with a pond plunge or a roll in the snow.

In Vilnius, the wood-fired pirtis is mostly found at lakeside guesthouses outside the city, and a real spa stay means going to Druskininkai. In town, the calm comes from quiet courtyards and slow mornings in Užupis cafés.