Verona or Zagreb?

Neither city is on the coast, but Verona has a real swimming option within easy reach. Lake Garda's southern towns, Peschiera, Lazise, Bardolino and Sirmione, are about half an hour away by car or a short train ride. There you swim from lidos, grassy lawns and small pebble beaches in calm, clear water from June to September. It is still a side trip, and the shore is crowded on summer weekends.

Zagreb offers little more than a way to cool off. Locals swim at Lake Jarun, a former gravel pit with pebbly shores, and at the smaller Bundek. The Adriatic is a two-hour drive over the hills, so anyone who wants the sea needs to add a stay on the coast.

Verona eats better, mainly because of its wine. Risotto made with Amarone, bigoli with duck and bollito misto with peppery pearà are served in wood-panelled osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta. Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino are all made within a short drive. The weak spots are the tired tourist cooking around the Arena and the lack of street food.

Zagreb's food is heavier and Central European: štrukli, turkey with mlinci and Zagorje sausages. Its best moments are a morning at Dolac market and a long coffee on a Lower Town terrace. Plešivica wines and craft beer are decent, but the range is modest and there are only a handful of serious kitchens.

Verona's sights are of a higher order. The Arena is among the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres anywhere, and the Roman theatre climbs the hill across the Adige. San Zeno's bronze doors and the Scaliger tombs record the city's medieval peak, and Castelvecchio's art collection is shown in Carlo Scarpa's celebrated setting. You can see it all in two or three unhurried days.

Zagreb has more charm than grandeur. The hilltop Upper Town has St Mark's tiled roof, the Stone Gate and the cathedral's twin spires, and below it lie the Austro-Hungarian squares of the Green Horseshoe. Its museums, from the Mimara to the Museum of Broken Relationships, are enjoyable but not famous. The arcaded Mirogoj cemetery is the sight that lingers.

Zagreb has more going on after dark. Tkalčićeva's terraces fill on warm nights, and the courtyards around Flower Square hide small cocktail and craft beer bars. In summer the crowd moves out to the lakeside clubs at Jarun, and students keep alternative venues open all year. It is friendly rather than wild.

Verona's evenings are built around the aperitivo: a spritz or a glass of Valpolicella on Piazza delle Erbe or by the river, then the cheaper student bars of Veronetta. There is no dance scene in the centre and the streets empty early. The exception is summer, when the opera crowd leaving the Arena near midnight brings the centre back to life.

Both cities have good countryside nearby, but of different kinds. Verona looks to vineyards and lake. The cypress-dotted Valpolicella hills are good for gentle walks and cycling, and the Adige valley route runs north towards Trento. About an hour away, Monte Baldo offers ridge walks and paragliding above Garda, the lake's northern end has reliable wind for sailing, and the Lessinia plateau has beech woods and gorges.

Zagreb's green escape starts right at the edge of the city. A tram and a short bus ride take you to the beech-wooded trails of Medvednica, and Maksimir's oak woods and lakes are closer still. Plitvice's waterfalls make a long but popular day out. The landscape is gentler, with no lake or high mountains close by.

For days out, Verona is far ahead. Venice is a little over an hour by train, close enough for an early start and a late return. Vicenza's Palladian villas and Teatro Olimpico, Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel in Padua and lake-ringed Mantua are all nearer. The Garda harbours of Sirmione and Malcesine and the walled wine town of Soave add lake and vineyard outings, and the railway handles most of the travel.

Zagreb's outings are pleasant but smaller in scale. The Zagorje hills to the north hold Trakošćan castle above its lake, the pilgrimage church at Marija Bistrica and the village museum at Kumrovec. Baroque Varaždin, Samobor's old square and Karlovac's star-shaped fortress are all within easy range, and Ljubljana works as a long day. None of them is in the same league as Venice or Padua, and the castles are much easier with a car.

Verona has the bigger draws for children, though they lie outside town. Gardaland, Italy's biggest theme park, is about half an hour away, along with water parks and Parco Natura Viva's drive-through safari. The flat, pedestrian centre and the Arena itself are easy to enjoy with a pushchair, but most of these outings need a car.

Zagreb is a gentler family city with nothing on that scale. Families can visit the zoo in Maksimir park, see the old trams and planes at the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum and ride the tiny funicular. In summer Jarun and Bundek are good for swimming and play. It suits a few relaxed days rather than a trip planned around attractions.

Both cities have compact, walkable centres, so the difference lies in what happens beyond the old town. In Verona you walk almost everywhere inside the river loop, and buses are mainly for the station and the airport. Trains are excellent for Venice, Milan and the lake, but the Valpolicella and Lessinia villages are much easier by car.

Zagreb has a proper tram network covering the city, and the funicular spares you the climb to the Upper Town. Expect steep cobbles up the hill and slow trams at rush hour. A car only matters for the Zagorje castles and Plitvice.

Verona is the better place to shop, though neither city is a shopping destination. Marble-paved Via Mazzini is lined with Italian fashion and accessory labels, and Corso Porta Borsari has smaller boutiques and jewellers. The best things to take home are edible: Amarone, Garda olive oil and the star-shaped pandoro. For serious fashion, people go to Milan.

Zagreb's main street, Ilica, is mostly chains and everyday shops, with little luxury. Its souvenirs are distinctive, though: red licitar honey-dough hearts, Croatian neckties and lace. Truffle products from Dolac and the Sunday flea market on Britanski trg are worth a look.

Zagreb is the cheaper city. Central apartments, small hotels, tram fares and museum entry are all reasonably priced, and market food and a terrace coffee cost little. Only upmarket restaurants, cocktails and the top hotels approach Western European prices.

In Verona, the room is the big expense. Hotels in the historic centre are expensive for a provincial city and become scarce on summer opera nights and during trade fairs. You save by staying across the river or near the station, eating in Veronetta's student osterie and drinking the local wine.

Verona has the headline event. On most summer evenings, grand productions of Verdi, Puccini and Bizet fill the Roman Arena, with thousands seated on the stone tiers, and summer Shakespeare, dance and jazz play in the Roman theatre. Between autumn and spring, though, the Teatro Filarmonico offers only a modest programme.

Zagreb has nothing to match the Arena, but its season runs more evenly through the year. The Croatian National Theatre stages opera and ballet, the Lisinski hall is home to the Zagreb Philharmonic, and the Zagreb Soloists play chamber music in churches. Summer brings courtyard concerts in the Upper Town. A visitor in winter may well find more on in Zagreb.

Verona has the better thermal waters close by. Sirmione's sulphurous springs feed a thermal centre with pools facing Lake Garda, a thermal park near Lazise surrounds a warm spring-fed lake in an old villa garden, and Caldiero's springs east of the city have been used since Roman times. In town, the Giardino Giusti's terraces offer the quietest corner.

In Zagreb, relaxing in the city mostly means its slow pace, with long café mornings and shaded parks, while the spas in town are largely hotel wellness floors. A proper soak means a trip of about an hour to the Zagorje resorts of Tuheljske, Krapinske or Stubičke Toplice.