Vilnius or Riga?

Riga has a real beach on its doorstep. Jurmala's fine pale sand stretches for more than 30km below pine dunes, the water stays shallow far out, and the suburban train gets you there in about half an hour. The sea is cool, though, and only worth swimming in during high summer.

Vilnius is inland. A swimming day means the Green Lakes in the pine woods on the city's northern edge, or the lakes around Trakai. These are pleasant on a hot afternoon, but they are no substitute for the sea.

Both cities serve plain, filling northern food at fair prices, and neither is a place to plan a trip around eating. The difference is in the dishes. Riga leans towards the sea, with smoked eel and sprats at the Central Market's zeppelin hangars, plus rye bread and Black Balsam to finish.

Vilnius is a potato-and-pork kitchen: cepelinai dumplings, cold pink beetroot soup in summer, garlic fried bread with beer, and Karaim kibinai pastries, best eaten in Trakai. Both cities have a good craft beer scene.

The two are evenly matched, and both need about two or three days. What sets Riga apart is just outside its compact Hanseatic Old Town: street after street of Art Nouveau facades carved with faces and sphinxes around Alberta iela.

Vilnius has a bigger and more rambling baroque old town of church towers and crooked lanes, crowned by Gediminas Tower. Its strength is history told on the spot, from the prison cells of the former KGB building to the old ghetto streets.

Riga offers a little more on a night out. The Old Town's cellar bars, beer pubs and cocktail bars fill at weekends, and a few clubs run until morning, though Friday and Saturday can be loud with groups. Locals prefer the calmer bars around Miera iela and, in summer, the canal-side terraces.

Vilnius runs on student energy at weekends and has a small but serious electronic scene in converted industrial spaces on the edge of the centre. Midweek and in winter it goes noticeably quieter.

Neither city has dramatic scenery, but the green is closer in Vilnius. It sits in a bowl of wooded hills, with steep trails in Pavilniai and Verkiai a short bus ride away, and balloons drift over the Old Town on summer evenings.

Riga is flat. Its best landscapes take a little more travel: the red sandstone cliffs of the Gauja valley at Sigulda, about an hour away, and the misty bog boardwalks of Kemeri beyond Jurmala.

Both have a good handful of outings. Riga's highlight is Rundale, a Rastrelli palace with French gardens, best reached by road. Turaida castle at Sigulda and the small medieval town of Cesis add to the list.

From Vilnius the classics are closer and easy by train: the island castle at Trakai in half an hour, and Kaunas, with its interwar modernist district, in about an hour. The UNESCO hill-forts of Kernavė are under an hour away.

Riga is the easier city with children. Riga Zoo sits in the Mezaparks forest, the open-air museum has windmills to explore, and Jurmala adds an indoor water park and a beach where small children can paddle far out.

Vilnius has no major zoo or aquarium. Its high points for children are the funicular up to Gediminas Tower, rowing boats on the lake at Trakai and the Energy and Technology Museum. In both cities the cobbles are hard work with a pushchair.

Both centres are compact and best seen on foot. Riga is flat, and its trams and suburban trains take you to the zoo, Jurmala and Sigulda, though winter ice slows walking on the cobbles. Vilnius is hillier and relies on buses and trolleybuses, with ride-hailing in wide use. Its airport is a short ride from the centre.

Riga has the better shopping, mainly for local craft and design. Linen, patterned mittens and amber are easy to find, the Quiet Centre has a few design shops for Latvian fashion and homeware, and the June craft fair at the open-air museum is the best shopping day of the year.

Vilnius is more modest. High-street names line Gediminas Avenue, and the workshops of Užupis sell ceramics and woven sashes. Its big occasion is the Kaziukas folk fair in March. Amber on Pilies Street varies in quality, so take your time choosing.

Both are good value for EU capitals, and the overall cost of a stay is much the same. In Riga, the bars and restaurants on the main Old Town squares are where costs creep towards Western levels, while opera seats are remarkably cheap. In Vilnius, cheap traditional lunches and local beer keep daily costs low, and the pressure falls on Old Town hotels at weekends in summer.

Riga is the stronger music city. The National Opera performs most nights in season and seats are easy to get. The Dom Cathedral's great organ and the national orchestra at the Great Guild add more choice. Every five years the Song and Dance Festival fills Mezaparks with tens of thousands of singers.

Vilnius has a smaller offer. Its distinctive strength is theatre, with a celebrated school of avant-garde directors, though surtitles are only sometimes provided. Its long-running jazz festival makes autumn the best time for live music.

Riga has much more to offer here. Jurmala's spa hotels, Kemeri's peat mud and sulphur springs, and seaside saunas among the pines are all about half an hour away. A countryside pirts steam session with birch whisks is easy to arrange.

Vilnius has hotel spas and water parks with sauna zones. For a real spa stay you would go to Druskininkai, nearly two hours south. What the city does offer is quiet: slow mornings in Užupis cafés and walks along the river.