Separated by half a country, a culture and a sense of pride. One - Edinburgh - has it in bundles, the other - Lincoln - is so unassuming it could just disappear into that strange no-man's-land bounded by the Wash, the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

Both, however, are just a couple of hours away from the North-East and make ideal weekend break destinations.

Whatever you do, arrive in Edinburgh by train. It's not just that the A1 is hopeless. More the fact that Waverley station has an air of romance about it, sandwiched as it is at the bottom of the volcanic fault-line which splits the city in two. Walking up that famous ramp brings you virtually into Princes Street, which never fails to be breathtaking.

The range of shops may not be as exclusive as it once was, with most of the multiple every-High-Street-has-one emporia present, but Jenners department store remains, a Liberty with a Scottish flavour. The store's restaurant still features those buttoned-up Presbyterian ladies taking tea and discussing the latest scandal to hit Morningside as they gaze across the Princes Street gardens to the castle beyond.

That quiet and classy confidence that Edinburgh always had - epitomised by its architectural grandeur and its residents' slightly superior air - is still evident but grafted on today is a European flavour.

Continental cities like their flags and Edinburgh has gone flag crazy. There isn't a building without a flagpole and almost every lamppost has something fluttering from it.

The only problem Edinburgh presents to a weekend break visitor is, like any major city, there is too much to do. Be rational, don't go crazy and pick just a couple of its many attractions to visit. First timers should certainly not miss the castle (astounding in its grandeur), the Royal Mile (exclusive shopping as Princes Street used to be) and the palace of Holyrood House (pure, epic history).

Lincoln is a gem of an entirely different kind but no less attractive. Rising up out of the frankly dull Lincolnshire countryside, it is at its very heart a medieval city with all the charm of York but without the Japanese and American tourists. Its off-the-beaten-track location means that even in high season when we visited, it is not really busy.

It doesn't go out of its way to pull the visitors in either. On walking into the tourist information centre, the first thing that greeted us was a rack of brochures promoting "Destination Darlington". But don't be fooled. The cathedral (equal to York in the quality of its stonework if not in size) dominates the city and makes a good starting point for a day's tour. It charges a fee for entry but it is so small we've forgotten how much exactly. Whatever, it is a bargain.

The castle, virtually opposite the cathedral close, is exactly how castles should be - big and brutishly uncompromising. Again there is a small entry fee - £2.50, kids a quid - but it includes a guided tour of the walls, towers and grounds. The castle also contains one of the four surviving Magna Carta sealed by King John in 1215.

Other attractions worth a visit include the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, with its imaginatively presented displays of rural living as it used to be and rather more curiously the earliest surviving tank (built by William Foster of Lincoln in 1917), and the Toy Museum, an ever changing display of the toys of yesterday. Definitely the one to have the more elderly members of the family in paroxysms of nostalgia.

Best of all though is the simple pleasure of walking along the narrow streets clustered round the cathedral, particularly the appropriately named Steep Hill, and savouring a medieval streetscape equal to that of York - but mercifully without the crowds.

FACTFILE

EDINBURGH: Malcolm's trip was a Marriott Leisure Break at the Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club at Kirknewton, seven miles west of Edinburgh on the A71, one of ten Marriott country clubs throughout the UK. For a Marriott Leisure Break brochure call 0800 444 878 or by visiting the new website at www.go.marriott.com/uk

LINCOLN: White Hart Hotel 0870 4008117. Lincoln Tourist Information Centre (01522) 873213.

Next week: short breaks on the Continent